The Sunny Side of Supplements
“Wait, what?! Aren’t you a ‘food first’ girl, Hilda?! What do you mean there’s a “sunny side” to supplements? Your last blog post was about The Problem With Most Supplements. I don’t get it!”
I can almost hear the objections on speaker from my laptop, lol. But hear me out.
My last post did highlight issues with most supplements. But they’re not all bad! Far from it, actually. Yes, some are all smoke & mirrors with flashy marketing designed to sell you something your body doesn’t need or can’t really benefit from, likely cooked up in a lab. But some supplements are the real deal.
How can you distinguish between the good, helpful formulations and the imposters? I’ll offer a few guidelines below.
But first things first:
Before you add a supplement to your routine, take inventory of your habits and consider my six ancestral secrets. These are basic health hacks that I’ve observed all over the world that can help you regain balance without any supplements at all!
☀️Sunshine– give your body direct natural light input for optimal circadian rhythms, nourishment, and wellbeing. (Yes, the sun nourishes!)
😴Sleep– get plenty of quality rest (stop binge watching Hulu series on tv or scrolling at night)
🧊Shivers– experience your environment/get cold on purpose this fall and winter (your mitochondria will thank you)
🥣Sustenance- eat diet of whole, nutrient dense single-ingredient foods (avoid packaged, ultra-processed food)
💪🏽Strength– move your body consistently (even just walk after every meal)
🙏🏼Spirit– make space for your faith (journal, give thanks, go to church, sing…)
These secrets are simple, but they can get you to a healthy place without needing to pop a pill at all! (And if you’d like help integrating them into your life– check out my course: Health For The Long Haul! Click here for more info on that.)
Now, as promised, here’s how to sniff out the good supplements from the bad::
read the label (watch out for faux friends like folic acid, instead of folate)
look for food-based supplement brands (brands that just list vitamins & minerals but not the sourcing may be synthetic)
find brands that are third-party tested for purity, that check for heavy metals and microbacteria levels
dig around on supplement websites to make sure there are no added fillers, artificial ingredients, flow agents and preservatives .
My rule of thumb is to only take supplements that contain the ingredients I would love to be eating in their whole form, if I could. Let me know in the comments below what you think! What’s your rule of thumb? And what supplements do you take and why?
