Every supplement company has a different standard for manufacturing, which means you should try to understand the nuances of how supplements are made. Your health may depend upon it.
The government only gives minimal guidelines on how supplements are stored and coated. So, you need to do most of your own homework.
What’s in Your Supplement?
When manufacturers chelate, or coat, a supplement, they are making it more resistant to damage during digestion. Manufacturers use binders, usually vegetable gums, cellulose, and microcrystalline cellulose to hold the tablets together. Capsules can also use binders to help affect the speed of a product being released into the bloodstream.
After the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables all summer long, fall might seem lacking in variety. However, with a little research, there are some great fresh fruits and vegetables that are at the peak of flavor and nutrition in the colder months. Not only do they taste better, many of them are grown locally, and local produce is always a great choice. If it’s not shipped in, odds are pretty good that the fruit is more fresh and it’s also a great option to keep your food budget in check, a win-win situation. Add these cold weather choices to your meals for great taste and exceptional benefits to your diet.
1. Apples – Studies have shown that apples can help lower cholesterol, manage diabetes, and prevent several diseases, including cancer. Apples peak in the fall, and the flavor can’t be beat. They are full of fiber, around 5 grams per fruit, and are comparatively low in calories.
You’ve seen the cookbooks and heard the buzz. “It’s a great way to sneak vegetables into your kid’s daily diets and bypass their picky palates!” scream the reviews. I’m talking, of course, about the practice of adding veggie purees to foods that you wouldn’t ordinarily suspect – beets in brownies or spinach in chocolate chip cookies, for example.
No, I’m not kidding. Spinach is a fine food and a great addition to an entire roster of dishes – but not, in my mind, a yummy addition to my beloved chocolate chip cookies. Which are just fine on their own.
I think that vegetables are a tricky subject for many kids. Vegetables have strong flavors, and many children are averse to them, but in my mind sneaking them into other, less nefarious foods is the wrong tact to take. Don’t get me wrong – I frequently add shredded carrots to my bolognese sauce, for extra flavor, and have been known to add cauliflower chunks to my homemade macaroni and cheese – but my kids know that I’ve done so.
Being a busy mom, I find that mornings are especially chaotic and not friendly to a leisurely, home-cooked breakfast. Not only that, my kids’ favorite breakfasts involve foods that are high in fat and calories and not healthy choices. One of the best breakfast options out there is cereal. So many cereals on the shelf are full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings and lacking in protein – but appealing to kids, thanks to colorful pictures, candy-like flavors and cartoon characters. It’s hard to find a cereal that pleases both children and parents, but it is possible. Here are some guidelines that I try to follow when I’m shopping for cereal. (Psst – I never bring the kids.)
- Keep the sugar low - I remember when I was a child my mom always told me never to buy cereal with a sugar count over the magic number of “10.” Ten grams of sugar means that the box is 10% sugar, and that’s high enough for it to still be tasty.
As a health counselor I can’t help but look into the shopping carts of fellow shoppers to see what types of products and produce they load into their carts. In some cases I have had to fight the urge to question some shoppers as to why they just selected a product full of sugar, fat and artificial ingredients.
Below are some quick tips to help move your regular shopping list to a nutritious filled list:
Typical food items on shopping list:
- White Bread
- White Rice
- Salmon
- Chicken
- Vegetable Oil
Nutritious shopping list:
- Whole Grain Bread (not just whole wheat)
- Brown Rice
- Wild Salmon (not farmed)
- Free-Range, Antibiotic-Free Chicken
- Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
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