Why you should use nutritional supplements, even if you maintain a balanced diet

“Today I have no mood”, “my hair is falling out”, “I feel exhausted and I don't know why”, “ how to avoid sagging when losing weight” .

The theory says that a balanced diet is enough to keep us healthy, energetic, long-lived and in shape.

But the current lifestyle and an impoverished diet due to factors that I will show you later, bring nutrient deficiencies that manifest themselves as prolonged fatigue, hair loss, weak nails, sadness, among others.

Do you have any of these symptoms? Maybe your body is giving you an alert that you should attend to.

Therefore, I am going to help you determine if your diet is truly balanced and how nutritional supplements can help you look and feel better.

What is a balanced diet and why do you need it?

Food is a set of processes that allows organisms to use and transform nutrients to stay alive and healthy.

You can say that yours is balanced if you include macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) in your diet, as well as water to satisfy your physiological requirements.

But you must consume them in the right proportions:

• Carbohydrates (carbohydrates) 40-50%. The majority should come from whole grains, fruits, legumes and vegetables.
• Proteins 20 to 25%. Maintaining a balance between animal sources (meat, fish, eggs) and vegetables (legumes, cereals, nuts).
• Fats (lipids) 30-35% . Olive oil is recommended for its content of monounsaturated fatty acids, also omega-6 and omega-3.

If you distribute your meals like this, you will avoid overweight and obesity and reduce the risk of suffering from chronic degenerative diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high levels of triglycerides and cholesterol, cardio or cerebrovascular diseases.

In addition, you will stay in line and increase your physical and mental performance.

Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are

Towards the end of the year 1700, the author of the first treatise on gastronomy and philosopher Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, used this phrase to refer to the impact that his diet has on a person.

Several centuries later, it is more valid than ever, despite the fact that habits have been radically modified and so much emphasis has been placed on the benefits of healthy eating and the harm of junk food.

Many people are still not aware that their diet, diet and nutrition are too important to prevent diseases, even before they are born.

And in this way they choose foods several times a day that affect their state of health, for better or worse.

In emerging countries, iron, iodine or vitamin A deficiencies affect a large part of the population.

In developed countries, the so-called diseases of abundance or chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and some types of cancer prevail.

Well, in all of them, food and its components (nutrients or non-nutrients) can be implicated as risk or protective factors.

Does it seem like a hopeless panorama to you? Better focus on the other side of the coin: unlike other factors such as genetics, you can prevent or delay the onset of diseases just by modifying your eating habits.

And if your body requires it, you have the resource of supplementation at hand.

What is a nutritional supplement?

Also known as food supplements, they are preparations that contain one or more nutrients that help maintain a correct nutritional state.

They come in various formats: capsules, tablets, powders, gel caps, liquids and pearls.

They are consumed to complement a healthy diet, not to replace it.

They are not medicines nor can they be used as such. So be careful not to fall for misleading offers, because they do not eliminate symptoms or cure diseases.

Not in vain, countries apply regulations and ensure that manufacturers do not make false claims that threaten the health and integrity of consumers.

There are also people who put themselves at risk, consuming higher doses than recommended because they believe that this will work better.

In many cases, these excesses end up being excreted as compounds that particularly harm the liver, in addition to other unpleasant side effects.

Who needs to take supplements ?

If our diet were perfect, it should not be necessary to take any type of supplementation.

Unfortunately, intensive agriculture has led to soil depletion, harvesting before ripening, and losses in the nutritional concentration of foods during transportation, storage, processing, and cooking.

It also impacts the toxicity of pesticides and pesticides that are added to crops to protect them.

How do nutritional supplements act in the face of this reality? Basically, on three levels:

1. They prevent and correct the lack of some nutrient due to organic causes or diseases.
2. They help achieve optimal levels of certain nutrients when, for many reasons, a balanced diet is insufficient.
3. They provide substances to cells that a priori they do not require, but that alter their behavior to obtain better performance in various areas of your life.
4. They improve your body composition, helping you achieve goals such as avoiding flaccidity when losing weight.

Sometimes it is necessary to complement each other for specific periods.

But it is necessary to use them indefinitely or for a long time, in cases of:

• You are not eating well or you consume fewer calories than you need.
• You are 50 years old or older.
• You are trying to get pregnant, are already pregnant, or are breastfeeding.
• You have heavy menstrual periods.
• You've already gone through menopause.
• You eat a vegetarian, vegan, or other diet that restricts an entire food group.
• Do not eat two to three servings of fish per week, which provide omega-3 fatty acids to promote heart health.
• You have had gastric bypass surgery to lose weight.
• You suffer from diseases of the liver, pancreas or gallbladder.
• You have digestive health problems such as gastrointestinal diseases, lactose intolerance or food allergies.
• If you want to achieve how to avoid sagging when losing weight.

Doctors and nutritionists have shown that consuming the right supplement, in the right dosage, can do wonders for you.

Just as they already do for millions of people in the world who use them to achieve their body goals faster and give extra protection to their health.

Of course, if you have any medical condition you must be responsible and consult a specialist before starting to use them. And you should never forget: a food supplement does not counteract an unhealthy lifestyle and poor nutrition.