This page may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
I saw a post several years ago that prompted me to write this post. It was of a person that takes about 50 pills in the morning because of the supplements they use for adrenal fatigue. No, not an exaggeration. I counted all of the pills in the picture. And this person stated that this was just their MORNING dose.
This is madness. 50 pills is insanity. Now I don’t know if this person is working with a doctor or if they created this plan themselves. But this is a very common occurrence these days. Most of us are so desperate to feel better that we would basically do anything to feel even the slightest improvement.
This is literally the definition of Allopathic Natural Health. And things haven’t changed much since I first wrote this post 3 years ago.
If any of you have read my Food vs. Supplements post, you’ll know that I prefer as much food based items as possible. Food, food-based supplements, and especially herbal infusions are all 100x times better than isolated synthetic supplements. If you are deficient in ten nutrients, taking 10 supplements isn’t going to help you. Nutrients have co-factors that are needed for absorption, and they also have antagonists. Everything has to be in BALANCE. Taking 10 isolated nutrients that equal or exceed the RDA can create even more imbalances.
Don’t believe me? Check out my post on nutrient interactions!
What is Individualized Nutrition?
HTMA is one of the best ways to assess your personal deficiency status. HTMA tests for 15 main minerals, plus 14 trace minerals. Minerals are the building blocks of health, and many vitamins actually depend on mineral balance to work. So mineral deficiency is the ROOT cause of illness and should be one of the first things to address. HTMA is important, but it is also crucial to take into account a person’s health history as well as current symptoms and diet. This will all help to create a personalized plan for a person. My HTMA plans focus mostly on gut health, liver health, adrenals, and minerals depending on personal need.
Read more about our HTMA process here and how it can change your life!
So many people are blindly supplementing because of all of these broad recommendations going around for adrenal fatigue. In truth, there is no “ideal” plan because every one will have different deficiencies and different variations of leaky gut, liver dysfunction and adrenal fatigue.
Why Food-Based should be your first option
Supplements are ‘Something added to complete a thing, or extend or strengthen the whole.’ They are not meant to replace food or be the main focus of your life. Most supplements are no better than pharmaceuticals. A majority of the vitamins and minerals you find on the shelves are synthetic and made in a lab. They act like drugs in the body. They have toxic fillers like magnesium stearate or artificial colors and sweeteners. And like I mentioned above, they have important co-factors that are needed for proper utilization.
And all of the supplements in the world will do nothing if you have leaky gut! We need sufficient stomach acid in order to even digest and assimilate nutrients. Healing the gut should be the first step for everyone.
Once we can start to heal the gut, then we can add in supplements that help replenish nutrients. Things like bee pollen, desiccated beef liver, and herbal infusions are perfect. You will be getting bio-available nutrients in a balance that nature intended, and you will be saving money and time since you won’t need 50 supplements!
Bee pollen has vitamins C, D, K, and E, plus it has about 60 major and minor minerals! Beef liver has vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron. Most herbal infusions are packed with magnesium, calcium, boron, manganese, copper, iron and all of the trace minerals.
When it comes to nutrients, more is not always better. That is a very allopathic way of thinking and it’s causing much more damage these days. Healing takes time and it’s better to slowly build up to allow the body time to rebuild instead of shocking it with a dozen isolated nutrients at once.
Happy Healing!
Pin it:
The body is a whole and we must treat it as such! I have my Bachelor of Science in Natural Health Sciences, certificates in Herbal Studies from Herbal Academy, and I am constantly learning more about health to help my clients and followers.
My goal is to help you unleash your own inner healer! You already hold the power to heal inside you. My role is as a guide to help you realize this potential.