How to Choose the Right Supplements for You

Supplements are used for all kinds of things, but their best use is to supplement your diet. Over the years, the nutritional value of our food has steeply declined. There is less nutrient dense soil to grow our food in and more fillers and additives in our processed foods making our food less nutritious than it used to be. Even with the most perfect diet, chances are you still aren’t getting enough of the vitamins + minerals your body needs to thrive.

Here at Rise, we like to prioritize cleaning up your diet first. Not in a way that is restrictive, but in a way that promotes balance, allows you to eat the foods you enjoy, and provides you with the most optimum nutritional value. Once we help you find foods that can become a lifestyle, we then like to look at your diet to help you fill in the gaps to get the nutrients you may not be getting enough of. 

Based on an average diet, these are the most common things we find that our patients may need:

• • – Vitamin D
  • – Multi-Vitamin or Prenatal— prenatal vitamins are a great swap for a multivitamin for any female in their reproductive years even if they don’t intend to get pregnant.
  • – Magnesium
  • – Fish Oil 

While that is not an all inclusive list it can be a good starting point to provide general nutrition support to your lifestyle. If you’re looking for a customized look at your diet and what supplements you’d benefit from, Jay offers a consultation & a personalized supplement plan that you can book with him here. 

When you go to pick out supplements, it can be kind of overwhelming. 

If you’ve ever walked into Fresh Thyme— or any other health foods store or pharmacy, and walked into the supplement aisle and thought I have no clue what to buy you aren’t alone. There are a million options and I think most shockingly not much (if any of it) is regulated. 

Supplement brands have a lot of flexibility to put whatever they’d like in their vitamins without anyone ever double-checking it. 

If that doesn’t sit well with you, again you’re not alone. 

So when you go to pick out your supplements one of the two things to look for is if the brand does any 3rd party testing. Meaning, do they invite other laboratories and companies to test their products, either through research to prove their effectiveness, or to investigate the accuracy of their labeling and product. Other companies will test and publish their own research on their own products. And while this is not as reliable as having a 3rd party look at their brand, it is better than no testing at all. 

Another thing to be aware of is the formulation that the supplements come in. Some forms of a supplement may be more absorbable than others. For example, Vitamin D2 is pretty tough for the body to absorb. And once it is absorbed, the body then has to convert D2 into vitamin D3, the active form of the supplement that the body can actually utilize. So if given the choice, a D3 supplement is preferred, as it is easier to absorb and less work for the body to use it. 

Other supplements come in different forms and they have different functions in the body. For instance Magnesium— Magnesium Glycinate is the most easily absorbed form of magnesium. It is found to be best for relaxing tight muscles and reducing stress and headaches. Whereas Magnesium Citrate is still effective but tends to be less absorbable. It will also help to relax tight muscles but it has a greater effect on smooth muscle than Magnesium Glycinate. Things like your intestines are made of smooth muscle, so Magnesium Citrate has been shown to help improve constipation and promote regular bowel movements, which is something Magnesium Glycinate is less effective at. 

It is not to say there are always good and bad forms, but rather pros and cons to each supplement. The supplement industry can be quite confusing, so we encourage you to work with a provider who can give you personalized advice. 

The other thing to know about supplements is that when you take them and what you take them with might make a difference 

For example, since magnesium is a ‘relaxer’ by nature, some people feel magnesium makes them tired. Taking it in the evening within an hour before bed may help to improve your sleep, allowing you to fall asleep faster and get some deeper, more restful sleep. Other supplements require one another for absorption but often can inhibit each other too. Let’s look at collagen for example. Collagen needs vitamin C in order to be absorbed into the body, without vitamin C your body can’t do much with the collagen and you end up getting rid of it. Good quality collagen will come with a little vitamin C with it, but it’s always something worth checking the label for. At the same time, vitamin C inhibits iron absorption. So if you take iron and Vitamin C at the same time, the iron will pass right through you as iron and vitamin C have to compete for the same receptors. These are just a few examples but goes to show you that what supplements you take and how you take them isn’t all that straightforward. 

So what do we recommend? 

First- choose reputable brands. Personally, we love Thorne and most of our supplements come from them. But they aren’t the only great option. Other brands like Nordic Naturals, Orthomolecular, Pure Encapsulations, and Metagenics have some great products too. 

Second— if you don’t feel comfortable navigating the supplement world on your own, work with a provider that can help you. Jay’s supplement plan service is one of the most popular ways to work with him. And you can learn more about that here. 

In the end remember, that supplements don’t replace your diet. They’re just an enhancement to fill in what your body may not be getting elsewhere. And when you invest in supplements, make sure you go for quality so that you can get the most bang for your buck!