Supplement Seminar

Recently I joined the wellness group at my church, White River Christian Church in Noblesville. The group is called LiteHearted, and it is sure to be one of my biggest blessings this year. So much fabulous information on women's wellness spiritually, physically, and nutritionally!

Last night, we had the privilege of having a local chiropractor, Dr. Zimmer, talk about supplements. He first debunked the myth that vitamins just result in expensive urine. I wish I could remember his exact wording, but I'll do my best. Essentially, it's like saying you don't need to drink too much water because you just pee it out anyway. Water is crucial to life, is it not, and drinking lots of it results in good things like clear skin, healthy organs, and a natural way to rid the body of toxins. Yes, you will pee alot if you drink alot of water, but it's still helping your body out. Same is true with vitamins. If you take an optimum amount of vitamins, yes you will rid of some of it in your urine. BUT, the vitamins still do their job for your body, protecting you from all the toxins and pesticides and chemicals we all come across in our daily lives.

It's worth it to invest in a great quality vitamin because there's so much junk and hype out there. Dr. Zimmer listed four questions to ask when choosing a multi-vitamin.

1. Does the multi supply vitamin E in its natural "d" form? Look at the bottle and find the vitamin E. It should read d-alpha-tocopherol, NOT dl-alpha-tocopherol. The dl form is not natural and is in fact derived from petroleum. Remember "dl" stands for don't like!

2. Does the multi supply only higher quality minerals? Higher quality mineral names include: calcium citrate or calcium malate, zinc amino acid chelate or zinc picolinate or zinc glycinate, magnesium amino acid chelate or magnesium citrate or magnesium citramate to name a few examples. Make sure these word do not describe your minerals: carbonate, oxide, gluconate. They are poorer quality.

3. Is your multi completely FREE OF these chemicals? Hold on, the list is long...BHT, hydrogenated oils, polyvinyl alcohol, corn starch, modified food starch, pregelatinized corn starch, artificial colorings or flavorings, polyethylene glycol, sodium benzoate, sucrose, talc, aluminum silicate. Whew!! All junk.

4. Is your multi FREE OF any herbals? Blends of herbs will be listed as a 'proprietary blend' followed by a list of numerous herbs. This is a marketing ploy to make you feel like you are getting a benefit from what is essentially a clinically worthless amount of herbs. Don't be fooled. The herbs probably won't harm you, per Dr. Zimmer. They just aren't doing you any good.

The doctor mentioned that the one supplement he recommends everyone take are omegas (fish oil) in a reputable source that tests for PCBs and rancidity. Good brands are metagenics and nordic naturals. He also touched on the benefits of probiotics, which puts good bacteria in your gut and helps with digestive issues. Find one with billions of a variety of bacteria listed.

The information Dr. Zimmer gave was priceless, as is all of the information at LiteHearted. Join us at WRCC on Monday nights, 6:30pm or contact me for further information about this fabulous group.