We have all walked by the vitamin and supplement section of a local grocery store and just stared. There are so many different vitamins, “green” supplements, and protein powders. Many of us purchase them believing they will make us feel better or make us look better. Others believe that vitamins and supplements are nothing more than a marketing gimmick and do not help our bodies at all.
No matter what your opinion is, the truth is that those supplements and vitamins actually help your body. It’s just understanding what you need and what they do for your body. In this blog, we’ll explore why supplements are needed to achieve your optimal health.
What Do Vitamins & Supplements Do?
Vitamins and supplements will never be able to replace a healthy diet and lifestyle. Visualize a pyramid made of LEGOs or building blocks for a few seconds. A well-balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats is the foundation of your pyramid. Lifestyle habits such as sleeping, exercising, minimal to moderate drinking, avoiding smoking, etc., is the second row of blocks within your pyramid. Your lifestyle habits use a healthy diet as a nourishment foundation.
However, even with a healthy diet, getting all the nutrients your body needs to function at its optimal can be difficult. This means that some of your foundation blocks are not as strong, and we all know that a strong foundation prevents the pyramid from collapsing. So, what do supplements do?
Supplements act as the reinforcement for those weak foundation blocks. They fill in your nutritional gaps, support your overall health, and ensure that your body gets all the nutrients it needs to function properly.
The Backup Your Body Needs
Vitamins and supplements that you take essentially act as the backup that your body needs. There are certain vitamins that your body needs that it does not produce. Sometimes you might get this vitamin from the foods that you eat, but in reality, you might not get enough. The easiest way to get the amount that you need would be to take a supplement. Let’s give an example to help you understand better.
Vitamin C is a commonly known vitamin and is used to support the immune system. Your immune system works 24/7 to keep you healthy by fighting infections, viruses, bacteria, etc., and it requires a variety of nutrients to function at its best. Unfortunately, the body does not produce vitamin C, so what does that mean? It means that you have to get vitamin C from your nutrition to help with your immune system. Unless you eat a cup of broccoli or orange daily, you might not be giving your body the support it needs. This is where the vitamin C supplement comes in. You would take this once a day to ensure you have your needed dose.
People with certain lifestyles and health conditions benefit from supplements. For example, vegans and people with osteoporosis (loss of bone) may benefit from calcium and vitamin D supplements to support bone health. Calcium is essential to keep our bones strong and helps in the regenerative process of building new bone and replacing old bone. But it turns out that your body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium. Vitamin D is a hormone our body creates. It helps those with osteoporosis increase their bone health by absorbing more calcium from their diet. Since vegans don’t consume animal products, any calcium absorbed via diet is minimal. Integrating calcium and vitamin D supplements into their diet will help vegans maintain healthy and strong bones.
Find Out What Supplement You Need & Use Them
Those are just some examples of common supplements and why they are used. If you want a more extensive list of the most common supplements and what they do, visit our website and read “How long does it take for a vitamin to work?”
It’s a great idea to figure out what supplements and vitamins you may be lacking and add them to your daily regimen. You may have a healthy lifestyle and eat healthily, but it is very likely that you are lacking some vitamins.
Supplements and vitamins should not replace a healthy diet and lifestyle; they are necessary for optimal health.
If you want to know which supplements you might need, please book a consultation with MyCHN. Whether you are looking to become less susceptible to colds, manage a chronic health condition, prevent a future health problem, or ensure that you fill all nutritional needs, supplements are helpful. Always speak with a health professional before starting a new supplement or vitamin to ensure you take the ideal high-quality supplement in the correct dose.
Tolulope Ayoola
Tolulope Ayoola is the creative marketing content writer at MyCHN. She graduated from the University of Houston-Downtown with a degree in Technical Communications. Her goal and mission is to make healthcare patient content more relatable and interesting to interact with. She combines her creative eye with her technical communication skills to create content for patients. Tolu's past work includes creating blogs, press releases, and social media content for different sectors. She enjoys spending time with her family, writing, and listening to music & podcasts.
