People have become more aware of their nutritional needs, all thanks to modern research and scientific evidence that continues to show the importance of nutrients to our metabolic activities. Essential dietary nutrients activate the vitamins that power the cells in your body. As a result, you need an adequate supply of nutrients and vitamins to meet your increased energy expenditure. But unfortunately, receiving all of these nutrients through diet alone has become more complex due to a variety of factors such as farming practices and genetic variations. As such, many people depend on supplements to get vital nutrients.
However, a balanced diet has the most significant impact on your health, and should always be considered when adding supplements to your daily routine. Here, we are committed to helping you understand your nutritional needs and how to meet them for a healthier lifestyle.
FOOD FIRST PHILOSOPHY
The food first philosophy is a primary intervention in health promotion and improved well-being because the food you consume is the most critical factor in determining your overall health. This approach ensures that you meet most of your nutrient needs through a balanced and varied diet.
This is precisely why healthcare professionals and dieticians recognize the types of food people consume and adjustments they have to make to boost their nutritional intake via a healthy diet. However, genetic variation and other factors in our ecosystem have destroyed much of the nutritional value of our food. As a result, holes appear in our nutritional makeup, creating nutritional gaps.
What are nutritional gaps?
When we don't consume sufficient nutrients or our body's nutrient expenditure exceeds intake, it results in nutrient depletion. In addition, some external factors can also strain nutrient reserves from our food. For example, synthetic fertilizers deplete the soil of vital minerals. Consequently, many plants are raised on poor soil that robs our food of nutritional support. Moreover, toxins such as chemicals and metals present in food, air, and water enter our body and deprive it of vitamins essential for tissue repair and detoxification.
Improper supplementation and poor dietary choices also disrupt your nutrient balance creating nutritional gaps. Optimizing your intake of dietary supplements helps cover the nutrition gap, which means that the supplements act as a bridge between food and your body's primary dietary need.
The food-first philosophy encourages people to make healthy changes to their diet as it is the foremost factor directly impacting their health. For this reason, your Health Insights report includes the dietary recommendations that are essential to optimizing your health, with supplements playing a supporting role in the repair of your cells and well-being.
IMPORTANCE OF RESTORING NUTRIENT BALANCE THROUGH DIET
Consuming a balanced diet with adequate nutrients is crucial for maintaining your health and managing and preventing diseases. Therefore, you must ensure that you consume neither excessive nor deficient food from essential food groups. Taking a food-first approach to your supplements will help align eating patterns with your dietary needs, ultimately boosting your body's vital processes and helping to maintain overall health. This is why we believe that you should meet your nutritional needs first through a nutrient-dense diet.
Nutrient deficiencies and imbalances can lead to various chronic diseases, when left unaddressed. From asthma to diabetes and cardiovascular problems, a balanced diet can help prevent the range of human illness many suffer from today. Many of the foods we consume today have a higher concentration of chemicals, toxins, and pesticides, that put a strain on nutrient reserves. In addition, foods today often include oils that contain denatured fatty acids which promote inflammation and disease. This does not mean eliminating all oils from your food is wise. Healthy fats are vital for cell function, detoxification, and the proper functioning of internal processes. Instead, here are dietary guidelines for nutrient-dense foods.
FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FOOD FIRST PHILOSOPHY
Variety is the most critical part of our diet. Therefore, we encourage people to choose a more varied and balanced diet with a spectrum of nutrients to ensure that their diet meets most of their nutritional needs.
While specific food recommendations can vary depending on your metabolic type, these foods contain essential proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber to impart positive health effects. We advise testing your nutrient levels at the cellular level to understand the specific deficiencies and imbalances your body is facing, and adjust your diet and supplements accordingly.
Boost Your Protein Intake
Eat a higher protein organic food at each meal, making up 40% of the total calories per meal. Some good protein sources are lean organic grass-fed meats, small wild fish, free-foraging fowl, and high protein vegetables. Here are some protein-rich vegetables to incorporate into your diet as well.
- Asparagus
- Peas
- Beans
- Bean sprouts
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
- Brussels sprouts
- Lentils
An increased protein intake will help boost your metabolic rate and keep you energetic throughout the day.
Eat Unrefined Carbohydrates
Include a moderate amount of unrefined carbohydrates in your meals. Your carbohydrate intake should not exceed more than 30% of your daily caloric intake. Some excellent sources of unrefined carbohydrates are higher fiber vegetables, whole grain products, root vegetables, and legumes.
However, you should avoid refined carbohydrates and all types of sugars because they disrupt your mineral balances and also feed pathogenic bacteria, fungus, and microbes present in your gut. When you ingest refined sugar, it promotes diabetes, neurological diseases, and the production of cancer cells. This is why you should avoid all types of sugars such as brown and white sugar, honey, modified starches, corn syrup, rice syrup, soft drinks, cake, pastries, white bread, and alcohol.
Consume Organic Dairy
In today's world, the food we consume comes packed with pesticides, heavy metals, hormone residues, and toxic estrogen-mimicking chemicals that accumulate in our bodies over time and cause various health problems. Dairy, eggs, and meat have the highest levels of toxins due to the bioaccumulation in the animals. Consuming these toxins can inhibit liver function and cause a build-up of these toxins within our tissues. This is why you should focus on consuming organic dairy milk and eggs to reduce inflammation.
Eat Low Glycemic Vegetables
Eat low glycemic vegetables with a high fiber content for a healthier bowel. Eating unhealthy foods also grows pathogenic bacteria and fungus in your gut, so eating plenty of vegetables with fiber for improved gut health is advised.
Eliminate Poor-Quality Fats
Consuming a high-fat diet can cause inflammation in your intestines. Saturated fat can also lead to inflammatory bowel diseases. Moreover, women who consume a high-fat diet are likely to have a lower bone density. This is why you should eliminate or reduce poor-quality fats and oils intake. This includes reducing fried foods, most vegetable oils, high-fat salad dressings, etc. Instead, substitute these with healthier fats.
TAKING PERSONALIZED VITAMINS FOR BETTER HEALTH
Improving your diet affects your overall well-being because you consume the necessary amount of macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and protein. But vitamin and mineral deficiencies can lead to chronic conditions such as arthritis, anemia, autoimmune diseases, among others. So if you wish to level up your nutrition habits, it's vital to pay attention to micronutrients as well.
This is where supplementation comes in. With pure, potent, and high-quality supplements you can fill in the micronutrient gaps that your body is missing from your diet. For example, many North Americans do not meet their vitamin D levels. Vitamin D plays an essential role in immune functions and bone health. Similarly, many people cannot meet their omega-3 needs. Omega-3 DHA is a fatty acid that is crucial to support your eye, brain, and heart health. Besides consuming walnuts, flaxseed, and tofu, you can take omega-3 supplements to meet your nutrient needs.
But you must know which vitamins and minerals you need to take, so you avoid over-saturating your body with additional nutrients you don’t need.
Avoid Taking Vitamins You Don't Need
Improper supplementation through oral nutritional support can make you consume excess vitamins and minerals that you don't require. This is why personalized vitamins can help with vitamin deficiencies, as you will only consume the proper nutrients in the right combinations, keeping you from over-saturating your body. A personalized approach to supplements also ensures that you are considering synergistic nutrients to support their utilization in your body. For example, vitamin C affects iron absorption and reduces copper retention, while Vitamin B2 affects the relationship between calcium and magnesium. Recognizing and considering the many synergistic and antagonistic interrelationships between minerals and vitamins will ensure the supplements you take are supporting your well-being.
Start Taking Your Personalized Vitamins
How do you know what supplements you should take? Your body needs different nutrients, and similarly, you need to take various supplements to cover your nutritional gap. But before you start taking oral nutrition support, you need to test your current nutrient levels, so you don't consume unnecessary supplements. Honed conducts an assessment to provide you with personalized supplements to understand your nutrient needs better. This comprehensive assessment consists of a metabolic hair test and an online questionnaire. Hair testing is an efficient way to gain insight into a person's cellular health, nutrient levels, toxic metal exposures, and metabolic activity. With the results from your test kit, you understand the foods you should increase or decrease in our diet, as well as the supplements to support your body’s healing.
By optimizing your nutritional intake, you will create the necessary conditions for your cells to work efficiently. And once your body is nourished well, it will generate more energy and detoxify and repair efficiently, keeping you healthy for the long-term.