I was never one for take supplements. In my opinion, they had always seemed useless to me, and many times I didn’t want to spend the money on them when I could buy delicious food with that money. And for certain supplements, I still feel that way. But in the last few years, I’ve tried three different supplements that have really made a big difference in my health.
I admit that while these supplements added useful and necessary nutrients to my daily routine, I think the main reason they made such a difference in my health is that they helped me focus more on my overall diet and the types of nutrients (or the lack of them). of nutrients) that I was giving my body through the food I was eating. In a way, they helped me refocus on what’s important in my diet.
These are the three supplements that I have taken and still love to this day. And for more healthy eating tips, read I ate like the oldest people in the world.
I took a probiotic supplement
In 2018, he was struggling with constant stomach problems. After seeing a doctor about it, they concluded that a lot of my symptoms sounded like “leaky gut.” Leaky gut, which can’t really be tested for at all, is what can happen if the intestinal barrier weakens over time, allowing more toxins to leak into the body.
Curing leaky gut is possible, it just requires a few changes to your diet to rebuild that intestinal barrier. My doctor suggested improving my gut health this way by eating more probiotics AND prebiotics.
Prebiotics are fibers that help healthy bacteria in your gut grow, while probiotics are live bacteria that can contribute to existing bacteria in your gut microbiome. Together these two are known for help repair and restore your intestinal healthso I certainly wanted to give it a try.
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Foods rich in prebiotics they are easy to get and are found in many fruits and vegetables. Probiotics, however, are found in more fermented foods like yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, and kombucha, things I don’t usually eat much of in my daily diet. I wanted to make sure I was getting enough prebiotics and probiotics, so I decided to eat prebiotic-rich foods and supplement the probiotics with a pill.
The combination of regularly taking a probiotic supplement, while focusing more on eating prebiotics and maintaining a balanced, nutrient-dense diet cured my gut issues much faster than I could have imagined. You can find probiotic supplements pretty much anywhere, but this is the one I loved and would recommend:
I started using protein powder.
Like many people, I fight for get enough protein in my diet throughout the day. Before I started paying attention to how much protein I was consuming, I found myself lazy and hungry all the time. I had tons of cravings and didn’t feel satisfied after many of the meals I was eating.
After learning that I wasn’t eating enough protein, I decided to start implementing more protein rich foods in as many meals as possible. While this definitely helped, I still had a hard time reaching my protein goals, especially during the seasons of life when I was most active or active.
Supplementing some protein using a protein powder really changed the game for me. This gave me something to put in a smoothie or my bowl of yogurt in the morning, so I could still get a protein boost even on my busiest days. However, like most supplements, I had to make sure it wasn’t the only time of day I was focusing on my protein levels.
My protein powder never replaces the protein I get from balanced meals throughout the day; it just gives me a boost when I need it. exist so many protein powders on the market with its own unique benefits, but I really enjoy this plant-based one:
I learned more about Lion’s Mane
The use of mushrooms as supplements is still a hotly debated topic in the medical world. Some people are totally into the potential benefits of these mushrooms, while others are deluded. But in my experience with Lion’s Mane (one of the most common mushroom supplements), I have seen some significant changes.
Lion’s mane contains two compounds, erinazines and hericenones, that have been found to help brain cell growth. For this reason, people continue to research the effect of Lion’s Mane on older adults with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
These mushroom compounds are also known to help with things like brain fog, memory, and mild symptoms of anxiety and depression. I tried Lion’s Mane capsules for the first time in 2020, and after taking them consistently for about four months, I really felt a huge difference in my levels of brain fog and retention of information. However, I didn’t really feel any change in the symptoms of anxiety or depression.
It’s hard to say if it was Lion’s Mane that helped with my brain fog, or if the supplements acted as yet another motivator to pay attention to areas of my diet that might be contributing to it. Taking Lion’s Mane consistently gave me more motivation to take care of my cognitive health and make changes where I could, like trying to eat less added sugar or limit my alcohol intake during the work week.
If you have any interest in trying them yourself, I recommend this brand:
Overall, these supplements have made a huge difference in my health and I’m glad I tried them. These may be worth looking into if you have similar issues, but it’s always important to talk to your doctor before adding any supplements to your diet!
