Transcription
The number one mistake you are making with your supplements. So many people waste so much money on supplements. Not because they don't work, but simply because they're making mistakes about taking them. And sometimes, yes, they're taking the wrong thing. But there are really simple things related to supplements that you should know, especially with absorption, taking the right amounts, taking the right form. That's what we're going to talk about today.
The first thing I want to cover is when you buy a supplement and you look at the back of the label, everything on that label is designed off of what's called an RDA. So, what is an RDA? Is it the amount that you really need to satisfy a deficiency? Not necessarily. It's the bare minimum you need as a survival dosage to prevent a major problem. It is not designed to fortify an optimum amount. And these amounts are definitely not designed to create a therapeutic effect. So if you have a major deficiency and you just take the RDA, the bare minimum, you will never correct the deficiency because it's too small. And this is number one. The dosage that you're taking is way too small. It's too tiny. Let's just go through some common nutrients that a lot of people take and then let's look at what you really need to be taking to create a therapeutic effect.
The first one is vitamin D3. The RDA is between 600 IU and 800 IU. That number is ridiculous. It's completely outdated and it's only designed to prevent rickets, which is a calcium problem in children because their bones are just too soft. It is not the amount that you need for the immune system, for your brain, for your muscles because there are two systems of vitamin D. I have videos on this. I'm not going to get into it, but the average person to get enough vitamin D needs at least 10,000 IUs of vitamin D3 every single day just to maintain good levels in your blood. And this might not even be a therapeutic amount. If you have an autoimmune disease or chronic inflammation, you might need 50,000 or even 100,000 IUs. The other thing I want to mention is when you go out in the sun in the summer for maybe a half an hour, you're going to get at least 10,000 IUs. So anyone that tells you that this is too much, just mention the part about what about the sun and that argument will quickly diffuse.
Vitamin C, the RDA is 90 milligrams. Again, this is just the amount to prevent scurvy, which is a severe vitamin C deficiency. There are doctors out there that use much higher amounts of vitamin C, like a thousand milligrams to 10,000 milligrams every single day to create different therapeutic effects.
What about vitamin B1? The RDA for B1 is 1.2 milligrams. That is a joke. That's such a tiny amount. An average person needs a lot more. Between 50 to sometimes up to 600 milligrams per day to create a therapeutic effect. Vitamin B1 is really, really important, especially in your mitochondria to actually generate energy. The more sugar, refined carbs or the more starch that you consume, the more B1 you will need. And this is why so many people are deficient because they're not even getting close to the amount that they need. And then when you eat these refined carbohydrates, you'll see that they'll enrich some of these products with synthetic vitamins. They'll spray a couple synthetic vitamins so you think you're getting something, but it's actually just a joke. I recommend if you're going to take B1, get a natural version, not the synthetic version. B1 is very therapeutic for anything related to the nervous system and also anxiety and nervous tension that builds up. It works wonders on that.
Let's talk about iodine. Okay, 150 micrograms, very tiny amounts. When in other countries like Japan, the amounts that they take are much much higher because they're consuming a lot of seaweed. So in the therapeutic ranges, you're talking 500 to even 3,000 micrograms to create certain effects. Iodine helps regulate estrogen. It's also really good on fibrocystic breast, which is a situation where you have too much estrogen. It makes those disappear within weeks.
Now, let's talk about magnesium, which nearly everyone is deficient in because it's really hard to get magnesium from the foods. Not to mention all the other barriers to absorbing it. But the RDA is between 310 and 420 milligrams. Again, this is the amount just as a barebones minimum, not what people actually need to correct anything. And these amounts were based on women that weighed 130 lbs and men that weighed 160 lbs. So if we recalculate and take my weight 195 pounds, I should be taking as the RDA 600 milligrams. Okay? But to create a therapeutic effect, you need between 800 to 1,600 milligrams. One of the challenges with people taking this, and I'm going to get into this as we get into this video more, but taking the wrong form of magnesium, I will cover that, but just so you know, a lot of people need a lot more magnesium. Magnesium is so super important in many different biochemical reactions. I will cover that.
Zinc, the RDA between eight and 11 milligrams is a joke. Most people need between 25 and 50 milligrams. Zinc is involved in many different things related to building testosterone, being able to smell and taste certain foods, as well as supporting a healthy immune system.
Let's talk about vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 doesn't have an RDA. It's a relatively newly discovered vitamin, but it's the thing that keeps calcium from building up in the arteries. The version that I would recommend is the MK7 version. And on a daily basis, you need between 200 to 400 micrograms. But if you're trying to create a therapeutic effect, let's say you have osteoporosis because vitamin K2 takes the soft tissue calcium out of the arteries and the joints and drives it into the bones and the teeth, then you would need like 45 milligrams. There's an interesting study on Japanese women with osteoporosis doing that showing some good effects.
Okay, B12, 2.4 micrograms. No, we need a lot more. We need between a thousand to 2,000 micrograms. I will be talking also about the correct form of B12 because you don't want to take the synthetic version. But again, this small amount is not going to do anything to your body other than prevent a very severe deficiency.
Omega-3 fatty acids, fish oils, cod liver oil, between 1.1 to 1.6 grams. To counteract all the high omega-6 fatty acids, which are inflammatory, aka seed oils in the diet, you're going to need to really take these to the next level between 3 to five grams per day. Rarely does anyone do that. But if you're trying to create a therapeutic effect, especially for inflammation like arthritis, autoimmune, these are the ranges that you would need. This isn't going to do anything. And what happens is people will take smaller amounts of a vitamin and say, "Oh, yeah, that didn't work." And then stop taking it when it could have worked if you took enough of it.
Let's talk about selenium. Another super important trace mineral that we need in certain amounts, but 55 micrograms is the RDA when a lot of people need more, 200 to 400 micrograms to create an effect on the immune system, to create an effect on the liver to build up glutathione, which is a powerful antioxidant, and also to help with your thyroid. The conversion of T4 to T3 requires selenium and selenium is one of the most important things with hypothyroidism.
So I just wanted to cover some of the nutrients and the tiny amounts that are recommended. Don't actually just focus on the RDA. I would recommend looking at the therapeutic dosages because that's really why people take supplements usually to handle something unless you're taking a multi-vitamin mineral. And you know at this point I want to add a 1.5. I didn't include it in this but I want to just mention you are wasting a lot of money with vitamins if your diet is bad because the diet itself is going to pull out this nutrition. The requirements for using the nutrition go way up with certain nutrients. So you're going to be depleting a lot more. And also a poor diet with a blood sugar issue is going to override the effects that this creates. People are tired. They can't sleep, so they take a vitamin expecting it to work when they're not focusing on their diet. So, I just wanted to include that in there. That's a 1.5.
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Let's go to two. Ignoring co-factors. What's a co-factor? Well, the very purpose of vitamins and minerals is to help chemical reactions in the body. It's they're called biochemical reactions. You know, from eating food and turning that into hair, skin, ability to move, ability to sleep without getting muscle spasms, all require the correct chemistry. And in nature, vitamins don't work independently. They always come in complexes. Okay? Okay. So in other words, in order for vitamin D to work, you also need other things as well. Okay? So you need vitamin K2 because vitamin D increases the calcium in the blood. Well, vitamin K2 takes that calcium and then keeps it out of the blood in the tissues. Magnesium is necessary for vitamin D3 to work. In fact, vitamin D3 won't work if you don't have enough magnesium. Also, you need zinc, B6, boron, and even vitamin A to allow this nutrient to work. So, in other words, if you're buying a vitamin, make sure it has some other co-actors, the key ones in there to allow it to work better. Or you're then going to have to take other vitamins to substitute for that or eat certain foods high in these other co-factors.
In order for zinc to work, you need copper. B12 works with folate. So, a folate deficiency can mimic a B12 deficiency. In order for B1 to work, you need magnesium. You're going to see throughout my presentation that magnesium is a common thread to help so many other things work in the body. Even vitamin K2, vitamin K2 won't work without magnesium. So, let's say, for example, you're trying to get calcium out of the arteries or out of your joints and you're taking all this K2, you're not seeing anything. It could be because you're deficient in magnesium.
What about co-enzyme Q10? There is no RDA for this and that's why I didn't really include it in here. But CoQ10 is a key nutrient in the mitochondria, the energy factory to allow you to make energy. And if you're deficient in this, you're going to feel tired, especially in your muscles. The muscles won't work because they can't supply the energy. One drug called the statin which blocks cholesterol also blocks co-enzyme Q10 which then creates a bunch of side effects with your muscles. So this is why people on statins need to be taking co-enzyme Q10. But co-enzyme Q10 you can consider it like an antioxidant but it works with vitamin E and selenium which both of these are also considered an antioxidant as one of the functions that they do.
Vitamin A also needs zinc to work. So, if someone's driving at night and it's raining and it's dark and they just cannot see with glaring lights and things like that, typically that would be a vitamin A deficiency. But if they're deficient in zinc, vitamin A won't work. So, both of these are necessary. And I just wanted to add one more thing. I've never found a vitamin bottle that has a good natural version of vitamin A. You're going to say, "Well, wait a second. What about beta carotene? That is not the active form of vitamin A. That's the precursor. Very little of that is going to be converted into retinol, the active form. Instead, they have these synthetic versions of vitamin A, which I don't recommend taking. I would recommend getting your vitamin A from food, egg yolk, cod liver oil, liver. But don't count on getting enough retinol vitamin A from the beta carotene. And also, there are synthetic versions of beta carotene that you don't want to take for other reasons. So that was just a side note on that.
So with vitamin E, you need selenium for it to work. One little side note about vitamin E, you have two different groups of vitamin E. You have the tocopherols and then you have tocotrienols. I recommend the tocotrienols for a lot of different conditions because they're more powerful, just as a side note. And also the best food for selenium is a Brazil nut. You could get a good amount of selenium from a couple Brazil nuts a day.
Okay. Calcium. Anytime you take calcium, you should be taking vitamin K2. In fact, I don't even recommend taking calcium supplements unless you're severely osteoporotic. And even then, I would take a bone-building supplement that actually has bone in it to get your calcium because most multi- one-a-days, the first ingredient is what? Calcium carbonate. That's limestone. I'll talk more about it in the next section, but a lot of people take way too much calcium thinking it's going to do some good when it's just going to clog everything up, especially if you don't have the vitamin K2.
Okay, I have my next whiteboard here. Number three, timing. In the morning is when you should take your B vitamins typically because they do tend to give you more energy and if you take them right before bed, it could keep you up all night. Iodine also can stimulate the thyroid. So that's a good one to take in the morning. Even if you're taking sea kelp to get your iodine taken in the morning.
Potassium. Now some people can take potassium at night, but most people can't because it's going to cause the excess water that's accumulating in your body to be released. And you may find if you take this at night, you're going to be getting up peeing a lot if you're retaining fluid. And also potassium is going to give you energy too. So you might want to take this in the earlier part of the day.
When you eat at lunch is when you want to take your fat-soluble nutrients like your vitamin D, your K2, maybe your vitamin E, the omega-3 fatty acids, co-enzyme Q10. That's good to take at lunch with a meal because it needs fat. So fat-soluble nutrients vitamin A, K, D, E, all require fat to be absorbed. And also as a side note, if you're taking a phytonutrient, those are also fat-soluble. So this is why your salad, for example, you add oil on it to be able to extract these phytonutrients from the vegetable.
After dinner time is when I take my magnesium glycinate to help me wind down better. I take a lot more than the RDA. So, I basically take magnesium through the entire day. Taking magnesium won't make you tired, okay? But it will help you if you take it at night wind down because it increases something called GABA, which is a neurotransmitter. It actually lowers cortisol. So, it can help you at night.
Okay. Number four, there's a huge difference between synthetic and natural or even synthetic in whole food complexes. Okay, but there are certain synthetics that I do recommend because they don't seem to have any problems. One is this one right here called benfotiamine, which is a fat-soluble B1, which is really good for peripheral neuropathy, which is pain in the bottom of the feet, and also tucao, which is a synthetic bile salt. And the reason why this is synthetic is because this specific bile salt mimics bear bile. And instead of killing all these bears and stealing their bile like they used to as a remedy, they found a way to make it synthetically. And it seemed to work really, really good, especially to kind of thin the bile ducts to allow things to kind of go through from the liver down to the gallbladder because so many people have bile sludge that clogs those things up and then refers pain to the right side of the shoulder. So, this is really effective. I wish I would have known about this a long time ago because I had that problem.
Many of the synthetic vitamins out there have fillers of maltodextrin. Okay? And this is why with my brand, I have to pay extra to keep this filler, which is worse than sugar, out of my products. One simple way to detect if it's in your products, especially if it's like in a powder or even the capsule, you open it up, mix it with some water, put a drop of iodine. Okay? If it turns dark purple, it's a positive starch test. It has probably maltodextrin or another starch in it. If it just stays like yellow, then it doesn't have starch in it. But typically, look for whole food complexes. The thing you need to know is like 80% of the materials that they make synthetics out of come right from China, especially the vitamin C, the B complex, even the vitamin D3. And take a look at all of these chemical companies. These are the main chemical companies that make the majority of vitamins on planet Earth. They come from chemical companies. This is what people are taking. I mean, think about how many people are taking the one-a-days and these vitamins and thinking that they're getting some help when they're really just taking a chemical version of a natural vitamin. And unfortunately, there's a big difference between natural and synthetic. Look at how many companies that literally create the majority of the synthetic vitamins out there. It's just crazy.
Let's talk about the form of vitamins. Number five, I do not recommend magnesium oxide because you only absorb a very tiny bit of it, like between 3 to 4%. And it creates a laxative effect. So, by the time that you increase it to create more of it so you can absorb, you're going to get diarrhea. The form that I like the most is magnesium glycinate. That's some added glycine. You absorb a lot more. So, this is the one that I use.
Calcium carbonate. Again, limestone. Why are they putting that in our supplements? Because it's cheap. If you're going to get a calcium supplement at all, maybe get a lactate or another version or just consume fermented dairy. Okay.
B12. The synthetic version of B12, which I don't recommend, is called cyanocobalamin. Okay. The one I do recommend is the natural version, methylcobalamin. Now, when we're dealing with folic acid, I don't recommend taking folic acid. I recommend taking folate and the methyl version of folate or methylfolate. It's very common to have a genetic issue that if you take the synthetic versions, it's going to create more problems.
Let's talk about vitamin B6 pyridoxine HCL. This is the inactive version has to be converted. And if you have a genetic problem, chances are you're not going to convert it. So the one that I would recommend is P5P. I'm not going to give you the long technical name, but just use this one right here.
Now, iron is pretty nasty stuff in your body. If you just take this form, ferrous sulfate. Again, if you read the labels, they'll put these really cheap, difficult to absorb minerals, especially the iron ones. I don't even recommend taking any supplements for iron because it accumulates in the body. Get your iron if you need it from liver supplements or just consume liver or even red meat versus the ferrous sulfate which so many people take. And the thing about iron is it accumulates in our bodies and a lot of people, especially men, accumulate too much iron which creates a lot of issues feeding microbes, creating arthritis, creating irritation to your liver.
So now that you know some of the top mistakes with supplements, let's talk about how to get more nutrients from actual food in this video right here. Check it out.