The Mistakes People Make With Supplements
06/26/07
By Dr. Dana Myatt
Do You Make These Mistakes with
Nutritional Supplements?
- You don't know the manufacturer (so you
don't know if the product is pure and potent). Some people buy their
supplements from the vitamin discount houses or Big Box Bargain Warehouse
Stores, without knowing the purity or potency of the product.
There is no control by the FDA to insure purity
or potency of nutritional supplements.
[Dr. Myatt's side note; Why don't they do
something useful and oversee quality of supplements instead of simply trying to
outlaw all natural remedies?] See this week's
discussion of the new FDA rules...
When you "buy cheap," you have no idea if you are
even taking the supplement or herb you think you are. Remember, a nutritional
supplement that doesn't work is no "bargain." I suggest you shop for
bargains when you buy shoes and suits and a new car or wide-screen TV, not when
you buy food and nutritional supplements that your life depends on.
- Don't take the recommended dose (or
take it hit-and-miss). "It's so hard," I hear people whine, "to take all
these supplements every day." Gosh, very few people forget to eat (even
though many would be better off skipping a few meals).
People remember to do anything they believe is
important. Those who understand the value of taking the right supplements in the
right doses will remember to take their supplements as directed. And those who
whine about "it's so hard" will continue to convince themselves that it is hard.
Why make a mountain out of a molehill when you can make a molehill out of a
mountain?
- Don't take the highest quality,
most easily assimilated forms of nutrients. (Or use the cheap stuff - see
# 1 above).
- Keep old supplements around for
years past their expiration date. (How could this happen? See #2
above.)
- Take every "new" thing that comes along
instead of using "proven" remedies.
- Fail to get professional holistic
medical help if you have a serious health concern OR if your self-care
fails to provide results.
- Take good stuff, but in "fairy dust"
doses. That "one-a-day" vitamin pill or that combination product with
all the good stuff on the label as a "proprietary blend" may look like a
great deal - but if the doses it contains are so small as to be
meaningless, well, they are meaningless!
- Rely on health and "medical" advice
from the sales clerk at the health food store, your next door neighbor
(who is a car mechanic or an accountant), or Uncle Dick (who's an
investment broker). Hello? If you have a medical condition or want good
advice, you need a qualified medical professional to help you. You
don't take your car to the medical doctor for repair, do you? Or consult
your hairdresser for a legal matter? They why consult a non-medical person
for your medical and health care?
- "I read everything" (and as a
result, you don't know anything)! The internet is exactly that - a huge
net. And just like trolling for tuna, you'll pull in dolphins and sharks
and turtles and bottles and a lot of other "unintended stuff." The
problem is, most laymen and even many doctors don't know how to critically
evaluate the quality of what they are reading. As a result, you can
make yourself crazy with all the conflicting information being thrown at
you.
My advice? Find a few medical and holistic health
experts that you trust and read those newsletters exclusively. Be very slow to
accept other information as true unless you are highly confident of the source.
- "Mix and match." Some people who
are "into" alternative medicine go to a conventional doctor, an holistic
doctor, and maybe a chiropractor, an acupuncturist and a nutritionist as
well. Unless these various health practitioners all work together and
cooperate with each other's care, they will all have a different set of
recommendations for you to follow.
What some people do is follow one or two
recommendations from each practitioner. As a result, their "health program"
isn't a program at all - it's a patchwork quit of mix and match supplements that
are not necessarily working well together.
Like the "I read everything" problem above, you'll wind up being
confused and your program is less likely to produce the best results.
One of your healthcare providers should be the "gatekeeper,"
overseeing the coordination of all other treatments and making
recommendations about which things to include and which to exclude. I
serve as the "gatekeeper" for my private practice patients, even when
they have a conventional primary care physician. Be sure you have a
doctor whose skills you trust to perform this function for you. It is
unlikely to be your conventional doctor because he/she will no little
or nothing about your best alternative choices.
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