Real talk, I have a love-hate relationship with the term 'supplements'.
I try my best to use the term 'nutraceuticals' instead of supplements, and here's why:
When I prescribe a nutraceutical to a patient, I am rarely trying to "supplement" their nutrient intake but rather, I am either correcting a nutritional deficiency, OR trying to push a specific physiological pathway, which often requires taking a nutraceutical at a therapeutic level or higher.
But when we call nutraceuticals supplements, and we make these supplements available for anyone to purchase, patients often have it in their head that they are not medically necessary for their case, which makes them believe they aren’t important and they either don’t take them as prescribed, or stop taking them all together.
Our entire mission at Elevate Functional Health is to keep active people active, for life.
When I ask my patients what prevents them from being active, or doing those activities that they love, it’s usually one of the following reasons:
- pain or injury
- lack of time
- lack of energy
While I often find myself coaching my patients on the time piece, this is one I usually cannot help immensely with. But the other two reasons, I absolutely can.
We have a lot of articles on how we treat pain and injuries at Elevate, which we encourage you to read.
Today’s blog however, really focuses on the energy piece.
Because supplements, or, what I believe are better described as “nutrient-deficiency-correctors”, help significantly with energy levels.
What defines “good” energy levels?
You rate your energy as an 8/10. It is consistent throughout the day (no afternoon crash). You do not struggle to wake up in the morning. You are able to do everything you want to do without needing something external (like coffee or pre workout).
There are a few simple strategies that help immensely with energy levels. Not all of which involve taking a nutraceutical.
For example, exposing your eyeballs to sunlight first thing in the morning, getting a good nights sleep every night, eating whole foods with plenty of protein, and staying hydrated by drinking clean water and adding electrolytes to that water so that you are actually getting the water into your cells.
But in addition to these foundations, correcting key nutrient deficiencies can make a world of difference.
To name a few, vitamin D, iron and magnesium.
But how do you know if you are deficient?
For vitamin D and iron, it is recommended to test your current levels via blood, and then supplement accordingly.
Other nutrients deficiencies can be diagnosed symptomatically, and magnesium is one example of this.
In either case, it is helpful to consider your symptoms along with your lab values.
The bottom line is, often people don’t need more supplements. They need a strategy, they need a plan.
Enter the Elevate Functional Health’s Active For Life system. The program that is designed to keep active people active. To eliminate all the reasons why you can’t be as active as you want/need to be.
The Active for Life system is our signature strategy, that identifies what nutraceuticals you ACTUALLY need, which ones you can ditch, which ones are nice to haves, and which ones you can use on an “as-needed” basis.
If you want some clarity on your nutraceutical regime, and are struggling with any of the above reasons for not being as active as you’d like, give us a call or shoot us an email. We’d love to help!