Take a Chill Pill
I've been wrong so many times, it hardly bothers me to have to unlearn things now. (okay, that last part is probably a lie, but I hope to become that person eventually)
A few notables:
Fitness is only for professional athletes
Marriage should always last forever
Everyone can get all the nutrition the body needs through food
Even just a few years ago when working in healthcare, i would rarely recommend nutritional supplements (yeah…it was kinda my job) despite the institutional food options being far from ideal.
So what changed, Diggs, you ask? Well, the last gig I had prior to handing my little carrot shingle. That's what changed.
The struggling startup catered to folks with autoimmunity disorders, helping them find respite from painful, life altering symptoms. What I witnessed was an approach to nutrition I'd never allowed my ableist ass to consider before. Not everyone's bodies process nutrients the same way. Not everyone has the ability to consume a wide variety of healthy foods (some of y’all food allergy/sensitivity folks nodding aggressively, i see). Not all bodies are nourished by following the antiquated, questionably sourced Recommended Daily Allowances for vitamins/minerals. (established in 1941, regularly revisited but largely unchanged, and in 2007 a panel revealed the guidelines were based more on opinion than fact…and then left unchanged except for vitamin D and calcium recos).
I have long known (but loudly ignored) this. I have been denied the privilege of donating blood (I excel at iron deficiency) so many times I no longer try. I was once prescribed high dose vitamin D because my levels alarmed my physician, despite spending hours in the sun that summer training for one of my first marathons. Yet my food-is-enough snobbery persisted, despite my own personal truth.
What I saw working the autoimmune population taught me that the lifestyle changes I have long touted (improving sleep, reducing stress, increasing hydration) needed a boost. Removing trigger foods plus nutrient supplementation often led to drastic symptom reduction for folks who just weeks prior could barely get out of bed.
We can all use a little help now and then.
Do I always recommend hitting the [pill] bottle? No…I would say my current clients are split about 50/50 on whether I've recommended supps or not. Just like everything else in my practice, it varies person by person, case by case. (If you hire me, I promise we're going to talk about sleep and stress at our first meeting…way before we consider supplementation)
All that said, the supplement market is the wild wild west and there are some lousy players that occasionally make the news. I'm pleased to be affiliated with a few companies that take the extra step to ensure their quality. Have questions about a study you saw or a supplement that is getting press? Or do you feel like you’re doing all the right things but not getting the results you want? Give me a buzz…I can help un-muddy the waters.
Can many of us thrive with a "healthy” (those are big sarcastic air quotes) diet? I suppose. But on a planet where we have depleted our soil due to capitalism-driven farming practices, and our tomatoes can withstand a blow from a sledgehammer, we might consider adding a little something extra, especially if nagging health issues are…well…nagging.
