Learn how to choose the right supplement: It doesn's have to be guesswork

How to choose the right supplement:
Know the facts

More and more people are turning to nutritional, dietary and herbal supplements to prevent diseases and promote general good health.

Growing numbers feel that modern medicine is failing to address the issues that are important to them. They are also concerned about the huge cost of medical care and are looking to maintain wellness and avoid the need to be on so many prescription drugs.

The human body is continuously under attack as our modern lifestyles expose us to processed unnatural foods as well as toxins in the air we breath and the water we drink. There are many aspects of modern day life that threaten to damage our health and push us down a path of poor health.

Even health conscious people can struggle to get all the basic elements they need.

Nutritional supplements can be the answer for many people as they provide the essential elements our bodies need to thrive and achieve the best health possible.

It is important to remember that although dietary supplements are a great way to complement your diet, they are not a replacement for healthy eating. Taking the right supplement will definitely improve your health, however if you eat healthy and take the proper supplement, you will give you body the best chance to achieve maximum wellness.

Choose your supplements wisely

I think we can all see that supplements can be beneficial to our health, however not all supplements are created equal. Just as there are different levels of quality in the food we eat and the products we buy there are quality levels in supplements. As the nutritional health and wellness industry grows by leaps and bounds (partly due to the aging baby boomers) many companies are putting vitamins and supplements on the shelves and online. It is becoming increasingly difficult to know if you are getting quality that you can trust.

A recent study shows that the likelihood of choosing a non-toxic and effective health supplement from the overwhelming array of products that are available is only 2.5%. In other words, there is a 97.5% chance that without investigating the reliability of the product yourself you could select a nutritional product that might be hazardous to your health.

With the large amount of products to choose from and the sometimes overwhelming amount of advertising and information being thrust upon us it can be difficult to know where to start. Who can you trust and what is actually good for you?

It comes down to making choices. Research your products and the companies that make them before you put your health on the line.

Many of us agonize over what clothes or car or TV we should buy but just grab the cheapest vitamin on the shelf. Its your body and your life. The choices you make now affect your future health and wellness.

So how do you choose?

First let me educate you on some information that I wasn’t aware of until just recently and I think most other people don’t know either.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not regulate the vitamin and supplement industry. That means that what is written on the label of a vitamin bottle might be true but also might be just a scam trying to make the supplement look better than it is. There is no one regulating what can or cannot be said about the effectiveness of the supplement.

This also means that there are no laws regulating the serving size or amount of vitamin and/or mineral contained in each tablet or capsule you are ingesting. No one to make sure it is a dosage your body needs and can use to maintain health.

Many vitamins work together in your body and if the proper amounts of each are not ingested together they might as well not be ingested at all. They could actually do more harm than good.

Another important thing I have learned during my supplement research is that many of the vitamins available use fillers and artificial ingredients in their products. I always thought if you bought Vitamin C then the pill was all Vitamin C. Turns out it might have things like petroleum in there too. It might even have more ‘junk’ then it does the actual vitamin.

The first step:

The first step in choosing a vitamin or supplement is choosing a vitamin or supplement company.

Look at the label of any vitamin you plan on purchasing and see who the company is and check for contact information. Look them up on the internet or even call them and find out some of their manufacturing practices.

Do they follow and meet with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliance?

Are the products they make independently tested and analyzed for effectiveness?

Does the manufacturer test the supplements for purity and potency?

What types of ingredients are used? Are they natural or synthetic?

Are the products bioavailable? Meaning does it actually get absorbed and used by the body and not just get passed through the system as waste.

Is the product full of fillers and other artificial ingredients? Many companies use fillers, binders and coatings in their vitamin tablets. These are usually inactive ingredients that are unnecessary for your body and can actually do harm.

Fillers are just that. They fill up space and help form the tablet.

Binders help keep everything together. Many times these can actually be harmful and include such things as gum, carbopol and povidone.

Coatings help keep it all together and can contain artificial flavors to make it taste better. (if you are trying to cover up petroleum and other nasty things no wonder you need artificial flavors.)

While it might be necessary to have some fillers, binders and coatings, be sure you know what they are and if they are safe and natural.

All of this information should be available on the company’s website or by contacting their customer service representatives. If you are unable to find it or if they are unwilling to share this kind of information then it is probably in your best interest to avoid these supplements.

The second step:

Another good thing to do along with researching the company and it policies is to research and educate yourself on how vitamins and supplements affect your body.

Learn what vitamins work together and why you need a good balance. Taking too much of a vitamin or taking an improper balance of vitamins can actually do more harm than good.

This knowledge can help you when it comes to choosing which supplements to purchase.

WOW, that seems like a lot to do just to pick out a vitamin or supplement.

I agree and that’s why I am writing this page and more importantly this website. I am trying to do the work for you and put all the information I learn in place.

But please remember – I am not regulated by the FDA and I could be just feeding you a big pile of -----. SO I encourage you to still do some research on your own. Check up on what I am telling you. I think you will find that I am not just feeding you a line to get you to buy a product, but that I am actually telling you the truth and that I am trying to give you a push in the right direction toward achieving a Healthy Life.

What I chose and WHY.

By following the steps outlined above, I found a company and a group of products that definitely top the list when it comes to quality and effectiveness.

The Shaklee Company is top notch. They have been in business for over 50 years and they produce a great line of products.

Click here to read my page on Why Shaklee.

It tells about all the research and evaluation they put into each and every product they offer. In fact a new study done by UC Berkeley shows that people who take Shaklee supplements have better overall wellness then those who take nothing and even those who take other brands of supplements.

The product that I am focusing on for this article is their vitamin strip. I looked at all the criteria I listed above and this vitamin strip fit the bill. It has all the right vitamins in all the right combinations. The vitamins have been clinically researched and are natural not filled with artificial flavorings and petroleum fillers and binders.

And bottom line is THEY WORK. I take this strip and have been taking it for quite some time. I definitely can tell the difference in my day when I forget to take them. With the vitamins I have more energy and I don’t feel as worn out or tired. It helps me deal with my day – either at home with my 6 kids or at school where I teach physics to about 80 kids each day.

UPDATE: Shaklee has replaced its old vitamin strips –The Basics – with a whole new strip called “Vitalizer” I actually just finished my last strip of the basics today (9/15/2007) and am excited to get started with this new batch of vitamins. It has taken the best of what Shaklee had and made it even better. I will keep you updated on how I like the new Vitalizer.

Just a few facts about the new Vitalizer:

It contains 26 antioxidants, 7 omega 3 fatty acids, every vitamin and mineral your body needs, superactive probiotics and anti-aging nutrients. It does all this using just 4 different “pills” found in each strip.

Based on 12 clinical studies, Vitalizer provides the best spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-aging phytonutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, and probiotics available.

It contains 80 bio-optimized nutrients

Has the S.M.A.R.T Delivery system (S.M.A.R.T.™ - Shaklee Micronutrient Advanced Release Technology™) which means it gets the right nutrients, to the right place, at the right time.