Which road will you choose to fill your nutritional gap? (from Dr. Ruby’s blog)
Nutritional supplements are a key component of any Diabesity lifestyle program. There is abundant evidence showing the essential role that vitamins and nutrients have on metabolism, insulin resistance inflammation and chronic disease. With so many nutritional products on the market making so many promises — how do you choose? Today I will help you answer this question and discuss why using the right nutritional supplements is an essential part of your reversing Diabesity lifestyle program.
“Obesity and diabetes are often paradoxically states of malnutrition” Dr. Mark Hyman.
When your body does not get the proper nutrients it actually slows down your metabolism and can exacerbate weight gain, insulin resistance and even inflammation. Most Americans are not eating a healthy diet and even if you think you are, many of the “healthy foods” you are eating have been processed, genetically altered or mishandled, leading to a significant loss in their natural nutrient potential. For more detailed information on this issue, I encourage you to read my prior posts on Essential Nutrition. Having said that, I believe that there is enough evidence to suggest that most Americans need at least lifelong basic core nutritional supplementation, while those suffering from Diabesity or other chronic disease will need a much more aggressive supplement program.
Why is it so confusing to choose the right path?
I am sure that many of you are aware of the conflicting studies surrounding nutritional supplements. Of course the media takes it a step further and sends out inflammatory messages to us like “your vitamins may be killing you”. As a health care provider, I also found the information surrounding nutritional supplements to be extremely conflicting. So I did my own research on this subject and found several key issues that impact the reliability of the negative supplement studies.
Problem #1: First of all, most of the studies performed on supplements test an individual vitamin or nutrient in isolation. That’s not how vitamins and nutrients work. They work in a synergy with other vitamins, nutrients, enzymes and co-enzymes to produce the desired affect. When you bite into that strawberry you are getting a well orchestrated symphony of nutrients that work together for optimal absorption and function. While strawberries are nutritious, they are not meant to be your only source of vitamins and nutrients. If all you ate was strawberries, you would most likely get pretty sick. So the key point is that it doesn’t work to test vitamins and nutrients in isolation and that optimal health is a product of the synergistic effect of all of the essential nutrients and vitamins our body needs to maintain a healthy balance.
Problem #2: Not all vitamins are created equally. Nutritional supplements are not subject to FDA scrutiny. Because of this lack of standardization, there are many poor quality supplements on the market. I recommend that you chose supplements that voluntarily meet the same standards that are mandated in the manufacturing of medications. Pharmaceutical grade supplements should be cold processed (because heating the nutrient will destroy it), tested for it’s ability to breakdown in your stomach and be absorbed into your body and tested for chemicals and toxins. This is not the case for many of the cheaper brands on your store shelf. Remember, you get what you pay for. Be an informed consumer. Adding the right high quality nutritional supplements will significantly enhance your lifestyle program.
Recommended nutritional supplements for Diabesity
The recommendations below are based on the fact that many of these vitamins and nutrients are lacking in most Americans and they play an essential role in either insulin sensitivity, glucose regulation, fat metabolism and anti-inflammatory benefits. Remember this post is for educational purposes. To see what Dr. Ruby recommends go to http://drlauraruby.com/recommended-supplements/reversing-diabesity-filling-the-nutritional-gap-with-right-nutritional-supplements/
