Juicing For Health - Sucked In By The Supplement Industry
In My Face Everywhere
Everywhere we go these days especially on the internet were hit with advertisements boasting the latest and greatest in nutritional technology. Whether its weight loss, bodybuilding, male pattern baldness, libido enhancement you name it theirs an advert for it. Most come with unreasonable claims of their benefits - loss 40 pounds in a week, as effective as viagra, get ripped in a day and so on most will have seen these ads somewhere on their tracks.
Spiralling Into Debt
A few years back when i was at the peak of my ill health with undiagnosed issues starting with gastrointestinal candida issues to adrenal/thyroid symptoms, many of us who are chronically ill without help from our local doctors are forced into the unknown world of alternative health to try gain some relief from our ailments.
This is where the problems start to go wrong and being more niave at that time not having the knowledge i do now about alternative healing and health i wasted around £30,000+ of my savings on the latest and greatest supplements/gadgets available. Im a frequent poster on many of the natural health forums and i see many people much like myself going down the same road i did so i thought id write an article about my adventure.
So Take A Step Back And Breathe
So as the title says take a step back and breathe, get things into perspective for a moment. Its far to easy especially when you have money available to search and find some form of supplement with its exaggerating claims and go blow your hard earned cash. Now dont get me wrong im not against dietary supplements their are some great products out their and from the looks of it their will be alot more interesting products to follow.But this is where we should stop and research, lets take a common one for the candida/intestinal disorder sufferers out there. Their are literally thousands of probiotic products on the market these days some at the lower end of the price scale others at the higher end and most if not all of them dont do much if anything in helping replace the good flora.
So then i know what your thinking what do i use to restore my population of good bacteria, the answer is cultured food such as kefir, home-made fermented veggies like sauerkraut and so on. These will go much further in improving your digestive health than any probiotic ive seen on the market so far and the good bit is, a set of starter grains or veggies cost next to nothing to purchase so your wallet doesnt take a bashing either.
Addicted To Supplements
When i was at my worst health i wanted anything to work just to feel abit of relief from the daily suffering that some of us sadly go through. I was willing to pay any amount on the latest hot products some which now looking back on it were just MLM marketed with massively wild claims. But the point im trying to get at was i didnt feel happy or right to just be sitting back doing what i felt like was nothing at trying to correct my health. I became nothing more than a glorified pill popper, easing my depressions with any health promoting pill i could find.
Testing
This brings me onto my next part, most of us chronic illness sufferers go round in circles for years getting little to no help which having gone through this myself for 7+ years can relate to the frustration patients go through when their doctors tell them theirs nothing wrong from the basic blood work and to try anti-depressants as a last resort. I went around in circles for half a decade self diagnosing myself from diabetes, candida, parasites, heavy metals to hypothyroidism and so on.
Alternative testing is worth its weight in gold, something i wish i had done a little research into quicker into my battle rather than trying to purchase every supplement i could get my hands on. There are companies such as Medichecks in the UK which offer private blood/stool tests of all sorts, they send the containers through the post and they link you up with a local surgery. Bookmark this link here - Medi Checks. Now alot of the tests are not cheap but as i say their worth their weight in gold to narrow down possibilities of whats going wrong with your health.
Naturopaths/Herbalists
When you have exhausted the possibilities with your doctor largely due to the fact they wont do more than basic blood work to try find out whats going on, most will go on to recommend you find a naturopath or qualified herbalist to help your problems. Now again before you think im just a pessimest watch these guys like a hawk and do your research first before shelving out any cash. Their is no standard body for herbalists and naturopaths in the UK and alot of the time these guys are nothing more than nutritional consultants who have passed and internet course.
Alot of them work on selling their own supplements and before you know it you've got no money and are no further forward. So research these naturopaths as best you can on the internet and if you can find a doctor who has decided to go natural even better as they have a proper understanding of how the body works.
Conclusion
The reason i wrote this article is to try and get people to research more before wasting their money and shooting in the dark for long periods of time. I went through this hell for more than 7 of my teenage years which i was so often told should be the best years of my life and it genuinely breaks my heart when i see how hard life can be on some of those chronic health sufferers. We have to remember that most of the supplements are just a blend of herbs or single herbs marked up at big margins, im a massive fan of raw medicinal herb powders, most are cheap as chips so long term supplementation which is recommended for many can fit into mosts budget easily.
Other than herbs make foods functional to your health, seaweeds, non-bloating prebiotic fibres such as rice bran, fruit/vegetables, cultured foods etc can go along way to correcting your problems and supporting a body under stress. Lifestyle changes and destressing also play a massive role in boosting your health.
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