Seriously, what am I really missing by not taking a multivitamin?

• for years the stance of the American Medical Association was that you could get all you need from food, and they only just recently changed their position based on a proliferation of studies demonstrating clear benefits from supplementation
• many doctors are not educated in nutrition so they don't know better than to recommend that you "just take something"

The fact is, many multivitamins use low quality (synthetic, inorganic, unnatural, untested) raw ingredients. Low-cost manufacturing gives them higher profit margins but with lower-grade products that aren't bioavailabile (meaning they don't go where they should when you take them - often they simply pass through). The are often formulated in inappropriate amounts and ratios - vitamins and minerals can impact the absorption of other vitamins and minerals, so without taking this into account, you may not be receiving the optimal amounts. Finally, many companies simply do not meet their promise on the label. Supplements are not regulated in the U.S., and therefore the FDA does little to investigate unless a complaint is received. Many independent tests have been performed that show most products fall short of their label claims, not delivering even the inadequate amounts promised on the label.

So to start with, when I speak of what a multi-vitamin will provide, I am coming from a quality multi-vitamin formulated with your health, not the manufacturer's profit, in mind. This will be pharmaceutical grade, accept no alternative (pharamceutical grade means a strict third-party standard created by the FDA is followed, a standard that matches what is required of pharmaceutical companies delivering prescription drugs - called GMP or good manufacturing practices), it will adhere to USP, and provide a guarantee of potency. Here is more information:

http://www.cgmp.com/

http://www.usp.org/

Okay, so what are you missing?

There are dozens and dozens of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can contribute to optimal health. Just as a few examples ...

Vitamins ... Vitamin B1, for example, is used in many chemical reactions in the body and is present in every tissue. It helps convert glucose to energy. Deficiency can create neuromuscular, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular problems.

This is incapable of being produced by the body, and must be present in the diet. Unfortunately, it is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in humans - a US Dept of Agriculture study reported that 45 percent of Americans consume less than the USRDA.

Minerals - calcium is an example of a mineral. It is the most abundant mineral in the body. Beyond bones, calcium affects how nutrients pass through cell walls, is used in muscular contraction and even helps cells bind to each other. The epidemic of Osteoperosis is evidence enough that people are not receiving enough calcium. The Western diet, which is high in saturated fats, salts, animal proteins, and processed sugars creates acidic waste products. This means the body must leech calcium from the bones to form an alkaline environment. Most people mistakenly take on dairy for calcium, not realizing that plants are a more abundant source and dairy actually increases the body's need for calcium, so it's a catch-22.

Those are examples using two sample vitamins and minerals. There are other antioxidants, such as CoQO10, that have been shown to improve cardiovascular health, etc. The issue is that our environment is much more toxic than it was even 100 years ago. Not only do crops yield fewer nutrients, but our body REQUIRES more to combat contaminants in the air, in the soil, in the water supply, and even to combat the stress that we cause in our jobs and fast-paced lifestyle.

Most people try to rationalize their vitamin intake by deciding that they will see if they "feel" a difference and then choose whether to continue or not. The fact is that degenerative disease is an epidemic. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the second leading cause of death in the year 2000 was lack of exercise and poor diet (not lack of calories, either, Americans overconsume calories but are malnourished because the food supply is so processed that vital nutrients are damaged or removed and unavailable). People don't "feel" their arteries clogging even though a large number of adolescents and even young children suffer from artherosclerosis due to the poor diet and toxic environment we live in.

So perhaps the best benefit you'll take away from this is your health. It's not necessarily energy, although I've had many clients report huge increases in energy. It's not improved quality of sleep, although that is a testimonial many clients share with me, along with improved memory and clarity. It is health.

Believe me, I was a skeptic myself and really had trouble justifying taking those. I, too, was the typical "I feel it" consumer, thinking I could analyze everything in life based on how I feel. As I began my research, however, I found so much out there indicating so many positive health benefits from multivitamin supplementation even for those who have an active lifestyle and a clean diet.

It only takes looking to those who perform the best in their sport, whether it is basketball players to Olympic athletes, to realize the vast majority are on a quality, pharmaceutical grade multivitamin. They don't mess around - they must maximize their recovery, minimize the times they are sick and out of commission, and improve their performance.

The other belief-building event for me was a seminar that I attended in Atlanta, Georgia. There, a local doctor who was an obstetrician and gynecologist was giving a nutrition lecture. During his lecture, he stressed the importance of quality multivitamin supplementation and how in his practice, instead of trying to always prescribe prescription drugs with their myriad of side-effects, he would approach the problems from a nutrition perspective and always try to allow the body to heal itself first before resorting to toxic medications.

Then, a woman walked to the front and shared how she had suffered from chronic arthritis and how it hurt to even attempt to get out of bed. She was in tears as she related how various medications only left her feeling foggy or tired and depressed, and how inevitably the pain would return. After changing her nutrition at this doctor's request (the doctor's name is Dr. Ladd MacNamara if you wish to look him up online) and taking a quality pharmaceutical grade multivitamin, her symptoms began to diminish to the point where she was able to walk pain free. It was very powerful to hear. Then she was followed by a woman who was suffering from fibromyalgia and in constant pain and now felt fine ... and another one who had multiple sclerosis, and on and on.

I realized then that if this could apparently do so much for people suffering from these chronic degenerative diseases, imagine how much more powerful it would be to take as a health insurance policy - a way to prevent these symptoms from arising in the first place!

Since then, my entire family has been on a quality multi and it has truly changed our life. I can't say that these will cure any sickness or create any perceived change in your life ... in fact, I don't believe the multi is magic or powerful at all, I think it is the body that is the miracle and can work wonders when supplied with the right raw materials. That is where I have so much belief in a quality multi - because it provides what my body needs to do what it is so good at with growing, healing itself, etc.

I know to keep my ego in check. I can be stubborn and fall into the majority who think they know best because they've read this or that article or formed an opinion and know how they feel. But I personally found a company that I believed in - it was founded by a doctor with a vision to reduce pain and suffering, and his team of scientists probably forgot more about cellular nutrition than I will ever learn in a lifetime, so instead of pretending to be the expert and split hairs and this or that, I simply entrusted my health to their product and have been a loyal user since then - to the extent that I partner with the company and resell the product myself.

Yes, I am very passionate about this topic, and not just because it is a product that I have. It is because I have met and heard the stories of many, many people who feel this has benefitted their health in a very powerful way.

The multivitamin that I use:

The multivitamin I use