I don’t believe in diets. I don’t believe I should never eat sugar or enjoy my favorite candy bar or that big slice of cheesecake. I do believe in moderation and giving yourself grace. I do believe in getting the right nutrients in your body and supporting your body in absorbing and using those nutrients.
When we learn the WHY of eating certain things, it helps our brains to get behind it. It helps us to be more committed to and successful in eating healthier.
I have started to analyze what is not working well in my body. Then look for nutrients that may be low and causing those issues.
For example, here in Utah, we don’t get a lot of sunlight in the winter months. That can lead to lower levels of vitamin D. When I am considering what to feed my body, I can use this knowledge to plan food choices.
“Your body needs vitamin D. Its main job is to help the body absorb calcium from the intestines. This calcium is necessary to help “mineralize the skeleton” over the course of your lifetime and is a critical mineral for forming the hardened bone that keeps you strong and healthy.” Yale Medicine
“vitamin D can reduce cancer cell growth, help control infections and reduce inflammation. Many of the body’s organs and tissues have receptors for vitamin D, which suggest important roles beyond bone health, and scientists are actively investigating other possible functions.” Harvard
You can see that it is important for us all to get the right amount of this nutrient in our bodies. “Worldwide, an estimated 1 billion people have inadequate levels of vitamin D in their blood, and deficiencies can be found in all ethnicities and age groups.”(harvard article) There are three options for getting vitamin D: the sun, food, and supplements.
Sun, diet, and supplements go into our body and are processed through our skin, liver, kidneys, and intestines. This diagram and more info can be found here.
There are not many foods that contain Vitamin D. Salmon, tuna, egg yolks, beef liver, cod liver oil, and fortified foods such as orange juice, milk, and cold cereals. This is why for most of us, we need to add a Vitamin D supplement to our diet. Especially here in Utah and other places with a long winter.
When choosing a supplement, please consult a doctor or chiropractor. I love my chiropractor. He has helped me to strengthen my bones, teeth, hair and nails by adding a vitamin D supplement and Cod Liver Oil supplement. It has helped tremendously with my bowel movements too.
According to the Harvard article cited earlier, “People with inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease) or other conditions that disrupt the normal digestion of fat” are more likely to have a Vitamin D deficiency. “Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that depends on the gut’s ability to absorb dietary fat”.
If you aren’t absorbing fat normally in your intestines, then it is making its way into your stool which can cause problems. I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Diseases many years ago. The only thing my doctor suggested was to try this certain diet, which actually made my bowel issues worse. I was constantly tired because I was not absorbing my nutrients due to my frequent bowel issues.
After 3 weeks of taking vitamin D and cod liver oil supplements, I noticed my bowels improved for the first time in 30 years. My nails that the doctors couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t grow or heal, began to heal. My hair began to grow like crazy.
This showed me that my body was finally starting to ABSORB the nutrients. Oh how I wish I had known this sooner!
That is why I am writing this article today. I want people to know that food and supplements, of verified quality, can make a HUGE difference in the health of our bodies.
So don’t set a goal just to “be healthy”. Discover what your body is lacking or struggling with. Then go find the right doctors to help you and the right nutrients to support your body being the best it can be.
My chiropractor is Nathan Eldredge at Alta Mountain Chiropractic. He is is a Certified Posture Expert as well as certified in Homeopathic Injection therapy, Applied Clinical Nutrition, Clinical Whole Food Nutrition and a Functional Clinical Blood Chemical Analyst. The only brand of supplements he recommends is Standard Process. I can HIGHLY recommend him. If you don’t live nearby, look for a chiropractor who is certified in clinical nutrition.
Finding what your body needs, and then following through is WORK. It will take setting goals, and finding ways to help you follow through. It’s okay to take things slow too. Work on one nutrient or problem, then as you get good at that, add another nutrient. In time, you will notice how much better you feel.
I hope that in this new year, you will gain a healthier, happier body- a body that has the strength to do all that is required of it. As a busy mom, I am determined this year to make my body a priority.
Happy New Year!
Emma
