Frozen pizza, fast food, and late night snacking can feel comforting, but it won’t be enough to meet your body’s need for nutrients, and it can take the place of healthy choices. March is Nutrition Month in Canada, making it an ideal time to refocus on healthy eating.
At Firstline Nutrition, helping you achieve optimal health is always our goal. While there’s no easy fix for a poor diet, adding some high quality supplements to your daily routine can boost your nutrient intake and give you a bit of added insurance when you don’t eat as well as you should.
To celebrate this Nutrition Month, give yourself a healthy edge by trying out our top three recommendations for nutrition support.
1. Greens powder
If you aren’t yet familiar with greens supplements, Nutrition Month is a perfect time to try one. That’s because greens powders supply a huge dose of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and can help to replace missing vegetables in your diet.
Most greens powders are made from a selection of dried leafy greens ground into a powder. They’re often combined with other supportive nutrients from seaweed and grasses. If you have specific concerns, look for a greens supplement with added health-enhancing ingredients.
Greens supplements are easily consumed by mixing them with a liquid of your choice. Some varieties are unflavoured, giving them a grassy, green profile, while others are naturally sweetened and flavoured to make them more palatable. They’re low in calories (depending on what mix you choose) and can start your day well ahead of the nutrient game.
Why take a greens supplement? It’s simple: this easy-to-use powder can tick off a lot of boxes if you’re trying to boost your overall nutrition. Among their many benefits, they can increase energy, reduce your risk of chronic disease, and improve immunity. They’re also supportive of detoxification processes.
Our recommendation:
True Greens by Alora Naturals
This greens supplement is offered in three fruity options as well as an unflavoured variety. It’s an all-natural super blend of phytonutrient dense plant foods that include organic chlorella, spirulina, alfalfa juice, barley grass juice, wheat grass juice and oat grass extract.
True Greens improves circulation and cognitive functioning, and enhances memory. It also helps to prevent oxidative damage and reduce stress levels. With its addition of green tea extract, True Greens will offer you a natural energy boost and support your weight loss goals.
2. Omega fatty acids
Did you know that omega-3 fatty acids are essential because (unlike other fats) our bodies can’t synthesize them? That means we have to get this vital nutrient from our diet or supplement regime.
While omega-3 fats are found in foods like fish, nuts, seeds, and some leafy vegetables, it can be challenging to get the recommended dose from food alone. Even a healthy diet can benefit from an added dose of fish oil.
Omega-3 fatty acids have superpowers in a variety of areas. They can prevent heart disease and stroke and are helpful in the management of lupus, eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer prevention.
Their most powerful effect is in the prevention of heart disease, with the ability to lower blood pressure and heart rate. Given that heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada, it’s a good bet that most of us can benefit from a little added insurance from an omega-3 supplement.
Our recommendation:
Genestra Berry EFA Plus
Genestra is a highly reputable brand that’s backed by clinical evidence. Their Berry EFA Plus formula is rich in EPA and DHA fatty acids blended into a clean-tasting berry flavoured oil.
Take it by the teaspoon or add it into a liquid of your choice to ensure you’re getting your daily dose of essential omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to all the benefits we’ve already mentioned, this formula is also proven to support healthy lipid metabolism.
3. Multivitamin with D
While our clients often think they can resort to taking a multivitamin to overcome deficiencies in their diet, we always recommend starting with whole foods first. If you’re worried you still aren’t getting enough variety of nutrient-dense foods in your daily diet, a multivitamin can provide excellent additional support. It’s especially important in pregnancy and for older adults or those with malabsorption issues.
Even if you eat well, some nutrients are harder to get than others. Vitamin D has a tremendous number of benefits but it isn’t easy to consume enough from food alone. While we can synthesize some vitamin D from sun exposure, our colder Canadian climate also makes that a challenge.
So why should you look for a comprehensive multivitamin with D? This nutrient in particular has been shown to be helpful in building bones, reducing cancer cell growth, controlling infections, and reducing inflammation. It can also reduce the risk of some diseases and have a positive effect on mood and depression.
Our recommendation:
Metagenics PhytoMulti
This multi is a good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Just one to two tablets daily (or on days when you aren’t able to eat well) can provide you with a broad range of essential nutrients to support optimal health. It offers a proprietary blend of 13 concentrated extracts and phytonutrients with scientifically tested biological activity.
Even when your diet is optimal, it can be beneficial to add a vitamin D supplement. This is especially true during long, grey winters spent largely indoors. Firstline Nutrition stocks several varieties of vitamin D, including gummies and tablets, but you can’t beat the convenience of a simple dropper like Pure Encapsulations liquid formula. Just one drop a day is all you need.
This March, we hope you’ll be inspired to embrace Nutrition Month and focus on healthy eating. Plan your meals so you’ll be more likely to stick to whole foods and healthy options. Involve your children in food preparation so they’re engaged in the process of nourishing their bodies and encouraged to make healthy choices. Cook from scratch whenever possible so you can enjoy local produce and reduce your intake of salt, sugar, and additives.
But when meeting all of your nutrition needs isn’t possible from food alone, Firstline Nutrition has you covered. Come see us or book a consultation and we’ll set you up with a supplement regimen that supports optimal health. Let’s get healthy together.
