So I’ve been kicking around idea’s for my first post in my Holistic Health category for awhile now, and I finally decided, why not start at the beginning with helping my readers discover 5 top supplements for optimal health?
I feel like this post is past due! If you followed my previous blogs and have been following me on YouTube and Facebook for awhile, you know I’m a 1997 graduate of the School of Natural Healing with a masters in herbology, have been published at Consumer Health Digest, that I teach classes on holistic health, and that our family is reasonably health conscious. Of course if you haven’t followed me long this is new news to you!
I’ve not talked about holistic health much here on my pro blog yet because I’ve been so busy filling my most popular categories, but there is another reason!
Why I Waited…
Okay so bear with me. It’s kind of a long story.
Ever since we moved a year ago my health hasn’t been the greatest. Moving with 6 kids at 8 weeks post partum was just a little more than this mama’s body could handle! Until close to September this year my health was on a steady decline.
In addition to the stresses of the move taking a heavy toll on my husband and I both, the move also disrupted my normal post baby cycles, and so last winter at 6 months post partum we were surprised to learn we were expecting again. Sadly, somewhere around 10 to 12 weeks our little one went to be with Jesus and I ended up miscarrying at what would have been exactly 12 weeks.
To date, I’ve had a still birth and two miscarriages, and the thing about them is they don’t just take deep and heavy toll’s on one’s spirits…..
….but they take a toll on a woman’s health too. So many people don’t realized this, but miscarriages can take weeks to months to recover physically from.
In my case, since I had not quite yet recovered from our sixth baby’s birth and then the move, my health plummeted even further after the miscarriage.
Although there were many things I could and should have been doing to support my health in the months following I just never took the time. I kept trying to pass off my building health issues thinking eventually I would snap out of it, but in August I had a wake up call.
On the first day of our 19-20 homeschool year I heard from my Dr.’s office with the reason my health had been declining for the past year. It turns out I have been battling hypothyroidism-which is actually quite common. In my particular case it could be post-natal hypothyroidism (hopefully it’s not here to stay). By this point I was suffering from nearly all of the symptoms.
Prior to the diagnosis, and even though I’ve helped dozens of people in their journeys to better health for decades, I didn’t feel like I should preach health here when I was taking such poor care of myself, so this is the very long story of why I’ve not yet added to my holistic health categories!
Ever since August though I’ve been meaning to begin adding to my Holistic Heath Category here on this blog, and I’m so excited to finally kick that category off just in time for the 2020 New Year with this post! What better way to kick it off than with the New Year approaching and by sharing pieces of my health journey!
Eventually I’ll share what I’m doing to support my thyroid and how what I’m using is helping my weight to finally go down, but first things first and today we need to start with just the basics!
Why 5 Top Supplements For Optimal Health?
As mentioned above, I’ve been in the health and wellness industry for decades. It’s through these years I’ve discovered 5 top supplements to support optimal health, 3 of which are pretty much undisputed by both the medical and the alternative medicine fields.
You can ask any naturopath, or naturopathic medical dr. and they will tell you the benefits of at least 3 of these first three supplements!
Discover 5 Top Supplements For Optimal Health
1. Probiotics
Probiotics are strains of healthy or “good” bacteria found in small quantities in fermented foods like raw saurkraut, yogurt, kimchee, miso, kombucha, and tempeh.
I’ve created a round up for you of references on why probiotics are one of my top 5 recommended supplements for optimal health.
Bacteria In Gut Linked to Obesity-WebMD
Health benefits of taking probiotics by Harvard Health
Probiotics for Healthy Gut Brain-PubMed
Massive source of probiotic references in this article
Health Benefits of Probiotics
Generally speaking, for people needing to restore a healthy gut bacteria balance and support immune health, fermented foods alone are not enough to make a big difference. This is why taking probiotic supplents can be beneficial.
Most the good one’s are a little pricey, but you don’t have to stay on them all the time. Different health issues impact the duration of time you’ll want to take a probiotic, so this is something you’ll want to discuss with your doctor.
2. Enzymes
One of the many benefits to taking enzymes is they enhance nutrition uptake since they assist with digesting fats, carbs and proteins.
I’ve been a believer in enzymes ever since I went to work for one of the enzyme maker pioneers around 2002. He gave me Food Enzymes: Missing Link to Radiant Health to read so that I could better understand how enzymes work, and I have taken them off and on ever since then and always notice improvements to my weight and health when I’m taking them.
Since 2002 there have been more studies and discoveries when it comes to enzymes, so for this I’m going to pass the baton to everybody’s favorite young Dr. and send you to read Do Digestive Enzymes Prevent Nutrient Deficiencies & Boost Gut Health? by Dr. Axe.
Enzymes became a supplement must have for me when I was dealing with debilitating gall bladder/digestive issues after our 4th baby was born. They made a massive difference in my digestion and enabling me to eat without getting sick afterwards.
3.Whole Food Vitamins
We all know the value of taking vitamins or “Micronutrients” as they are called in the nutritionists world. Ask any Dr. and they’ll generally want you and your kids to be on supplemental vitamins.
But what are “Whole food vitamins“? If you ask me they are truly the only worthwhile vitamin worth taking! So what are they?
You might be surprised to know that they are not entirely what they sound like. Most people mistakenly believe they are 100% derived from whole food sources such as concentrates. This is only about half true though.
Although most whole food vitamins do generally contain mainly whole food concentrates, they do contain some synthetic vitamins as well in most cases. Processing and refinements are usually kept to a minimum.
The principle behind whole food vitamins is that they are more assimilable (usable) by your body. From what I’ve seen they do seem to provide more results.
One of the things we were taught at the School of Natural Healing was that it’s always best to try to get your vitamins from food sources because this is how the body was intended to use and benefit from them. So it only makes sense that the whole food vitamin that is kept as close to a food source is possible would be better.
I can tell you one thing for sure; I always notice a MASSIVE difference in clarity, overall energy, and health when I remember to take my whole food vitamins!
4. Vitamin C
Okay. I know. Duh, Shayla. Everyone knows vitamin c is good. But do you know why?
It helps keep bones, collagen, muscles and blood vessels healthy, and it can help protect us from cancer, stroke, support eye health and so much more.
Vitamin C is an antioxidant. Antioxidants help fight free radical damage and oxidation in cells.
Once again, food sources of Vitamin C and whole food vitamin c sources have been proven to be most effective.
5. Essential Fatty Acids
According to WebMD, EFA’s are a fat you want to be taking. For over 20 years the “health nuts” have been proclaiming the benefits of Essential Fatty Acids though! From balancing triglyceride levels, helping those with rheumatoid arthritis, depression, ADHD, and so much more, Essential Fatty Acids are definitely worth taking daily!
Conclusion
I hope this post has been helpful to you and given you incentive to get on a good supplement regime if you are not already on one!
If you would like to know the brands I have found and trusted as a professional and for my family (there is more than one brand for each of these 5 categories) CONTACT ME and I will send you the list for FREE.
YES! Send Me a List of the BEST Supplement Brands!
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DISCLAIMER; This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure disease. Seek the advice of your qualified medical practitioner to see if the suggestions in this post are right for you.