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August 13, 2024
What To Do When Supplements Don't Help You Feel Better
Dr Livingood
If you’re taking a supplement and it’s not making you feel any better, it may not be the supplement–it could be how your body’s processing it.
In this blog, I’m going to give you tips on how you can start getting the benefits from your supplements.
Absorption
You want to make sure you’re absorbing what you’re taking–otherwise, you just have expensive urine.
Minerals need a lot of stomach acid in order to extract them, and fat-soluble vitamins need fat in order to activate them.
My tip for this is to take apple cider vinegar in order to increase the amount of acidity in the stomach. I recommend adding a cap full or a couple tablespoons once or twice a day before meals.
This will help greatly with digestive stress. I don’t recommend taking apple cider vinegar if you have an ulcer or if you have a gastritis condition, because it can irritate inflammation.
Help Gut Bacteria
You can help your gut bacteria by eating fermented food. One of my favorite sources of fermented food is sauerkraut. The juice of sauerkraut has 25 plus probiotics in it.
The kraut itself also has a decent amount of probiotics as well. Other healthy options include kombucha and apple cider vinegar.
We need probiotics from fermented food because they release postbiotics, which will help your body absorb nutrients and fend off bad bacteria in your body.
If you have SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) that is causing gas and bloating, fermented foods could make the bloating worse. I would stick with apple cider vinegar in this case.
Fat
Vitamins A, D, E, K1, and K2 all rely on fat itself to get absorbed. The phytochemicals and phytonutrients in our bodies also rely on fat for absorption.
If you are struggling with your vitamin D levels, energy levels, or absorbing nutrients, take these vitamins with some fat. An easy way to do this is to take it with omegas.
With whatever supplement you’re using, you may want to make a smoothie with coconut oil or coconut milk to get extra fat in and get the vitamins absorbed into the stomach.
Absorbing Water
There may be other absorption competing with what you’re trying to take in. Drinking water is going to help with absorption.
It’s amazing how many people don’t get enough water, and don’t properly absorb water.
There are a lot of water-soluble vitamins that rely on having liquid to move them around the body.
Adding a little bit of sea salt, electrolyte powder , or apple cider vinegar to your water can help you absorb it.
Juicing
You can also look into juicing or juice cleansing. This is a fantastic way to get your body into cleanup mode.
This can also give the digestive system a break from absorbing food, which you can do from a 3-day juice cleanse. Try to keep your green juices at a low carb count, 10 grams or lower.
If you’re consuming below 100-200 grams of carbs and just drinking juice, you’re going to put your body into autophagy.
I have tons of videos that break down what autophagy is and its benefits, but it’s our body’s cleanup mode.
If you have never done a juice cleanse before, just one day would be fantastic for the absorption of your supplements–let alone what three days would do.
Rotational Fasting
Rotational fasting puts your body into fat burning mode, which will help you absorb a lot of nutrients better, especially those reliant on fat.
This will eliminate waste in your body and give your body a break from a heavy caloric intake. This creates an optimal time to absorb your supplements.
If you’ve never done rotational fasting before here’s a quick breakdown of how to do it:
- First week: ½ sized breakfast
- Second week: No breakfast
- Third week: No breakfast, ½ sized dinner
- Fourth week: Full day fast
This is a bit different from a full juice cleanse, where you’re putting in nutrients that are going to flush toxins from your body.
Rotational fasting focuses on decreasing calorie intake and putting your body into fat-burning mode, which will help you absorb supplements better and give you energy.
If you need help with rotational fasting, you can join my challenge or read one of my books.
Lower Stress Levels
Cortisol, your stress hormone, blocks your body’s ability to absorb food. It increases the amount of fat in your body, and works against your metabolism.
There are a lot of reasons to get cortisol under control, and there’s no better way to do it than paced breathing.
Paced breathing can be done in as little as one minute, and can be done multiple times a day. It has a big impact on your body’s digestive system, which is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system.
If you’ve never done paced breathing before, I have an entire tutorial video that covers it, and I think it’s a perfect next step.
As you’re implementing these steps to absorb your nutrients and control your stress, you’re going to feel great.
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