5 Supplements That Are Essential to a Balanced Life

Given the dizzying array of supplements on the market, it can be a challenge to sift through the clutter to pick which ones you should be taking. Before we get into those, it’s important to pay attention to the quality of the supplements-one of the biggest determinants of how well your body benefits from it.

In many cases, the supplements sold in grocery stores or pharmacies have many chemicals, impurities, and ingredients that can cause harm to consumers. There have even been studies of people who take multivitamins or different supplements, who often fare worse than those who don’t. That’s often because the quality of the supplement is not what it needs to be.

Here are the top five supplements that we recommend taking:

• High-quality multivitamin: As foods today don’t contain the proper nutrients they used to, we recommend adults and kids take this supplement, even if they are healthy. We recommend a high-quality liquid multivitamin that’s easily absorbed.
• Fish oil: This supplement is beneficial for heart, joint, and brain health. It’s important to choose a fish oil sourced from wild-caught cold-water fish.
• Greens and reds concentrated powders: Chock-full of antioxidants and nutrients, kids and adults should consume these powders. Always choose powders that contain organic fruits and vegetables.
• Vitamin D: Known as the “sunshine” vitamin, this supplement is particularly important when you aren’t exposed to sufficient sunshine in the winter. We recommend taking a vitamin D3+K supplement. You should take anywhere from 2-10,000 IU, depending on whether your immune system is under attack or working hard. The dosages in such cases need to be higher (i.e. 5-10,000 IUs). An ideal maintenance dose is 3-5,000 IU based on the latest research, which is much higher than what the FDA recommends.

  When you get blood work done, it’s important to check your vitamin D levels. That’s because many people think that if they take a multivitamin with some vitamin D, they’re getting enough. In reality, most people are still low on this fat-soluble vitamin.

• Probiotics: These are live organisms that can yield significant health benefits. You can get probiotics by eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, or kefir. But if you don’t eat such foods regularly, you should take some kind of probiotic supplement.