Are Supplements Necessary?
It used to be easier when you looked for supplements. There were a few protein supplements, bottles of multivitamins, and some individual vitamins. Today, there are fiber bars, Elderberry gummies, and a vast array of protein supplements containing extra nutrients, including dried fruits and vegetables. It’s become a million-dollar business. Sometimes, the supplement is a waste and flushes out of your body. People with adequate vitamin C expel excess vitamin C in urine. Some vitamins or macronutrients are dangerous in large doses. Taking supplements may help or come with problems.
The body can’t use some forms of supplements.
When using vitamins or minerals, bioavailability is a factor. In some omega-3 supplements, like krill oil, the omega-3 is more bioavailable than it is from certain fish oil supplements. Collagen supplements require the body to break it down for use. As people age, their ability to break down and absorb nutrients diminishes. It’s one place where supplementation can be helpful. For those people, easily absorbed supplements are necessary to get the benefits desired.
Studies show that consuming a healthy diet is far better than taking supplements.
While there are many contradictory studies, most find that supplements for the average person aren’t as beneficial as a healthy diet. They also show that people consuming a healthy diet don’t require supplements. One study found that people taking supplements were healthier. When scientists broke the data down into other categories, like a well-balanced diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep, taking the supplements made little difference. The new conclusion changed from supplements improve longer=gevity to people who live healthy lives often take supplements.
Protein supplements are popular with bodybuilders and seniors.
That’s quite a diverse group of people using protein supplements. In many cases, bodybuilders take them to build muscles faster. Seniors often take these supplements to maintain muscle mass. It increases protein in the diet and ensures more is absorbed. Another area of supplements that are growing are dehydrated fruit and vegetable capsules. The nutrients are bioavailable and shown to enter the bloodstream when studied. Besides fruits and vegetables, some capsules contain probiotics and others contain herbs. These may be beneficial, but no supplement can replace a healthy diet.
- Supplements may be helpful for seniors in several ways. Many seniors have diminished appetite, often due to lack of exercise. They may also have dental issues that prevent consuming certain foods. Supplements may offer a good option for filling the nutrition gap.
- Opting for whole food, whether fresh, frozen, or dehydrated, delivers both micronutrients and phytonutrients to the body. Blueberries, for instance, have anticancer properties from the anthocyanin. Taken alone, anthocyanin didn’t have the same effect and required the synergy of other nutrients.
- If you’re deficient in vitamin D, it’s difficult to get from food. Getting sun exposure may not be enough, particularly for people living in the north. Supplementing with vitamin D is beneficial.
- More is not always better. You can consume too many vitamins A, D, E, and K. These are fat-soluble vitamins that don’t flush out of the body when there is excess. Too much protein can be hard on the kidneys.
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People in Houston, TX, have asked whether the paleo diet is as beneficial as some claim. It includes food that our ancestors might have consumed thousands of years ago. That immediately eliminates highly processed foods and foods and focuses on whole foods, which is a healthy step in the right direction. The Paleo diet, named after the Paleolithic era, includes food man ate when he first started to use tools. In that period, man was a hunter-gatherer. The premise is that eating what your ancestors ate provides food your body could easily digest. It eliminates many food items used today, like bread.
If you’re cutting back on carbs or following a keto diet, you want to include the best low-carb foods and avoid the worst ones. Not all carbs are bad. It’s a misconception that often drives people to consume an unhealthy diet. Your body requires carbohydrates for energy. Some contain other nutrients necessary for a healthy body, while others are only empty calories, providing only energy and often containing unhealthy ingredients.
What is belly fat? Most people recognize it immediately. It’s often called a Buddha belly, a spare tire, or a muffin top. Its scientific name is visceral fat. It’s the hardest fat to eliminate. It’s also the most dangerous type of fat. It crowds the organs and affects your health. No matter what exercise you do, you can’t remove fat in just one place. It comes off the body in equal amounts. Some types of cardio are beneficial, but not necessarily the best exercise to reduce it.
Everyone has probably felt the 3 pm slump and looked for food that could supply more energy to get them through to the end of the day. You feel like your body’s energy is nothing more than a puddle beneath your feet. Often people reach for a sugary treat at this time, which is the worst possible choice. It does boost energy for a short time but then drops it even further into the abyss. Some foods help boost your energy and keep you going longer. Eating those foods during meals and as snacks can help solve the problem.
Walk into any health food store in Texas, and you’ll find a variety of protein supplements. Some show bulging muscles on the front of the can, while others are more subtle in their advertising. Are they beneficial? Should everyone take them? One point is that supplements, protein or otherwise, should never replace healthy eating. Protein supplements won’t replace a balanced diet. Using them to replace a healthy diet can and does negatively affect overall health. Supplements can benefit some people but can hurt the health of others.
People in Houston, TX, are learning that eating healthy can be quick, easy, and less expensive than fast food when you learn to meal plan. It helps people stick with healthy eating, and it’s faster than waiting in the drive-through line at the local Burger Quickie. Meal planning is a process. You create menus and a grocery list one day, shop another day, and cook a week’s worth of food on the weekend or your day off work.
Starting the day with a big breakfast was often vital for early farmers who did hard manual labor. It is also vital for most workers who expend high amounts of energy doing their daily work. If you work in an office or a sedentary job, a big breakfast may offer benefits even though you don’t expend the high energy of a pioneer farmer or lift heavy loads that cause you to burn hundreds of calories.
What is BMI? BMI stands for body mass index and is a ratio of height to weight based on sex and sometimes age. It’s just one quick measure of your overall health. BMI is a chart with your height at the side, weight in the middle, and the corresponding BMI at the top of the chart. The BMI formula is (weight in pounds x 703) / (height in inches x height in inches). Putting the information on a chart cuts through calculation time and makes it easy for doctors to take a quick assessment. It’s not a stand-alone test and requires other information.
Many people come to Rising Fitness in Houston, TX, because they love the help of a personal trainer and the equipment available. Some people want to exercise between gym sessions and choose running, walking, and calisthenics. One often-forgotten cardio workout is the jump rope. Jump ropes are inexpensive. You can even do it with the kids. There are several types of jump ropes, including speed and weighted ones, but jump ropes don’t have to be fancy or expensive. You can use a jump rope found in the toy department.