Living A Full Life

Essential Nutrients for a Balanced Life

• Full Life Chiropractic • Season 3 • Episode 17

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Can supplements truly transform your health journey? Join me, Dr. Enrico Dolcecore, as we unravel the surprising impact of nutritional supplements on achieving optimal wellness. Discover how supplements can bridge the gaps in your diet that modern food processing and environmental stressors often leave. From multivitamins to targeted nutrients like vitamins C and D, omega-3 fatty acids, and magnesium, we'll explore the science behind these essential supplements and their powerful role in maintaining hormone balance, reducing inflammation, and supporting overall vitality.

As we take a closer look at the necessity of protein to combat age-related muscle loss, you’ll learn why quality and bioavailability matter more than you think. We'll guide you on how to partner with a functional medical doctor for personalized advice, and the importance of getting tested for vitamin levels to tailor your supplementation. Whether you're a bodybuilder or just someone aiming to fill nutritional gaps, our conversation promises to provide actionable insights to enhance your health and well-being. Don't miss this transformative discussion that could redefine your approach to health.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to another podcast of Living a Full Life. I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori, and this week we're going to be going through the foundational supplements for a healthy diet. Supplements play a huge role in our overall well-being because the American standard diet doesn't give us everything we need and our lives are so busy that we don't graze on food all day, getting enough vegetables, fruits, seeds and everything that we need to encompass a nutritional diet. So supplements help fill the voids around a healthy diet. One thing I want to bring up is supplements do not fill the void around an unhealthy diet. One thing I want to bring up is supplements do not fill the void around an unhealthy diet. An unhealthy diet creates such large voids that you will not be able to replace anything properly through supplementation. Case closed. What supplements do offer is filling in the small cracks that may not be able to be filled by a healthy diet.

Speaker 1:

For example, people that are on the bodybuilding or fitness trails. What they'll end up doing is pre, pre, making all their meals for the day, cooking and focusing their, their focus, around protein, some carbohydrate and some fat, and you'll think, wow, okay, they're eating five or six of those meals per day. These are healthy and they're healthy people because they look great, but the truth is they need supplements just like anyone else, because those recreation of the same meals all the time actually take away a lot of the vitamins that they may be missing from fruits. They don't eat a lot of fruits. People on the bodybuilding trail let's be honest, there's just too much carbohydrates and sugar in them. On the bodybuilding trail, let's be honest, there's just too much carbohydrates and sugar in them. So they work around starchy foods, starchy carbohydrates, protein-dense meats and a little bit of fats around that. That's typically what they're focusing on to get their macros right. So I use that as an example because we may look at that culture of fitness and say, wow, they're fit, they're healthy, but really their diets are not as good as you think. That's just one example, and I'm not picking on the people that have horrible diets. I mean, that's the problem.

Speaker 1:

Supplements cannot save you. There is no, this isn't the Avengers here. These supplements are not the Avengers. They're not going to massively change your life, but what they are so important on is making sure you get the bare minimum of these life altering supplements that are huge in preventing chronic disease. That's the whole point of this podcast. So what we're going to cover is, I think, the top seven or eight supplements and I'm going to call them supplements and not vitamins, because there's a mixture of things that we're going to talk about that are not just vitamins, but these are probably the top seven things that I think every person needs to supplement in their diet. They're affordable, they're easy to take and you should even get your children on that health train so that they build these good habits for their future as well.

Speaker 1:

We need supplements basically because of the nutrient depletion in the modern foods, not even due to the soil that we want to talk about in the farms, because we've cultivated these lands so much so let's not even dive into that but just because of the processing of our food we lose a lot of this. There is this idea of vitality that comes from plants and the earth and animals that they have within us. That makes us very different than dead and nonliving things like a rock. There's this vitality, this life force that goes through a plant from the earth in, through its xylums, all the way up as it grows, transporting fluids and minerals and nutrition to the leaves and to the fruit and the seeds that they produce for us right To eat and all animals Same thing with animals a living force. It has this force within it and I think that processing of that process cutting down or picking apples six months ago, freezing them, transporting them across the Atlantic Ocean, thawing them out, putting them on a shelf eight, nine months later the life force is pretty much depleted in that too. So there's a whole theory and frequency on this.

Speaker 1:

But today let's just talk about the chemistry of supplementation, the actual chemistry of vitamins and minerals that we need to be putting into our bodies. There's lifestyle factors as well as stress, poor sleep, environmental toxins that increase the nutrient demand as well. The more stressed we are, the more we need to replenish the vitamins that we lose through the stress processes of hormone imbalance and waste products that go through the body. That's what ends up happening with high cortisol and hormone disruptions, is we end up producing more hormone for the stress cycle, which requires more vitamins and minerals to help build those hormones as well. So it plays a role there too. Deficiencies can lead to fatigue, brain fog, inflammation and, of course, diseases if they last long enough. The role of supplementing and optimizing health is to optimize what we're already doing, but not replacing a healthy diet, just enhancing it. That's the foundation of this podcast. As long as we agree on this, we can move forward and listen to the rest of this.

Speaker 1:

It's not replacing a diet. You can't just say I took my supplements, so going to McDonald's for lunch is good enough. It's not, it's just not. It's not going to work that way. Number one and it is number one on this list. So the number one vitamin is going to be a multivitamin. It covers the basics, the absolute bare minimum of what you need, and even though it has a little bit of vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium in it, you may need more vitamin C and vitamin D as another supplement. So it doesn't cover all your bases as a multivitamin. Remember that. First, it covers micronutrient needs. It helps prevent the most common deficiencies like vitamin D deficiency, b vitamin deficiencies. So by taking a multivitamin you pretty much cover your base around a healthy diet of not being deficient in really anything. Your blood work, your labs, they will always come back within normal range or you might be a little bit low on things, but never deficient, medically deficient, where you need like an injection of something to help boost that to come back up. That's number one and then number two. The number two thing about multivitamins is choosing whole food based and bioavailable forms.

Speaker 1:

Going to Walmart and picking up Centrum is not a good vitamin at all. It's not. It's you're just being cheap. Let's just be honest with ourselves. You went there. You saw the price and that's why you take Centrum. It's because you're cheap. That's fine. You can be cheap here. You're going to love this answer. If you take Centrum, stop buying it. Hey, I just saved you a whole bunch of money. You're going to love me now, right? The only reason you take Centrum is because it's cheap. Centrum fails on every classified research study publication on the best vitamin sources out there, the best vitamin companies out there. They are dead last every single time. I don't even think they study them anymore. People who take too much Centrum. I can usually see the pills on an abdominal x-ray when I take a low back x-ray and they look like stones in the stomach because they just don't dissolve. They're just packed with trace minerals mostly. So you're not getting the right bioavailability forms of nutrition. Okay, centrum's coming after me and we're in trouble. All right.

Speaker 1:

Number two omega-3 fatty acids. Definitely number two on this list. I was going to make it number one. But I think multivitamin covers more bases. Omega-3 fatty acids come in fish oil. They're algae-based. They can come from even vegetarian sources like flaxseed, but you're going to have to consume a lot more oil for flaxseed to get the same punch that you would get with 1,500 milligrams of fish oil. So this one supports brain function, neural function, nerves, heart health and reduces overall inflammation in the body. Omega-3 fatty acids are strong fatty acid chains that build pretty much all of our cellular walls in the body. All cells, all cells are made up of the fatty acid chains. If we don't have good fatty acid chains, we make up the cell bodies with bad fatty acid chains, and bad fatty acid chains break down quickly, which means that the cells won with bad fatty acid chains, and bad fatty acid chains break down quickly, which means that the cells won't live longer, and if the cells don't live longer than we age faster. There you go. Helps with mood stability and cognitive function as well. So it's so great for the brain. Kids need the DHA source and adults need the EPA source. Most omega-3s will come with both EPA and a DHA. You'll just see a two to one ratio for adults. Two parts, let's say it's a thousand milligrams per capsule, 600 will be EPA and 300 and so will be DHA For kids. You'll see a reverse ratio of that of even three to one, where it would be 700 DHA and 300 EPA for kids, because DHA is more for brain development and EPA is more for body and peripheral development through the central nervous system as well, and inflammation as well. So it's okay, I was just bringing in the kids in there. But omega-3 fatty acids are number two on this list. Write that down, start taking it today.

Speaker 1:

Vitamin D3. Vitamin D is essential. We have a vitamin D deficiency in our nation. It's just the way it is. The only way to produce vitamin D in the body is through direct UV light hitting our skin, converting the melanocyte process in our skin which darkens our skin. That's what the melanocytes do. In that conversion we get this cascade of D1, d2, d3 in the blood system, where we get D3, but we just don't get enough sunlight. Through the diet you can get it as well, but this needs to be supplemented and you need to maintain a 50 to 70 role in your blood work. Every time you get your blood work done, you should be in the 50 to 70 range. Anything under 30 is considered medically deficient, but anything really under 50 is deficient, so you want to stay in that range.

Speaker 1:

If you have any osteoporosis especially women listening to this in the history in your family your mother, your grandparents, your great-grandparents if they had any history of osteoporosis, you may want to start taking vitamin D3 with K2 so that the K2 pulls calcium from your diet into your bone. It helps convert that pathway better. So K2 helps calcium absorption better than just taking vitamin D. That could be that too. We're taking them both in combined. There's never been a vitamin K2 poisoning. You can never take too much of this stuff. There's never been a vitamin poisoning in the history of the world. I don't care what you say or what you find on Google, I don't believe it. It would take massive, like injection injectable amount of any vitamin to really cause such a severe reaction where someone dies and it may have happened. But the doses that we're telling you to take are perfectly safe. Nothing bad will happen.

Speaker 1:

Number four is magnesium on its own, critical for muscle relaxation, nerve function and sleep quality. I never really put magnesium in my almost 20 years of being a physician. Have I ever given people magnesium as a staple every day to take. But it's been helping so many people over the last 10 years that I'm just putting it on my list saying just take it. It helps relax muscles, it helps with nerve function, it helps with absorption into the bone for many, not just the bone, it helps with absorption of a lot of minerals and vitamins.

Speaker 1:

Most people are deficient and the best forms are glycinate, citrate or malate, and they all play a unique role. The malate combination is typically used over the shelf. You can find this in most stores mainly for like pain People have like muscle pain. They give them that. The citrate is covered to help absorption and the glycinate is a coating that they put on there to help for people to not get diarrhea. So citrate is something you give people not only for muscle relaxation, but it can help with bowel movements, help get motility going, and we give this to kids. The magnesium citrate, glycinate is covered to help make sure that we don't get diarrhea if we do take the magnesium, in case we're sensitive to that. So those are just some of the things you may run when you go to buy all these supplements today, because you listen to the podcast, right? So that's what to watch out for. So magnesium is absolutely great to take. Even though you'll see magnesium on the side of your multivitamin, you'll see it only be like five milligrams, but when you get to the magnesium sources you may get 80 or 90 in a pill from that. Then you can see the volume is different than what you need.

Speaker 1:

Number five probiotics. We need this for gut Supports, gut health, digestion, immune function. If you want to learn more about probiotics, listen to last week's podcast on probiotics. We dove right into just probiotics and that's what led us to this one. So gut microbiome impacts everything from mood to metabolism. Probiotics help support our gut flora and everyone should be cycling probiotics through their diet at all times.

Speaker 1:

Protein Again. This one snuck into my top seven because we're just protein deficient and sarcopenia is showing up in the senior population now and the baby boomers and even the Gen X that are starting to get into their 60s. They're showing sarcopenia at the highest levels ever. People are going in with so much muscle wasting now because of our sedentary lifestyle. The baby boomers were probably the last ones on the farms and doing some hard work, but many of them got into clinical work and office work early on in their careers and many of them went to offices and then, for sure, after Gen X and millennials, for sure, we're all sitting at desks, but they're the first ones to do that. So now that we're seeing them at the end stages of their life, the amount of sarcopenia is crazy.

Speaker 1:

So protein is important to supplement into the diet because it's hard to eat that much protein. So whey, plant-based or collagen or a combination, all work. They support muscle growth, recovery and overall metabolic health. This increases the metabolism in the body. By eating protein helps with over obesity, helps decrease weight. It helps so many different things. It's smart to put into the things that we need on our supplement chain. Collagen is great for skin, joints and gut. Lining and cycling between these can be great for you and I highly recommend it. It's an easy way.

Speaker 1:

The average American eats 80 grams of protein per day. You're supposed to be eating about one gram per pound of body weight. So take your body weight. That's how much protein. You people are coming in way too short per day on protein because for breakfast they'll eat carbs, for lunch they might have some turkey in their sandwich, or some chicken right, maybe, or a hamburger patty, and then for dinner, whatever meat you cook, you add up the lunch and the dinner, it's not enough protein. They're getting 30, 50, 80 grams of protein per day, so low when they need a hundred grams more. Many of them need a hundred. How are you going to get a hundred grams more protein? A few scoops of a whey protein? You're on your way to a hundred plus grams of protein per day. That's how that works. Number seven so that's how that works. Number seven electrolytes.

Speaker 1:

Electrolytes this is the first time ever I've put electrolytes into my daily supplement routine on a podcast, but it just makes sense. It's essential for hydration, nerve function, preventing muscle cramps especially important for those on low carb or fasting diets as well. Electrolytes are probably the second most common reason that people get headaches and muscle pain is because they're just not getting the right minerals in the body. And a multivitamin doesn't cover all those bases. And by drinking electrolytes the absorption process is very different than trying to break down a capsule or break down food. It's very quick, it's fast, it gets into the bloodstream quicker and it hydrates the body better. Electrolytes are mainly a fancy way of saying salt water. So by drinking the salts that are in there sodium, potassium, magnesium that are in the water that you drink or in the drink that you're getting the electrolyte. It helps pull and retain water back into the body. Drink that you're getting the electrolyte. It helps pull and retain water back into the body, so it's actually a hydrator and that's better than just drinking straight water.

Speaker 1:

And last but not least, but on the bottom, there is B-complex vitamins, just to cover your bases, because a multivitamin won't do it all. B-complex vitamins support energy production, nervous system health. Vitamins support energy production, nervous system health and brain function and they help combat stress and fatigue. So we live in a stress and fatigue culture as well. Sliding these into there could be a very smart supplement to add to our regimen. So those are the ones I recommend and I'll just quickly recap them all for you. We want to cover with a multivitamin omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D3, magnesium, probiotics, protein, electrolytes and B-complex vitamins. Always choose the best food sources when it comes to getting your nutrition versus supplements. But if you take a good supplement regimen and you keep that for you and your family, I think you cover all the bases to a really vital health and wellness system.

Speaker 1:

As far as diet goes in your household, there are some myths when it comes to supplements that we should probably go over. You don't need supplements if you eat healthy. That's the one I hear. Oh, but I have a good, healthy diet. I eat lots of vegetables. The food quality today is not the same as it was decades ago, so we do need to supplement. The research is pretty ground on this. We're just not getting the same amount and I highly doubt you're eating that much green vegetables per day, Unless you're a vegetarian. Then you're probably getting them all in. Myth number two more is better. Actually, excessive supplementations can actually cause some side effects Upset, stomach, bloating, constipation. It can cause some issues because of how we encapsulate these things. So more is not better. All supplements are created equal Very, not true. We talked about Centrum being on the bottom of that scale.

Speaker 1:

A lot of these supplement companies outsource to other countries and we just can't control the efficacy of these vitamins. So finding reliable sources. I'm a big fan of pure encapsulations, metagenics, douglas Labs. Unfortunately, as these companies grow and get big and they're good and they're helping a lot of people with quality nutrition, they get bought out by other companies that are not so great. So Nestle ended up buying pure encapsulations and Douglas Labs, who I've been using my entire career. We still use them because we keep track of their facilities and they've kept the facilities the same. However, as long as those numbers don't change on the side of the bottle and they don't change the formulas, we'll continue to use them. But you know how these big companies work. They try and cut corners to make more profits. So we'll keep an eye on that. But as of right now, those are my favorite ones. They're really great companies, and there's many others too. So shop, use health food stores and find some resources to help you when you buy these things.

Speaker 1:

Not all supplements are created equal. You'll feel immediate results as soon as you start taking vitamins. That's not true either. You may not notice any results. This is just to help supplement a healthy diet. For those of you that eat a healthy diet, you won't notice too much. Your energy will go up because whatever micro deficiencies you have and you solve, your energy and your fatigue will go down. It is a very cool thing that happens right away.

Speaker 1:

Okay, supplement support, but don't replace a healthy diet. Remember that. Focus on quality. Please. Don't just buy the cheap stuff. Bioavailability forms are the most that matter and then listen to your body, get tested when needed and adjust accordingly. Get your vitamin D tested, get a vitamin panel done, see where you need replacements done or help, and a functional medical doctor can go a long way with this. And if you need anything, reach out to info at fulllifetampacom. We love answering these questions, and functional medicine can be done virtually for the most part, because we can send you to any lab. We can do things from any town, any city, any village that you're in. We can do this for you. So find a good one that you trust, a reputable source and people that focus mainly on that as their, as their, main thing, and you'll be in great hands from there. Stay well, stay healthy and catch you next week.

People on this episode

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Dr. Enrico Dolcecore

Host
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Dr. Christine Hafer

Co-host
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Dr. Crystal Corona

Co-host