Here's the bottom line on supplements: you cannot overcome the damaging (and overweight-promoting) effects of a nutrient-poor diet with the use of supplements.
Period.
If you are eating the way your body is designed to eat (nutrient-rich), you shouldn't have a substantial need for supplementation.
T.
Colin Campbell, Ph.
D.
, Cornell's lauded nutritional biochemistry researcher, top health researcher and MyTrainerexpert advisor, shared the following in an interview with Amy Lanou, Ph.
D.
: "Our bodies, our systems for digestion, absorption and metabolism were designed to utilize nutrients in the amounts and combination provided in food.
And foods are made up of thousands of different health-giving substances that are not in supplements, substances that work better together to deliver their health-giving gifts.
It would seem that there is some wisdom behind the design of the original 'packages' for these nutrients.
" In other words, it's ludicrous to think that the few nutrients we can extract from plants and give names or letter to (like beta-carotene and vitamin C) will by themselves give us protection from disease when separated from the thousands of chemicals - most of which haven't been studied at all - in the whole plant food they come from.
MyTrainer expert advisor Joel FuhrmanM.
D.
agrees: "It is critical to recognize that all dietary supplements are supplements to, and not substitutes for, a healthful diet.
You cannot make an unhealthy diet into a healthy one by consuming supplements.
" Enlightened practitioners like Dr.
Fuhrman acknowledge that the way we live make a couple of nutrients unusually hard to come by.
I'm not saying, never take supplements.
You should become educated on the supplements that you are considering.
Many on the market do not promote your health, they are full of chemicals and fillers with a label on them that tell you they are good for you.
Do your homework.
The supplement trap is set by diet purveyors who promote nutrient poor diets and then encourage you to "make up the difference" with nutritional shakes, pills, powders and other potions.
They are concerned primarily with their business model - not your health.
They promote their foods and supplements by saying or implying that they're "nutrient rich," but the bottom line, as you'll discover with Nutrient Rich, is that nothing could be further from the truth.
Whole foods that are plant-based in their natural state are nutrient-rich.
Here's what Nutrient Rich expert advisor John McDougall, M.
D.
has to say about the supplement trap: "People are looking for a magic bullet to offset all their destructive habits and fix the resulting bad health.
One superficial solution for 70% of people in the USA is to take supplements of vitamins and mineral blends.
These concentrated mixtures enter our bodies by way of pills, nutrition bars, 'health' drinks, and cereals.
'Vitamania' intoxicates the modern world.
" Now, I'm not telling you not to take any vitamins.
If you need supplements to feel better, then go for it and don't get hung up on this issue.
Unless we're talking about toxic consumption of supplements, do what your situation calls for in a mutual decision between you and your physician.
I am telling you that no supplement (or battery of supplements) can replace the abundant, perfectly-proportioned and optimally-packaged vital nutrients contained in nutrient-rich foods - the winning combinations that satisfy our appetites, fuel and strengthen our systems and enable our bodies to run as they should (naturally shedding excess weight in the process).
The quality and benefits of the nutrients you eat come down to the packaging.
Look for the Diet Trap # 7 article: The Stimulant Trap: Confusing hunger with toxic withdrawal.