What are anti-nutrients? You may have heard this term circulating the internet, demonizing things...
In a recent conversation with a friend of mine who has been struggling with recurring sickness, I suggested she increase her consumption of Vitamin C, Zinc and probiotics, along with a few other important minerals. She responded with, “Great, can you send me the brand names of supplements I should buy?” To her frustration, I responded instead with suggestions for foods that are nutrient dense in these elements: broccoli, oranges, bell peppers, oysters, liver, and even sauerkraut or Kefir.
Though this wasn’t the response she wanted, I knew enough about her daily life to tell that although supplements could help her heal more quickly, her diet lacking vital nutrients would always leave her body with poor defenses against disease. Not to mention, if she continued to rely on pills that were heavily dosed in just one or two nutrients, she would risk depleting her body of other vital components needed for absorption of such nutrients. I explained that even when it comes to good things like vitamins/minerals, too much of any one thing can actually be a very bad thing.
My friend’s question may not seem like an abnormal or off-putting question to you, because it’s reflective of a shared mentality sweeping the nation in our current medical culture. Instead of asking, “How can I change my diet to be full of necessary vitamins, minerals, beneficial bacteria, etc.?”, I see more and more people who have adopted a conventional medical approach to healing even within the holistic sphere by asking, “What pill can I take to fix this problem?”
Yes, there’s still a big difference between reaching for a supplemental Vitamin C capsule and a harsh medication, but the mentality that food doesn’t matter or isn’t the MOST important thing when it comes to our health needs to be addressed. You cannot out-supplement a good diet.
I work with many clients who come to me from a defeated place, with shelves of pill bottles or bags full of vitamins that they’ve reached for and been disappointed with when the claims for energy, weight loss, hormone balance and more fall flat. Some of their supplements are recommendations from very knowledgeable practitioners that are from incredibly potent brands, but they are still left feeling far from their goals.
When my clients and I begin to work together and we dive deep into their daily diet, I’m privileged to be trusted and allowed to see patterns of excess or deficiency creep into their food journals. Functional lab testing allows me to investigate how each client’s body is utilizing the food they are consuming and from there, we can make tweaks together to their overall intake. So often, my clients are unaware that their food choices, macronutrient balances, and even meal timing choices are the root cause of many of their symptoms. By having a trained eye to point out big holes or big inflammatory causes, they find relief faster than they ever could with supplementation alone.
For example, I recently had a client come to me for years of digestive issues. She had previously done a GI-Map test and re-test with another practitioner and, despite following a rigorous supplement protocol, had not seen hardly any improvement in her test results. Within a few weeks of working together, I noticed many patterns in her diet that were leading to what we were seeing on her GI-Map. For example, although Apple Cider Vinegar can be a superfood for some, if someone has a Candida (yeast) infection, it actually can worsen the problem. We also noticed that her markers for fat digestion were very off, so her consumption of Omega-3 supplements were either being wasted or causing chaos by not first addressing her digestive capacity. Instead of adding in more supplements for this client, we focused heavily on diet. Four months later, despite losing all of the supplements she was originally taking, her Gi-Map re-test dramatically improved, just from food changes alone.
As another example, I recently began working with a client who had been taking a high-dose mineral supplement she saw on Tik Tok. Upon running a hair mineral test, we found her copper (although an essential element we need) to be incredibly elevated due to supplementation. Copper is a mineral that influences the absorption of all other minerals, so we found her zinc and many trace minerals to be extremely low. Not to mention, copper excess can influence gut bacterial overgrowth to thrive! By supplementing excess, without knowing how her body was processing and eliminating minerals in the first place, she was creating a significant problem in her enzymatic processes and overall digestion.
Likewise, I see many people who are deficient in Vitamin D. Vitamin D is so incredibly important for overall health and we know it actually acts as more of a hormone in your body than a vitamin. Instead of reaching for a pill to stay on for life to give you a synthetic or processed form of Vitamin D, which may actually lead to stress on your detoxifying organs over time, we must remember that our bodies were meant to thrive and flourish with adequate sunshine exposure. With jobs and lives that keep us inside staring at computer screens instead of absorbing beneficial rays from the sun or sinking our hands into probiotic-rich soils, we are weaving complex webs of health issues by relying on the quick fix solution.
Instead of reaching for supplements to meet our needs, we should instead focus on spending time outside, sleeping, moving, and delighting in friends/family. We should be eating fruits, veggies, proteins, healthy fats, hydrating and more. By doing this, supplements are put into their rightful place and they become supplemental.
All this to say, I do believe that once our foundational needs are met, supplementation can have a very important role. By using lab testing to get to the root cause and understand what the body actually lacks or could use a boost in, we can supplement for short periods of time to accelerate healing, while working on diet changes. I do often utilize herbal and whole food supplementation to target specific issues like gut bacterial overgrowth, parasite eradication, hormonal imbalances, and more because these conditions often benefit from a potent and targeted solution. Herbal supplementation is also incredibly powerful to use alongside a healthy diet, even long term, for boosting health in fantastic ways, ranging from mental health, to sleep, to fertility when used in the right context.
With this in mind, knowing your body’s functional ability and making sure your foundational needs are met are always key to achieving overall health. Before you reach for a bottle claiming it will change your whole life, make sure you know your foundations of vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, fiber, hydration, even sunlight and sleep are fully met. Remember that high doses of any one thing can lead to stress in the body elsewhere, so your safest option is to work with someone who can put all of the pieces together for you and help you decide what is best for your individual body.
If this is overwhelming to you or you need a helping hand in understanding how food and supplementation can be used together to accomplish your health goals, reach out! I’d love to talk to you about what you’re currently doing and help you take your next step towards health.
Curious about digging deeper into your own health?
Book a free 15 min phone call with me to see if functional nutrition is the right thing for you!
Always rooting for you!
- Allie CHN, FDN-P
Allie is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner located in Birmingham, Alabama. She helps women and men across the country online and in her hometown office dig deeper into their root health issues and find holistic healing!
