To supplement or not to supplement? That is the question.

Question this week:  What in the world do we do with supplements?

Hi.  So it’s been another week and here’s what went well.

First, I have continued with every good habit.  I’m not joking when I say that I have kept to my word on all 52 fronts. Hardest part is fasting, but I do an 18 hour fast just once a week and it's OK.

My top health concerns going into all of this were stress, chronic hip pain, lack of sleep, and high anxiety.  I can say that each of these has improved…dramatically.  I sleep eight hours a night.  My anxiety has decreased.  My hip pain (while still there) has gone down, probably due to decreased inflammation.  The inflammation probably has decreased because of my using yoga, green tea, and eating only fresh whole foods.  In fact, the only processed food I’ve eaten since I began this endeavor is dark chocolate (which in itself is anti-inflammatory).

Now, my favorite part of every single day is my contemplative meditation practice.  It helps me so much to focus and to be present.  It’s become a new addiction and it has helped with the decrease in anxiety.  Here is the mantra I speak in my head as I meditation:

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May I be peaceful and light in body and spirit.

May I be safe and free from injury.

May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.

May I be free from anxiety, anger, affliction, and delusion.

May I seek to nourish and touch the seeds of joy in myself.

May I learn to see and identify the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in myself.

May I know how to flourish and grow the sense of well-being in my life and the lives of those I touch.

May I be able to live fresh, solid and free.

May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not indifferent.

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What I seek a return to is my four year old self, before I understood the meaning of suffering or sorrow.  Now, I know some four year olds in the world have and are currently experiencing such suffering, yet even when I work with four year old refugees and orphans, they have an expansive sense of presence and happiness.  This is a picture of me from that time of my life, and it is the childlike image that I want to return to.  My childhood friend Ted found this picture of me in a mountain of old slides and he sent it to me this past week.  It is the perfect image for what I want to achieve in meditation.

Yup, this little girl is where I want to be.  The practice of meditation can bring us back to the beauty of those childlike moments.

Now, my subject for this week.  SUPPLEMENTS.  Three recent studies found that supplements are useless.  Take a look here:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/health/multivitamins-studies/

The actual studies cited in the article looked, in various ways, at control groups who took supplements and those who did not, in a double-blind study.  What they found was ZERO increase in actual health for those who took multivitamins.  And, in fact, we may be dangerously over-supplementing some things like Vitamins A and E which are toxic.

There are still some supplements worth taking, especially if you need them for various illnesses or deficiencies.  I still take a probiotic, cinnamon, magnesium, calcium, and Vitamin D.

Probiotics – the enzymes help with digestion and we are lacking probiotics in the western gut because of all the anti-bacterials we use.  We need more bacteria down there to help with allergies and digestion.  It’s funny, but my dermatologist said the other day that we should “all roll around in the dirt once a day” and that this would probably end most allergies.  We need the good bacterias and they have been scrubbed from our lives.

Cinnamon – one teaspoon per day of Ceylon Cinnamon helps significantly with blood sugar regulation. 

Magnesium – I get severe muscle cramping and a daily dose of magnesium helps to bring this down.

Calcium – since I don’t drink milk, I take a good calcium supplement to make up for that.

Vitamin D3 – I live in Michigan.  We have no sun at this time of year.  Enough said!

Since I stopped taking a multivitamin, I have not felt any different and so, I am dropping this from my regimen for good…or until another study comes out to prove this one wrong!  I’m just thankful for all the extra cupboard space in my kitchen.

And in all honesty, I eat lots of fresh whole foods in great variety of color and texture every day…I’m probably getting every nutrient I need from food.