Photo: lrargerich

I’m asked time and time again if people really need to take supplements. People say to me, “shouldn’t we be getting all our nutrients from food?” “Don’t we just pee out most of the pills anyway?” “Isn’t it kinda a waste of money?”

Or my favorite, “I am a food purest, eat all organic, non-processed foods, and synthetic vitamins are not a part of my regimen.”

Well, ok then. So, the answers I give to these questions/statements:

1) Bad Pollution!

Well, we should be getting enough nutrients from our food, but we’ve polluted the earth so badly and ruined our soil with pesticides and genetic modification that there is virtually no way to get everything that we need simply from food at this point.

Even if you don’t believe this to be true, consider this: our forefathers actually ate more food than we did, ingesting many more calories (and nutrients) because they spent most of their day doing physical labor.

With our sedentary lifestyle (except for all the Olympic athletes), if we consumed the same amount of food they did (which some people do, but that is very often nutrient-lacking AND depleting fast and processed foods), we would all be blimps. But our bodies were hard-wired through evolution to need these amounts of vitamins and minerals.

2) Reduce, Reuse, Replenish

Photo: takomabibelot

Yes, if you are consuming water-soluble vitamins, such as B-vitamins and Vitamin C, your body will excrete what it doesn’t need. But because your body excretes what it doesn’t need, there are no stores in reserve unlike with fat-soluble vitamins (such as Vitamins A, D, E, K), so you need to constantly replenish it.

Do we get the amount of Vitamin C in our food that gives our immune system enough of a power-packed punch to deal with all the coffee, tea, and sugar–all water-excreting diuretics–we consume, much less all the toxins our body comes in contact every single day (starting when you wake up on your chemical-filled mattress and pillow)?

Uh, I don’t think so. Plus, many cancers are now being connected with a lack of Vitamin D, PMS with low levels of Magnesium, and skin disorders with a lack of Vitamin K. And the list goes on (and we don’t even know the half of it).

In other words, take a multi.

3) Crap Can Only Produce Crap

What is a waste of money are big chain stores brands (which I won’t mention here because I don’t want to get sued for slander). They come from crappy materials to begin with, and you can’t really make something good out of crap unless you are composting it.

And that is what happens when the whole damn vitamin goes through your body into the toilet without a nibble being absorbed by your body (there have been studies on this phenomenon. Believe it). So yes, I recommend spending the extra $5, $10, $20 on good supplements.

I know that your wallet is in deep pain as your fork over the cash for higher quality supplements, but learn from the realities of your friends, parents or grandparents taking 10 different types of medications a day just to get out of bed–investing in yourself now reaps many rewards in the future. Otherwise you are really just throwing money in the toilet.

And by the way, just because they sell it at an official “health foods store” doesn’t mean it is quality, either. Beware, ask around, and read the label closely.

4) Your Ego Doesn’t Nourish You

Ok, purest. I know you are the supreme raw foodest/wheat grass and algae drinking/bee pollen taking/chia seed chomping/kelp-imbibing person out there, and I know loads of fabulous, pure love has been added to all that you intake from both those who made it and from you before eating it.

I know that you are getting lots of good stuff inside of you any time you open your mouth. I know that the energy of the universe is fulfilling you in numerous ways. I’m not making fun of you here. But I am here to tell you, you NEED supplements. Maybe even more than some people who eat McDonalds hamburgers.

Raw foods revolution
Photo: Geoff604

While I was a strict vegan, half raw-foodist, my body began to break down miserably from the lack of Zinc, B12, and iron. And I know when I was in that place, I didn’t believe all of those meat-eating, hydrogenated-oil ingesting carnivores. They were hardly the picture of health.

And I could easily recite the “I can get enough B12 from sea vegetables, vitamin A from vegetables, and iron from sprouted beans” routine. But I paid the price of needing years to build back up a body that was probably already depleted before I went the raw food route, and just became more so because of the diet.

Especially if you are a woman, the lack of enough complete proteins makes a huge impression on your cycle. I understand the lifestyle choice, all of the ethical reasons, and how it is a strong signal to the world of peace and maintaining a smaller eco-footprint. But without supplementation, I promise, after years, your body will suffer.

Have some more questions about supplementing your diet? Let me know in the comments section.