Q. What are dietary supplements?
A. Dietary supplements are their own product category separate from foods and drugs. "Dietary Supplements" is the correct term, although nutritional supplements, nutritionals, supplements, vitamins and nutraceuticals are words that have been used to describe dietary supplements.
Dietary supplements are products containing nutrients that are able to affect the structure or function of the body. Traditionally, dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs and other dietary substances. Supplementation is almost a sport in and of itself if you believe what the magazine ads have rammed down your throats. The media would have you think that meal replacements are created with direct intervention of God.
We both know that's hardly the truth and no supplement has successfully replaced a good meal. You do not need HALF of what your muscle & fitness magazine claims in order to succeed. I know what it is you really need. The sad thing is, so do they. What you need is about 100 essential (must have) nutrients a day. Yes, these nutrients are TRULY ESSENTIAL.
You may not realize it, but without certain things in your body, you may continue to function, but you will NOT function correctly. That would be like trying to run a car without spark plus... Working a computer with one of those little wires not doing their thing...
ONCE YOU BEGIN USING THE PERFECT VITAMIN YOU NO LONGER REQUIRE:
- More Vitamin C!
- Extra Anti-Oxidants!
- Additional B-Complex!
- Special Trace Minerals!
- Accessory Nutrients!
- They are ALL HERE!
I know that your favorite company has made public their supposedly published 'reports' and 'research' papers explaining why they left out certain things from their "Complete Vitamin" but they do this so you'll rush out and buy things separately. It doubles their profit. The next thing you know, you buy something else they tout and it triples the profit for your 'dependable' supplement manufacturer. And minerals? Well, there is normally a very low amount of those in any 'multi' vitamin and that forces you to buy Zinc for your immunity, Calcium for your bones, Selenium for your blood... It all adds up. Think about it...
Even if all you spent is $5 a bottle for 100% of the RDA per nutrient, it adds up with their being over 50 major products to buy.... Or $500 a month you are spending... You do the math. You see, supplements are supposed to assist you by giving an added 'extra' boost to your current eating plan, replacing what is lost in processing, cooking, agriculture.... Nothing more than that. But that's a lot of replacing if you look at the typical diet (even healthier ones). I am not talking about the popular protein powders and meal replacement bars.
That stuff is pure crap and isn't even factored into the equation. And yet, if supplements are supposed to replace what your good food doesn't deliver and your diet is not complete to begin with, supplements can still really only boost you so much. That's true for anything you try. Like when you take something to stimulate fat loss, but you sit on your butt or eat junk food in between meals. That's like stabbing yourself with a knife. If you take a fat burner that boosts your metabolism by 10%, it isn't going to show results if everything else you do in life reduces your metabolism by 30%. Weight lifting speeds the metabolism, sure, but how many people do you know that exercise regularly and still look bad? It's their food, or other habits.
Eating right is where we begin if you want to lose fat, build muscle and become or remain healthy. Next, stop drinking, smoking and guzzling caffeine (these things deplete you further). Supplements come next... So, if I, Don Lemmon, eat right, do not drink, smoke or over use caffeine, then why do I need to supplement at all? Because, as a nation, we are known for over cooking our foods (like microwaving), storing them for too long (canning, freezing, boxing them) and processing them to keep on store shelves longer. These actions kill what is good in the best of our foods before they even reach our mouths.