Many Americans supplement their diet with nutritional products, vitamins and minerals.

Rather than eat well rounded whole meals they choose to consume nutrients they require through liquids, capsules and tablets.

There are a couple issues with this, the main one being that our body can much easier utilize nutrients found in a whole food diet than isolated in nutritional supplements.

All things being equal, it’s better to eat the nutrients our body requires in whole foods than get it from supplements.

However, all things are never equal, and not all supplements have the same efficacy when consumed.

This measure is referred to as bioavailability, It’s a description of how easily our body can access and utilize the compounds in a particular supplement.

This varies drastically between supplements depending on the form they are in and the other compounds chemically bound to the desired nutrient.

When selecting supplements, it’s important to make sure the desired nutrient is in a form that is bioavailable and that the company has a third party testing all their products to ensure they actually contain what they claim to.

Otherwise your supplements will get flushed right out of the body in the same form that they entered and you’ll be literally flushing your money down the toilet.

Another way to ensure you are getting your moneys worth if you do choose to supplement, is to have a properly functioning gastrointestinal tract.

If our body is unable to digest and absorb the things we introduce to our body, it matters little what comprises them.

Ultimately, the proper function of the gastrointestinal tract is regulated by the nervous system.

It’s our nervous system’s responsibility to manage our stress adnalert phase and shift us into a rest, digest and heal phase when the time is appropriate.

Many of us are stuck in a constant alert phase, our bodies are not designed for this and we suffer for it.

Our sleep gets compromised, stress hormones build up and damage the body, cognition struggles, and our bodies are not able to digest and absorb as they should, among other things.

If we aren’t able to make the shift between these phases, the body breaks down.

To keep it on topic, if our gastrointestinal tract is inhibited because our body is in a stress or alert phase rather than a rest, digest and heal phase, it doesn’t matter what kind of magical supplements we are taking because the body will not be able to use them.

Chiropractors are the only ones trained to ease this imbalance in the nervous system and allow the body to function as it was intended to do.

By adjusting the areas of the spine related to the parasympathetic nervous system, we can help the body be more efficient in making the shift into a rest digest and healing state.

In our office we see many people get amazing results that once suffered from gastrointestinal ailments, whether that be constipation, diarrhea, cramps, malabsorption, gas, bloating, lack of appetite, etc.

Having a properly functioning nervous system allows the body to maintain a state of ease and be the self regulating organism that is was designed to be.

Pain, symptoms, and living a life limited by our body are common, but are not normal.

Ease, health and wellness are normal.

Let’s start to focus on what causes health rather than what causes disease.

Go get checked by a neurologic Chiropractor so you can get the most out of your food, supplements, and your life.

Important Note: Please get your nutritional advice from a trained professional basing their recommendations off of objective findings, not from Dr. Google. Nutritional deficiencies are no joke and they can mimic serious conditions. If one is actually deficient in a nutrient, consuming it could be life saving. Vitamins are not necessarily harmless and can do damage if taken when not necessary or in excess amounts.