On Choosing Natural and Holistic

Sometimes, shortcuts are presented as perfect, equally-effective alternatives. They're usually not.

One example is supplements. Some people are led to believe that by taking their daily vitamin supplements, they won't need to eat fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. Some people think that the vitamins and minerals from supplements are equal in quality to the vitamins and minerals from real food. They're not.

My husband and I recently thought of buying supplements. We were thinking that maybe we do need to take them, just to make sure we're getting the necessary daily intake. We went to the store and checked out options. But we ended up not buying any.

Instead of supplements, we chose deliberate lifestyle choices.

We've always tried to maintain a healthy diet of mostly fruits and vegetables, but with fish, eggs, some chicken, and occasional red meat. So, instead of buying supplements, we concluded that we only need to become more deliberate about our nutrition. To really make sure that we're getting our daily vitamins and minerals.

One of the supplements on my husband's list was vitamin D. But we're in the Philippines, where it's never winter. Why spend money on vitamin D supplements when we can let the body produce what we need by staying under the sun for 20ish minutes everyday?

Again, the quality of vitamins and minerals that we can get from supplements is, relative to real food, poor—it doesn't compare. Supplements are not designed to be the sole source of our nutritional needs; they're supplements, only there to give a boost.

I also found out that that while some excess vitamins can be excreted from the body, the others can't be. And there are minerals that can become harmful when excessive.

So, we chose the most natural, holistic path. To get daily sun exposure, enough sleep, and deliberately chosen, home-cooked meals.