Vitamins - Who Needs Them?

Every day we are bombarded with millions of pieces of information about all sorts of services and products that we are forced to sort through.  And, when it comes to vitamin supplements, there's alot of hype and claims out there, all crafted by marketing experts that are paid to know how we think and buy.  Sometimes that ends up making it really hard for the average Joe or Josephine to know who and what to believe and how to get at the truth. 

This is one reason why I never used to take vitamins.  We've all seen commercials promising this or that product as the ticket to good health.  Then, the nightly news comes on and there's reports of vitamin pills being found in sewage, completely passing through the body in tact!  Now, that explains why those products never made me FEEL better (the manufacturers bank on you telling yourself that even though you don't feel better, you ARE doing something good for yourself).  But, how do I avoid getting suckered the next time around? WHAT are we supposed to believe?!

Whether it's true or not that some vitamins pass through the body in tact, it still begs the question of how much of what we ingest is actually absorbed into our blood stream.  Even if my vitamin pill DOES dissolve, you don't have to go all the way down the pipe to the sewer...just glance before you flush.  All those nutrients that are SUPPOSED to do wonders for our bodily functions appear to have primarily created a neon light show in the toilet. 

So, for awhile I just opted out of the whole thing, thinking I'd just eat right and get proper nutrition that way.  But what I've learned is that farming just 'aint what it used to be, folks.  Modernizing our farms was a genius idea, no doubt. But, turning them into factories where animals are not allowed their natural rooting instincts, where they spend their pathetic, short existence in extremely limited INDOOR quarters, and where pesticides are standard fare, all of this has dramatically affected the quality of the food we eat. And, the environment in which we live.

The fact that our bodies are not getting what they need is showing up in our medical clinics, in our compromised immune systems, and bringing rampant virus epidemics, cancer and dozens of other ailments that our bodies used to be able to fend off.  Sounds pretty dismal, doesn't it?  I was discouraged too until I started doing my own research and asking some questions. 

Recognizing my own need for supplementation (story to follow in tomorrow's post), the first question I asked was "has this product been studied, and if so, by whom?"  It's one thing for a supplement to be studied by the company producing it, and quite another if that study was done by an independent lab. 

The law does not require these studies on supplements, and they are pretty expensive, so most companies don't have them done (this is partly why a particular product could be less expensive).  But, the ones that do will stand out, they will be heads and shoulders above anything else you can buy, and give you results that you can feel and see in your own lab results.

So, what are you taking for supplementation?  There are a lot of claims out there.  Has your supplement been tested?  Has someone other than the maker studied it?  Have there been any blind studies done that conclusively prove the effectiveness?  If not, you might just be wasting your money while your most valuable asset, your health, continues to go unsupported.

fighting back,

Cheryl

P.S.  The supplement I found, Vemma, HAS been studied and tested by an independent lab (Brunswick Laboratories), and the stats are amazing. What's more, I am living proof that Vemma indeed makes a difference! Come back tomorrow for the beginning of my own story, and we'll wrap up the week with a couple of other supplement recommendations when we're losing weight.