Wellness

[CoastalGal]

i am 52 , eat pretty healthy and exercise regularly. I feel at this age I need to really be careful and try to stay as healthy as possible since it seems I keep hearing of people getting cancer or having some other health crisis. But what do we REALLY need to supplement with. I do take a few things, but I feel the more I listen To Andrew and read bout supplements , the more i fear I will end up taking a gazillion pills.

[millieshops]

@CoastalGalGood question.  I have a dozen years on you and I find the maze of supplements nearly impossible to navigate.  I do take two scripts daily, but the only supplement is an Omega3 my opthalmologist recommended I try because of my troublesome dry eye.  Just this summer because I know I don't eat as well as I should (living alone is dangerous in more ways than one!) I added a multuvitamin for senior women.  That's it for now. 

Basically, I think I'm lucky - there's not even a Tylenol or aspirin in my house right now!  I can't walk up stairs as fast as I used to nor can I walk as far as I used to, and I'm perfectly aware I'm somewhere in the last quarter of my life, but I'm looking forward to living it without any more supplements.  Scripts- very likely but new supplements --  for me only if there's great new info from an independent source.

[VaBelle35]

Andrew is the first one to tell you to eat healthy and move.  If you aren't doing those 2 things, supplements will not do you justice.

I would start at your diet and look at how healthy it really is.  Track your food for a week on places like MyFitnessPal or Sparkpeople to see what your macronutrient breakdown is.

This will be your first step in seeing just how well rounded and healthy your diet really is.

If you are concerned about cancer and other things that can be related to the environment, then start to look at your BPA intake (cans, plastic, etc.) and non-organic, non-grassfed foods.

After you look at your diet, look at your movement.  No one needs to join a gym.  Walking (any speed, any length), will do you good.  And moving all day long (vs moving for one hour a day or standing for an hour a day) is starting to look like the absolute best thing for you.

Start there and then see where you need to supplement.

[sidsmom]

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@VaBelle35 wrote:

Andrew is the first one to tell you to eat healthy and move.  If you aren't doing those 2 things, supplements will not do you justice.

I would start at your diet and look at how healthy it really is.  Track your food for a week on places like MyFitnessPal or Sparkpeople to see what your macronutrient breakdown is.

This will be your first step in seeing just how well rounded and healthy your diet really is.

If you are concerned about cancer and other things that can be related to the environment, then start to look at your BPA intake (cans, plastic, etc.) and non-organic, non-grassfed foods.

After you look at your diet, look at your movement.  No one needs to join a gym.  Walking (any speed, any length), will do you good.  And moving all day long (vs moving for one hour a day or standing for an hour a day) is starting to look like the absolute best thing for you.

Start there and then see where you need to supplement.

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Love your response!

Optimum health = No supplements

Food is the most important part of the equation.

Food can Heal; Food can Kill.

Adding supplements just puts more stress on your internal workings.  Your liver has to process all of this artificial intake.  Your food should provide everything you need to live a healthy life*.  I would suggest putting your energies & money into higher quality food before supplementing.

*B12 for plant-based diet

[willdob3]

We all have different needs. There is no little list of supplements that will work for everyone - or even most. Know your own body & your own needs. Look at your labs, your age, your health. Research and then research a lot more.

And, if your nutrition is not healthy (not just what you eat in general but the quality of the food) you need to start there. Supplements cannot make up for poor nutrition. 

[sfnative]

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@CoastalGal wrote:
i am 52 , eat pretty healthy and exercise regularly. I feel at this age I need to really be careful and try to stay as healthy as possible since it seems I keep hearing of people getting cancer or having some other health crisis. But what do we REALLY need to supplement with. I do take a few things, but I feel the more I listen To Andrew and read bout supplements , the more i fear I will end up taking a gazillion pills.

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@CoastalGal

An excellent question!

We moved back to California when I was that age and fortunately hooked up with a fantastic Internist.  He was brilliant and not adverse to East and West medicine in his practice.  (FYI: I eat and have always eaten a well balanced food plan.)

He was not a proponent of taking even a moderate amount of supplements.  The supplements I ended up taking were based on my labs.  Since I was low in Vitamin D, he started me off on a relatively high dose, then down to the daily 4,000iu I take to this day.  Since there is a more than moderate history of osteoporosis on my Dad's side of the family and the bone density he ordered already had me at osteopenia, I take calcium twice daily (can't recall the dose right off the bat).  Also, I came up anemic due to a lack of B12, which was caused by absoption issues in my gut, so a sublingual B12 was "prescribed" (Trader Joe's - he took those as well).  And, Vitamin E, for the chronic migraine I have. 

That's it.  I've never felt better after having taken any supplement, even the B12, which I thought should have done so.

Anyway, I'd advise not to sweat it.  What's important, based on my college level Nutrition course and fantastic professor, is to obtain the nutrients required in their NATURAL form; e.g., through the consumpton of quality meat, fish and and produce.  When a determination is made that your food plan does require supplementation, I'd advise speaking with a Registered Dietician, if you really want to do it right, without guessing and spending a huge amoung of money.

I must tell you this:  My Dad started his fetish with supplements in the 50s.  Yes, the 50s!!!  By the time he was in his 60s, his consumption of food was down by at least 50%, as was that of my stepmother and their consumption of supplements off the charts.  They spent hundreds of dollars each month on supplements, instead of eating healthful meals.  Just previous to his passing, my Dad weight 92 lbs on a 6' frame.  Of course this is vitamin and mineral supplement addiction gone very bad.

Please, everyone, know that you MUST be mindful of the PITCH.  Vitamins and minerals in a bottle are rarely a supplement for FOOD!!!  Be wary of the claims being made on television or the radio.  And, do read about the placebo effect.

[blackhole99]

I agree you can go over board on supplements, but unless you are raising and growing your own food organically there is no way your nutrition is good enough to go with out supplementation. Food for the masses are grown on factory farms where the soil is depleated and chemicals and pesticides are used in abundance. My husband and I have been taking supplements for 40 years and are very healthy at 65 and 71 years of age. We do watch what we eat and exercise and as long as we can afford quality supplements will continue to take them.

[151949]

I think if you do not have any health issues then all you need is a good balanced diet and no supplements at all. 

[jubilant]

I take a supplement for women over 50 and vitamin D for when my D goes low.  In the winter especially as it is so cold and snowy that we don't get out in the sun much.  That's it!

[sfnative]

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@CoastalGal wrote:
i am 52 , eat pretty healthy and exercise regularly. I feel at this age I need to really be careful and try to stay as healthy as possible since it seems I keep hearing of people getting cancer or having some other health crisis. But what do we REALLY need to supplement with. I do take a few things, but I feel the more I listen To Andrew and read bout supplements , the more i fear I will end up taking a gazillion pills.

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@CoastalGal

Hi Liveoutloud,

You've made a great positive statement in saying that you "...eat pretty healthy and exercise regularly."  Frankly, that's wonderful and not many people can say what you've just said.

Looking back, human-kind has been born, consumed food, procreated, sickened and died for thousands and thousands of years without supplements.  And the beat went on until several things occurred: the discovery that cleanliness is important to basic health and most importantly to the birthing process; to the discovery of bacteria and how they do their "business" to a means of defeating bacterial infections; and, I could go on and on, but will say that all of the advances in medicine and/or increasing "man's" longevity and quality of life have had absolutely nothing to do with popping supplements.

At present, one would be remiss not to approach ones daily food plan through an educated study of your family history.  If, as is my case, you have a family history of osteoporosis, which may or may not include fractures, upon advisement you may include calcium and D3 supplements.  This may also include magnesium, but not if you have an issue with diarrhea.

If anyone is out there touting that their capsules or pills can help prevent cancer and you're tempted to purchase because your family on either or both sides has a history of cancer - are you really going to fall for this?  Remember, the cancer risk exists in your DNA and there isn't any supplement on any shelf on any channel that can affect a change to your DNA to rid your cells of a familial cancer risk.

I'll stop here.  Please just think rationally before making ANY supplement purchase.  Aside from the Lessman pitches, and pitches they are, will your body suffer , if you do not take the supplements touted and pitched by Lessman???