Supplements Can’t Beat the Real Thing: Try These Health Secrets & Powerfoods

If you want vitamins to work, ingest them naturally.

Get Your Vitamins and Nutrients Naturally
Get Your Vitamins and Nutrients Naturally

Vitamin Supplements Can’t Beat Natural Powerfoods for Ingested Nutrients

(DM) — This to be a first-person case study. I spent years evaluating vitamin supplements. They don’t work. That leaves you with one choice. Eat the foods that have the vitamins and nutrients you want. As we’ve covered the health benefits of nuts and the nutrients they pack in another article, we won’t cover nuts.

You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet, so remember even though part of this article is the only opinion, some of my facts were gathered which may not be entirely accurate, check with your doctor before considering implementing any of my thoughts in your own personal life.

At 26 years of age I began taking vitamin supplements for about two years; no big deal, I had the money to blow.

That is just it, taking supplements is blowing money. You pee all the vitamins out of your body. It is all I ever heard from friends and doctors. I was a doubter. I tested each of the following in supplement form. My friends and doctors — were proven correct.

Your body never retains the vitamins in supplements. We’ll maybe trace amounts. Perhaps as much as two percent of the overall amount. This is a good reason to not buy a supplement; again this is only my opinion. Meanwhile here are the things I really go for in my diet. I’m going to share my secret life with you. It’s been this way for years. I’m very healthy.


B12: The Answer to Fatigue

B12 supplement
Ingesting B12 Cyanocobalamin as a supplement has little impact.

Are you tired or are you worn out? There is a difference! B12 is widely regarded as the answer to being spent or exhausted. It does not replace sleep. B12 is not for you if you only feel tired.

I lead an active life. I used to be very active in my 20s. I played softball 5 days a week. I could never understand why I felt weak at 6:00 PM standing in the outfield waiting for a fly ball to come my way. Sitting on the bench in the dugout was no better. I didn’t want a nap, I wanted to collapse. I came to believe I had a B12 deficiency due to my debilitating fatigue. I found B12 might offer my answer.

B12’s primary purpose is to create red blood cells. But it does more; it helps with metabolism and more. All good things. While I was always a big fan of B12 I gave up on taking that supplement years ago. I recall playing softball using a dropper to put the liquid under my tongue. It accomplished nothing. Eventually, I learned that although B12 supplements such as spirulina may, in fact, increase risks of B12 deficiency. In the end, the solution was to consume B12 naturally. You find B12 in dairy products and eggs and in meat. The good news — you can’t really overdose on B12.

One alternative is B12 injections.

B12 FAQ’s

What is B12?

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient. It makes DNA and keeps the body’s nerves and blood cells healthy. It’s mostly used in preventing anemia and fatigue.

What do I wear to paintball?

Dress for the weather and ease of movement. Sneakers are better than boots. Dress for long-range. New players are placed in long-distance game situations to minimize a paintball impact making a hoodie unnecessary. If you intend to shoot at close range, then protect your pain points, fingers, flank and neck.

What is paintball?

Paintball uses 68 caliber gel-filled shells shot through a paintball marker. Teams play objective-based and-or elimination. A player leaves the game when a thumbnail size of paint has marked them. Paintball is a game of tempered aggression using tactics and athleticism. Paintball is a game of angles.

Lycopene

Lycopene

Next up is Lycopene. One of my favorite nutrients. Lycopene is found in tomatoes of course. What does it do? Lycopene is heavily advertised as an antioxidant. What does an antioxidant do for you?  Mainly it reduces the risk of cancers.

Processed tomatoes do it best. Be advised unless you cook your tomatoes, levels remain low. Cooking them will raise your lycopene levels in your body. Studies shown in Italians make the case for cooking tomatoes to raise lycopene levels.

You can also get lycopene in pink grapefruit or watermelon. For me, I know one thing for certain. I eat grape and cherry tomatoes like crazy. My family never knows that when I stop at the bank, I stop at the grocery store. I buy a box of grape tomatoes and off the whole box in the car. We all have our quirks. I may not really increase my levels of lycopene, but they taste good, they fill my belly, and can’t hurt.

I also stock up on fruit naturals grapefruit in cups. Very little sugar and refreshing as all can be.  I keep them with me for paintball or skating outings.

http://www.lycopene.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopene


Resveratrol

Resveratrol
Resveratrol is highest in Green Tea, but only if you drink it brewed it fresh.

Next is resveratrol. No, it is not an exotic town in southern Crimea. I’ll admit I learned of this item recently during my lifetime. Once again this is a big-time antioxidant. Like in the tomato ketchup industry you have to balance what you read with what this nutrient may indeed do for you.

Here is the word on resveratrol. This single active ingredient is thought to be a truly powerful antioxidant. The list of benefits is compelling.

Resveratrol can help fight obesity by oxidizing radical fat proteins keeping those blood vessels clear — and studies on mice bring on the clam resveratrol can prolong your life. Come on, prolong life? That is where I start getting cynical when anyone makes that claim about anything other than, “don’t smoke, that will prolong your life”. But that is what is being said of this nutrient.

It can double your exercise endurance (right, for me you just do more push-ups and you get better at push-ups, etc…) More than an energy source, there’s a list of potential health benefits. It can lower your chance of heart disease.

Studies on a nutrient fighting desire for food consumption get my attention. One of the latest things I found out was that resveratrol may help with Alzheimer’s disease. Resveratrol may help with diabetes. I like that. Diabetes steals your energy and robs you of life. I love energy and love to live every moment.

Benefits of Resveratrol
The big take-away with Resveratrol is the promotion of healthy blood flow.

Resveratrol is another nutrient with antioxidant activity, and combating metabolic diseases are answers I always search for. Before I cut back on refined and unrefined sugars, I drank a lot of Welche’s grape juice which offers antioxidants with benefits for your skin.

Alas, the place to get resveratrol naturally is in red wine. You can also get it by eating peanuts, pistachios, and grapes. One problem with all this is beyond the fact that I don’t do supplements if grapes are sprayed with insecticides I read that you lose the resveratrol in the grape. A few other sources are fresh green tea, dark chocolate, cranberries, and blueberries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol


Vinegar

Vinegar
Dilute vinegar. Drinking it straight is too much of a good thing. It will harm your throat walls and more. Research this!

Next is vinegar and its important nutrient is acetozym. I’ll take a teaspoon of vinegar each day to keep my bloodstream clean.  Of all my consumable nutrients vinegar may well be my favorite. When I was in my teen years I ate more salads than I can remember. I recall people I worked with in my twenties telling me all they could about how I should avoid ice-burg lettuce because it was the worst roughage I could eat.

They couldn’t slight my tomatoes or red win vinaigrette dressings or my Italian dressings. For years I got away from my garden salads in preference to the fashionable Caesar salad.  I’m back on my garden salads and firmly believe I’m better off for it.

Why am I hooked on vinegar?

It can lower high blood pressure and as I get older I want to avoid that like the plague.  It keeps your arteries super clear and it will get right into your bloodstream. Try that with a supplement.

You can get down in the dirt on vinegar as some tout coconut vinegar over apple cider vinegar. What is certain, don’t shoot it shot-glass style. It must be diluted.

The bottom line these are simple foods easily ingested, and taste better than swallowing a pill.


Diatoms

Diatoms
Diatoms are measured in nanometers and microns.

Late to the game of health tricks in my life is the diatom. A diatom is a photosynthesizing microalga. My introduction to the diatom was through diatomaceous earth. You can apply it to your skin. You can ingest it. It’s your source for silica. While it treats high cholesterol and constipation, it also helps with hair, bones, teeth, and even helps in cleaning drinking water. I found mixing diatomaceous earth with anything that has zero impact on flavor. I will discolor your drink, but it has absolutely no effect on taste.

I stumbled upon this in the most unusual way. I play paintball. We run around in the woods for hours. At one field in the pinelands of New Jersey, I would suffer terrible bouts with chiggers after playing all day at that location. Chiggers are microscopic bugs that drill into your skin, leave offspring and when you itch, it sets in motion a horrible three weeks of hell. I solved the problem over time.

Diatoms Diagram
Diatoms are microscopic. They are sharp-edged. This allows them to cut into insects the size of a chigger.

One solution which is my best solution is drinking a mix of lemonade and diatomaceous earth for three to four days prior to an event. I also apply some to my skin and clothing. What does it do? These little critters are super tiny with razor-sharp edges that cut into the shell of a chigger. It takes time for death to occur but in the case of chiggers, it acts as a deterrent. By drinking diatoms, your body secretes them out through the skin (or so it is been said).

One thing is certain. It works.

This fine white powder is easy to add to your stable of food supplements. They are said to do wonders on the parasites in your gut. A tablespoon will do if you are doing this daily.


In Conclusion

Taking vitamin supplements is heavily regarded as a waste of money. Research this point. You’ll come around. When you do, you’ll know the only real answer is to eat your nutrients. Get your vitamins naturally or you won’t get them at all.