A Beginner’s Guide to Supplements

Supplements. Is there a hotter topic (or one that leaves people more divided)? So here’s the thing about supplements: I know a lot of you may be thinking ‘I don’t need supplements, I get it from food’. But I suggest you look into the scientific evidence behind this statement.

Back in the day when GMOs didn’t exist, and our food was nutrient-dense, and we spent time outdoors, and we weren’t exposed to environmental stressors, we didn’t need supplements. Because our bodies were able to absorb the nutrients in our food more efficiently. However, times have changed. And as a result, we need to supplement our diet with vitamins, minerals, and adaptogens in order to function at our optimal.

As much as I love researching and reading books on nutrition, I know I’m no expert, and so I wanted to bring in my go-to Naturopathic Doctor, and dear friend, Natalie Mulligan. Natalie is an incredibly talented ND, who specializes in eating disorders, and treats her patients using holistic healing modalities. She’s also extremely well-versed in all things supplements. When I suffered from chronic fatigue, I went to Natalie, and she solved it faster than any doctor I’ve ever been to. So when it came to writing a blog post on supplements, I decided I would bring her in to give you guys an expert opinion.

If someone has never taken supplements in their life where should they start? 
It’s a hard question! There isn’t a one-size-fits-all for supplements because what you need is really dependent on you and your body. You can use supplements in a few different ways. One is to replenish any deficiencies; two is in doses that are higher than your daily requirements in order to have a pharmacological effect; three is for substances that you would never really get in your diet for their therapeutic effects.

To detect any deficiencies you would need to do blood work that is ordered by a medical professional. Unfortunately there are some nutrients that aren’t tested regularly, so deficiencies can go unnoticed. These deficiencies will exist because your food isn’t providing your body with everything that it needs or because your body isn’t able to absorb nutrients properly.

If you are having symptoms that are problematic for you: whether thats physical (bloating, immune struggles, allergies, difficulty with sleep, hormone disruption etc.) or emotional (depression, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, etc.) then you can also take supplements in high doses to help regulate these. In this case you would be using supplements instead of medication or alongside a medication to help improve its effects. The dosage of the nutrients you would be taking would be much higher than what food could provide to you so it would not be to correct any imbalances.

What are 5 supplements you recommend that everyone takes and why?
In order to promote general health and keeping in mind what the normal deficiencies are for a North American, I typically recommend:

1. Fish Oil
I recommend this for its overall amazingness! It’s important for cardiovascular health, skin health, brain health, mental health…. everything. It’s amazing!

2. Magnesium
I work with mental health so many of my patients are seeking calm or anything that can help them feel calm. Magnesium has sedating or calming effects (it won’t make you fall asleep!) and it’s also involved in so many chemical reactions in your body that you can’t really get enough of it!

3. Zin
Zinc is another one of those nutrients that’s involved in literally everything. It’s required by many enzymes in the body to function and its hard to get enough from your diet!

4. B12
Although most people will be within the normal range when they have their B12 tested, many people actually feel better when their levels are much higher. B12 is involved in the energy production systems in your body and is also a natural anti- depressant. I love B12!

5. Vitamin D
Living in Canada, many people are deficient. You require the sun to make Vitamin D and if you don’t get enough exposure to the sun (which is impossible to do if you’re inside all the time for half the year) you just can’t make enough.

While we’re on this topic, are there specific supplements that women in their 20s should be taking on top of the 5 you recommended?
I think women in their 20s are a good candidate for all of the above! For the most part, all of these supplements are safe and can’t hurt you. The only exception is Vitamin D; if you don’t need it then you shouldn’t take it so it’s important to get tested first. If you had any additional concerns that were troubling you, there could also be a ton more things you could take to help, but that would require an intake with a professional who could guide you.

Can you explain the difference between water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins?
Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water and are carried to the tissues of the body in the blood stream. They are unable to be stored by the body and whatever isn’t used each day is excreted in the urine. So in order to get adequate amounts of these vitamins, you need to take them every day.

Fat-soluble vitamins are ones that are able to dissolve in fats (usually oils) and are able to be stored in the tissues of your body. Because your body can store them, they are able to accumulate and can be toxic in high doses. If your fat-soluble vitamin levels are adequate, you don’t need to keep taking them. The fat soluble vitamins are Vitamins A, D, E and K and the water soluble vitamins are all the rest.

And how about absorbability? Do you have to take certain supplements to make sure others are absorbed properly? What’s the optimal time to take them?
Yes! There are ways to combine nutrients to help with absorption:

• Iron pairs well with Vitamin C to increase absorption. They should be taken together at the exact same time. AND they should be taken alone. It’s important to take iron 30 minutes away from all other food/medications/supplements so that it can be absorbed properly. I find it’s easiest to take it right away in the morning or right before bed… the middle of the day can be hard especially if you like snacking!
• Calcium and Vitamin D go well together and should be taken together. Calcium is never great to take on its own, it’s always better to pair it with something and Vitamin D actually helps it be absorbed
• Fat soluble vitamins should be taken with fat-containing foods, like oil, avocado, nuts etc.
• You also want to make sure that your medication doesn’t interact with your supplements. Many things are safe to take together but just to be safe, it doesn’t hurt to keep them all apart.

Is it possible to get all your nutrients from taking a multivitamin?
No! Not even close. Multi-vitamins are great for people who have widespread nutrient deficiencies. However, the rest of the population benefits from taking a handful of supplements targeted to their needs. In order to fit all of the nutrients into a multi, the doses have to be so low because they just can’t fit into the pills. A multi will have small doses of every single nutrient and many of these nutrients are adequately provided for in the diet so there is no need to supplement them. In addition, things like fish-oils and amino acids aren’t found in multi-vitamins and they are required nutrients as well. So the answer is definitely no, it’s impossible to get all of your nutrients from a multivitamin.

Since the weather is getting cooler, a lot of people suffer from seasonal depression. Are there specific vitamins and adaptogens that you can recommend to help combat this?
A major missing in the winter is the sun! And the sun is what helps us with vitamin D, so in the winter vitamin D is a no brainer. Since the winter is so cold, your body craves warmth, not just from the perspective of temperature but also energetic warmth. Foods that are naturally warming are sweet potatoes, ginger, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, coconut, turmeric and brown sugar. In addition, you might want to supplement with natural anti-depressants, like fish oil and rhodiola.

I told my audience to send me questions to ask you, and so many of them are want to know about collagen, biotin, and basically, what they should be taking for their hair, nails and skin. Could you get into this a little?
From a nutrition point of view, hair, skin and nails are the last places to get nutrients. They get whatever is left over once all of the more vital functions are under control. The unfortunate thing is if you take supplements targeting skin, nails or hair but your body deems those nutrients more important for other functions (like making your heart beat or your lungs breathe) then it will steal those supplements for those purposes instead. So what is actually the most important is making sure your body has all of the macro and micro nutrients that it needs, so that there is leftover for these things that your body considers “less important.”