Reset yourself with Healthy Living and Supplements

Tired all the time? Trouble losing weight? Feel like your hair is thinning? These can all be signs of vitamin deficiencies.  Sometimes our diet and lifestyle do not provide us with all of the nutrients that are vital to keeping us feeling and looking the best we can.
    As a Physician specializing in Internal Medicine and Preventative Care I have decades of experience treating patients for these complaints and others.  While some patients suffer from serious medical conditions causing these symptoms, many are due to vitamin deficiencies of various sorts. Sometimes they occur in people who are already taking a multivitamin, but the vitamin is not tailored to who is taking it.
  We are each unique individuals with our own genetic mixes, family histories and personal medical histories. We also create lifestyles for ourselves that vary greatly from person to person.  One person may exercise vigorously every day, while another is more sedentary.  One person may eat meat every day while another may be a vegetarian, and others fall somewhere in between. Some of us live in places where the sun shines year round while many of us get rare glimpses of the sun for much of the year.
  No two of us have the same genetic makeup and lifestyle, thus it is not a surprise that we all have individual needs.  Therefore we can not make a blanket statement that "everyone should take ___mg of a certain supplement."  One size most definitely does not fit all.
  What we can do is strive to learn more about our own needs. We can examine our genetic makeup and lifestyle decisions, to determine how they intersect to create specific needs. While working to make healthy diet choices we can augment our eating with the correct amounts of certain vitamins.
  Of paramount importance, we must not assume that more is better. Too much of a good thing is often detrimental.  For example, studies have shown supplementing large groups of people with Vitamin A showed dramatic increases in Cancer rates.  Therefore, we must use caution in what we take and how much.  All supplement choices should be approved by your personal physician.
  Likewise, where we obtain supplements should also be considered.  Due to minimal FDA regulation of supplement manufacturing it is essential that we purchase products that are from reputable, preferably organic, and natural sources.
  So how do you start figuring out what your needs are? More to come...