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There are a few things in life you can be certain of: Christmas will fall on the same day every year. Your kids will outgrow their blue jeans every year. And every year you’ll find another article in the mainstream media discrediting the use of supplements.
Now, I’m a firm believer that the best way to get the nutrients we need is through clean eating and a wide variety of properly prepared, nutrient-dense foods. But with the depletion of mineral-rich soils, it’s getting more and more difficult to get these nutrients through diet alone.
The solution, however, is not to run to your local big box store for a bottle of discount multivitamins. These are the same products that are made an example of in the annual attacks on supplementation, and with good reason. But the brands mentioned in the New York Times all lack one key distinction: they don’t contain whole food, found-in-nature, familiar-to-your-body ingredients. Rather, they’re full of synthetic components that our bodies don’t recognize or even know what to do with.
So what to do when your body seems to be screaming out for a boost of vitamin C, but oranges are out of season? Be choosy and seek out supplementation that your body can truly benefit from. Look for whole food supplements such as the ones made by Standard Process (SP).
What makes these “whole food” supplements? The ingredients used to formulate them are actually food. Go figure! Standard Process is so committed to their high-quality philosophy that they run their own organic farming operation near the manufacturing facilities. Talk about local!
Dr. Royal Lee, the founder of SP, started his company back in my home state of Wisconsin more than 85 years ago with this philosophy: “Whole foods are the best natural source of vitamins. The key to the highest quality is the manufacturing process.” While Dr. Lee is no longer with us, the company continues to uphold his dedication to providing first-rate nutritional supplements to help remedy the threat of malnutrition.
Nature always knows best. As Richard P. Murray, DC, PA, explains in his booklet Natural vs. Synthetic, Life vs. Death, Truth vs. the Lie, vitamins and minerals are complex substances that work in cooperation with each other to keep our bodies in tip-top health. You see, these nutrients rarely function on their own but rather combine with other vitamins, minerals, and even fats to give you just what you need, right when you need it. Mother Nature is wise to the ways of these complexities, so what better source is there for supplements than real food?
SP also takes quality control very seriously. From start to end of the manufacturing process, each batch is typically tested six times to make certain the final product ends up exactly what they tout it to be. Nothing slips through the cracks. SP even soil tests their organic farm every year to ensure their supplements remain rich in nutrients. Dr. Lee truly set the standard for the industry, and SP works hard to maintain it to this day.
As you can see, not all nutritional supplements are created equal. Much like any other self-health topic, educating yourself gives you the power to make choices that are essential to maintaining optimal health.
Interested in learning more about the differences in the nutritional supplements on the market and why you may need them? Check out these titles:
- The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants by Judith A. DeCava, CNC, LNC. This comprehensive reference explains how and why we’ve been misled to believe that unnatural, synthetic supplements (almost every “vitamin” you find in the health food store) are identical to the nutrients found in real, whole food.
- Empty Harvest: Understanding the Link Between Our Food, Our Immunity, and Our Planet by Dr. Bernard Jensen and Mark Anderson. This book about the link between chronic disease and ecology makes the case that the health of our planet directly affects our own health—and it’s time we took care of them both.
Paula Widish, author of Trophia: Simple Steps to Everyday Self-Health, is a freelance writer and self-healther. She loves nothing more than sharing tidbits of information she discovers with others. (Actually, she loves her family more than that—and probably bacon too.) Paula has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Public Relations and is a Certified Professional Life Coach through International Coach Academy.
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