Without question, I believe the single best thing you can do for your overall health is to take a comprehensive multinutrient every day. But a good nutritional supplement is only one component of a healthy pattern of living. Here are the basic building blocks of my core program for a healthy life.
Nutrients
In the last 50 years we have begun to alter foods chemically into substances totally foreign to our systems. As a result, we're not getting the nutritional support necessary for promoting proper energy levels, immune health, the health of our joints, and a variety of other health concerns.
In whatever daily multinutrient program you use, be sure it contains the following four complexes for a healthy foundation.
- Essential vitamins and minerals in the right dosages and combination, and
from the right sources. To support the crucial functions of your body - vision
health, mental clarity, cardiovascular health, joint health - I recommend
a good multinutrient that includes the following:
Vitamin A (as retinyl acetate): 5,000 IU
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid, calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, manganese ascorbate, or potassium ascorbate): 2,000 mg
Vitamin D (as cholecalciferol): 800 IU
Vitamin K (from phytonadione): 60 mcg
Thiamine (Vitamin B1) (as thiamine mononitrate): 50 mg
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) (from riboflavin, riboflavin 5' phosphate): 50 mg
Niacin (as niacinamide, niacin): 126 mg
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine HCL, pyridoxal 5' phosphate): 110 mg
Iodine (from kelp): 100 mcg
Zinc (from aminomin): 20 mg
Selenium (from aminomin): 200 mcg
Inositol: 100 mg - Powerful antioxidants that provide protection from free-radical damage
and thereby promote vision health, proper prostate function, and cardiovascular
health:
Vitamin A (as beta carotene): 15,000 IU
Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopherol, mixed with tocopherols): 400 IU
Tocotrienols (from rice): 20 mg
Coenzyme Q10 (as ubidecarenone): 10 mg
Alpha Lipoic Acid: 10 mg
Lutein (from marigolds): 6 mg
Lycopene (from tomatoes): 6 mg - Herbal superfoods that include potent, nutrient-dense compounds to help
improve energy, immune health, longevity, and mental clarity, such as:
Spirulina (from algae): 750 mg
Turmeric (from root): 200 mg
L-Taurine: 200 mg
Siberian Ginseng Root: 180 mg
Bee Pollen: 100 mg
L-Carnitine (as tartrate): 100 mg
Royal Jelly: 50 mg
Gymnema Sylvestre (from whole plant): 50 mg
Green Tea extract: 50 mg
Panax Ginseng extract: 40 mg
Ginkgo Biloba (from leaf): 10 mg - A fish oil compound that fortifies your body with the most important essential
fatty acids (EFAs) in existence--omega-3s and -6s. These EFAs provide outstanding
support for your cardiovascular system, blood pressure and cholesterol levels,
brain function, immune system, joints, and nearly every other system in your
body.
Omega-3 Fatty Acid Complex: 600 mg
--- EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid): 200 mg
--- DHA (Docosahexaeonic Acid): 300mg
--- Other Omega-3 Fatty Acids: 100mg
Gamma Linoleic Acid (omega-6 from borage oil): 100mg
In addition to taking a multinutrient supplement every day, make sure your diet consists largely (if not completely) of the basic nutrients found in organic, unprocessed vegetables and other foods.
I also highly recommend including flaxseed, lecithin, and CLA in your daily diet. Along with multivitamin supplementation, both flaxseed and lecithin are part of my daily nutrient foundation.
Flaxseed
Flaxseed has a plethora of everything that's good for you, including essential fatty acids (EFA's), protein, vitamins, precious phytonutrients, and health-enhancing lignans, as well as soluble and insoluble fiber. Make sure you use whole seed flax, however, not the pre-ground variety. Because in many cases pre-ground flax has begun to oxidize, it loses many of its potent nutrients.
Lecithin
Lecithin benefits your heart health by promoting healthy circulatory function and supporting the role of "good" HDL cholesterol levels in your bloodstream.
Lecithin also has an exceptionally high inositol content, which has been shown to enhance mood and support a positive mental outlook, among other health benefits. One tablespoon of lecithin granules daily not only contains about 1,000 milligrams (1 gram) of inositol, but also over 1,700 milligrams of phosphatidylcholine and over 2,000 milligrams of linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid. It's best to take lecithin in its granule form. You can add it to your favorite foods or mix it up in a shake.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
The nutrient conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is an essential component for good health. It helps to reduce body fat, increases lean muscle tissue, helps support your body's immune system, and a host of other benefits (see the March 2001 Alternatives). Yet, our bodies are not capable of producing significant quantities of CLA on its own, so we must get it from our diets. With the changes in our dietary preferences (among other factors), however, CLA levels have dropped off dramatically. As a result, the incidence of obesity and other health problems has steadily increased.
CLA is found in beef, lamb, turkey, and some milk products, and is also available from most health food stores. I recommend taking 3.4 grams of CLA per day. If that amount is cost prohibitive, 2 to 2.4 grams might be enough. Also, a healthy diet that includes moderate amounts of beef, lamb, turkey, etc., might give you a gram of CLA each day.
Clean Drinking Water
The best way I know for getting the pure water you need everyday is distilling your water. There is no other method that removes all types of contaminants and leaves you with water the way nature intended: two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen.
One of the many benefits drinking clean, distilled water provides is to help improve your kidney function. The cleaner the water, the easier it is for your kidneys to filter toxins from your blood.
Purify the air you breathe
Eliminate pollen and other airborne allergens from your home by using an air purifier. We don't need or want to live in a totally sterile environment, but there is technology now available to help cleanse the air in our homes of pathogens, allergens, and toxic fumes.
Exercise
Every single day of our lives, we need to do something that specifically makes our heart work harder and beat faster.
Exercise strengthens not only the heart muscle, but the other muscles in your body as well, and it's a great source of relaxation.
The only "rule" regarding effective exercise is that you must get your heart pumping. Almost any exercise can be used - walking, swimming, riding a bike, jogging in place. It doesn't have to be for a long or intense period of time, but it should be on a regular basis.
Concentrate on activities that are simple and inexpensive, and don't require excessive travel. If you're able, take the stairs instead of an elevator. Taking a vigorous walk is a good, if not the best, form of exercise for you.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Even though we spend as much as a third of our life sleeping, it seems that most of us just take it for granted. We categorize ourselves as either good or bad sleepers, or "morning people" or "night owls," and never give it another thought.
Based on the research I've been able to uncover, I'm convinced you can prevent hundreds of different health problems by modifying and improving your sleep.