Enough to Get the Job Done Why the Right Supplements Matter—and Why “Too Little” Is the Real Mistake We often hear this question from customers: “I don’t have enough money to take all the supplements in your kits—just tell me the ones I really need.” The honest answer is simple: You need enough to get the job done. Not more than necessary—but not less either. Prevention vs. Recovery: The Difference Matters For most people in fairly good health whose goal is disease prevention, the Ultimate Wellness Kit is typically sufficient—plus Vitamin D, if testing shows it’s needed. However, if you already have a diagnosed condition, prevention is no longer the goal—reversal and repair are. In those cases, the Ultimate Wellness Kit must be paired with one or more Support Kits, depending on what systems need rebuilding. For example: Recovering from food allergies often requires simultaneous support for digestion immune balan…

How you take your supplements and what you take them with can make a big difference in how your body absorbs and uses the nutrients they provide. At Beyond Health, our formulas are designed to combine nutrients in the most synergistic way so that they support rather than compete with each other. If you take too much of one nutrient it can suppress absorption of another—this is the case with zinc and copper. To prevent this, the two nutrients must be present in a balanced ratio. B vitamins work together, so they should almost always be taken together as a “team.” Also, most supplements should be taken with food. You can trust Beyond Health to provide balanced formulas, so, for the most part, all you have to do is follow the directions on the label. However, fat-soluble vitamins should always be taken with a good amount of fat in a meal for best absorption. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. Customers who’ve been trying to get their vitamin D levels up have sometimes re…

Not all food cravings lead to overeating. Your body can give you legitimate cues that certain nutrients are needed, or even that a certain food will fulfill an emotional need.  If you find that a reasonable amount of a desired food satisfies you, wonderful.  Eating one cookie may satisfy a sweet tooth. But if one cookie leads to another, and another, and then, “I can’t believe I ate the whole box,” that’s a problem. Although scientists look for characteristics that separate bingers from non-bingers, given enough stress, just about anyone is likely to turn to Haagen-Dazs.  However, though stress is unavoidable and unpredictable, here are ways you can strengthen your capacity to become “binge-resistant.” Get adequate nutrition. According to food addiction expert Julia Ross, MA, MFCC, dieting, which she calls “a euphemism for starvation,” is the major cause of food cravings and eating disorders. In Never Be Sick Again, Raymond Francis agrees.  He says anyone who…

A Healthier Year Starts With the Right Foundation No matter your age or current health status, every year offers a new opportunity to build better health than the year before. We know this is possible because we’ve worked with thousands of individuals who didn’t just recover from health challenges—but continued to improve year after year as they learned how to support their bodies properly. We’ve also seen people who began in good health move toward exceptional wellness by making consistent, informed choices. Across these success stories, one factor shows up again and again: A properly designed supplement program. Why Diet and Lifestyle Alone Are Often Not Enough A healthy diet, regular movement, stress management, detoxification, meaningful relationships, and minimizing toxic exposure are all essential pillars of wellness. But there’s one non-negotiable truth: Your body cannot build healthy new cells without the raw materials it requires. Vitamins, mi…

There are some taxes you have to pay, or risk going to jail! But others you can avoid, like the tax on your health every time you take an impure, poorly formulated supplement contaminated with solvent residues, artificial colors, and flavors, allergens and/or other potentially harmful chemicals. When shopping for supplements, people often don’t take this tax into account. If they did, they’d realize that the cheapest brands are usually the worst bargains. Not only do these brands provide little or no benefit, they tax your body with toxins that interfere with healthy body chemistry, often doing more harm than good. You may pay good money for something that detracts from rather than adding to your health. Supplement ingredients come in a wide range of purities. The purer the ingredient, the safer and more effective it will be. Although purer ingredients are almost always considerably more expensive, at Beyond Health we use only the purest ingredients available so you get maximum…

Thousands of studies on vitamin supplements have demonstrated their value in preventing and reversing disease. Yet, with half the adult population now taking supplements, supplement-bashing has never been more popular, and multivitamins have been taking a direct hit. Liz Szabo’s “Older Americans are ‘Hooked’ on Vitamins ,” in the New York Times, is a case in point. Ms.Szabo states that scientists have proved multivitamin supplements are useless and even dangerous. She notes with dismay that although there is a trend in other segments of the population away from taking multis, older folk remain stubbornly loyal to them, despite this overwhelming evidence. Readers’ comments in response to this article reveal a conversation as polarized and vitriolic as our current political discourse, with the same sense that those on opposing sides live in two different realities. In one reality, supplements (as part of a healthy lifestyle) are helping people recover from se…

When to Take Your Supplements for Best Results The body performs different functions at different times of the day. Timing supplements thoughtfully can help improve digestion, absorption, and effectiveness. Below is a simple, practical guide to help you get the most from your Beyond Health supplements. Calcium (Beyond Health Bone Mineral Formula) Best taken in the evening or at bedtime Calcium is primarily utilized at night and may support relaxation and sleep Magnesium is required for calcium to function properly—our formula includes both, so no additional magnesium is usually needed Multivitamins & Fat-Soluble Vitamins Many vitamins are best absorbed with food. Fat-soluble vitamins require dietary fat for absorption: Vitamins A, D, E, and K Take your multivitamin with a meal that contains fat Vitamin C Vitamin C remains in the bloodstream only a few hours For best results: Divide your daily dose throughout the day (for example, with each meal), or…

While many factors determine whether or not you will get a coronavirus infection, how bad the infection will be, and how long it will take to recover, there is one all-important factor—the state of your immunity.  Beyond Health’s protocol for building and maintaining a strong immune system includes having your vitamin D blood levels tested with a 25(OH)D test, and getting them up to 40-60 ng/mL (100-150 nmol/L) or more depending on your medical situation. Your immune system requires adequate amounts of vitamin D to function the way it’s supposed to. If you’re low on D, it’s like fighting the coronavirus with one hand tied behind your back. You can raise your vitamin D levels with sun, food and supplements. SUN Sunlight is an inexhaustible source of free vitamin D! The sun’s UVB rays convert cholesterol in the skin into vitamin D. However, since these same UVB rays cause sunburn, light-skinned people need to build up a protective tan gradually. The best approach is…

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disease second only to Alzheimer’s as a thief of brain cells and quality of life.Although everyone’s PD journey is different in terms of the appearance and intensity of symptoms, and how quickly the disease progresses, the central feature of PD is that brain cells responsible for producing the neurotransmitter dopamine begin to die off. The resulting dopamine deficiency produces PD’s characteristic symptoms, including tremors, rigidity, posture and balance problems, slowed movement and difficulty initiating movement, and non-motor symptoms such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and other sleep disorders, cognitive impairment and dementia. Allopathic medicine manages PD motor symptoms by replacing or boosting dopamine production. Most PD patients will need these drugs because by the time PD can be diagnosed, 60-80% of dopamine-producing brain cells are already gone. There is also a surgery called Deep Brain Stimulation that…

Use it or lose it. No where is this more true than with our joints. Joint stiffness, joint pain, and a loss of range of motion has less to do with age than it has to do with lack of use.Our lives often lead us to a lot of sitting, which means our joints are not moving. How often do we allow our ankles, our knees, our hips to go through a full range of motion? Probably not often enough.When we have joint stiffness, joint aches, and joint pain it takes much more effort to do the simplest of activities, discouraging us from doing the very thing that will make us feel better.How do we break this cycle and make our joints be the levers that spring us into the joys of a more active life? Here are 8 simple tips to reduce joint pain and joint stiffness and fuel a more active life with less pain and more excitement. With each of these suggestions, make little improvements at a time. Gradual improvements allow our muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones to strengthen as they t…

If you struggle to get a good night's sleep, you're not alone. About one-third of American adults don't get enough sleep each night, and as many as 70 million people throughout the country have disruptive sleep disorders. For those who have difficulty sleeping, it's a good idea to explore what options may lend a hand. There are several different nutritional supplements that you can take in the evening to aid in a sound, restful sleep.Why You Should Avoid Other MethodsSome people rely on various methods that have numerous drawbacks. Prescription sleeping medication may indeed help you sleep, but these medications can be habit-forming. Other individuals turn to alcohol because it relaxes them in the evening, but these beverages can interfere with your quality of sleep during the night. Nutritional supplements are a good option for improving your sleep quality because they generally don't have side effects, making them safe to take.MagnesiumA lot of people take magnesium supple…

Why should you consider adding fish oil supplements to your daily nutrition routine? This popular pick has benefits galore. But if you're not sure why to include fish oil, how to use it, or if you really need it, take a look at the top questions about this supplement.What Are Fish Oil Supplements?This type of dietary supplement is filled with omega-3 fatty acids. The two primary fatty acids fish oil contains are eicosapentaenoic acid (also known as EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (also known as DHA). Both of these omega-3s are naturally in some of the fish you may eat, such as oysters, mackerel, trout, salmon, mussels, crab, and trout.Why Do You Need To Add a Supplement?If omega-3 fatty acids are naturally in some types of fish, why would you need supplements? Some people may not need extra omega-3s. But it isn't always easy or possible to get a consistent dose of these fatty acids from food sources. If you don't like the taste of fish, don't have access to fish as a food sour…

Supplements And Vitamins To Boost Athletic PerformanceThe average person can get sufficient energy from enough sleep, a healthy lifestyle, and a balanced diet. However, most athletes require peak body performance that needs regular energy boosts. The energy boost can come from various types of supplements and vitamins. Therefore, here are supplements and vitamins that can help athletes perform better.B-VitaminsB vitamins help with the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. These vitamins help with providing more energy to the body. If you have insufficient amounts of B vitamins in your body, you won't exercise properly. Instead, you will feel tired and weak, especially if you lack B-12 vitamins.Common B vitamins that may improve athletic performance include vitamins B-12, B-6, and niacin. You can get these vitamins from various animal products or in multi-vitamin capsule form.Beta-Hydroxy Beta Methyl Butyrate (HMB)HMB boosts muscle synthe…

According to the National Institutes of Health the average American adult gains one pound every holiday season. Those who are already overweight tend to gain even more. Unfortunately that weight is usually there to stay; holiday weight gain is the primary reason weight creeps upwards with age. With so many reasons to overeat during the holidays, it’s surprising we don’t gain more. The holidays are traditionally a time for feasting and drinking. But historically, this occurred in the context of food scarcity; many pilgrims starved to death before food sources were established, and abundance was something to be celebrated. We hardly need to celebrate food abundance today, but that hasn’t stopped us from bringing out the cookies, cakes and pies for the holidays. We combine this with alcohol, which impairs inhibitions, stimulates appetite and intensifies the brain’s reward center in response to food! Then there’s stress. Our already challenging to-do lists expand during the holida…

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, has a grim prognosis for our future: “Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise . . . [As antibiotics lose their effectiveness a] post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill. Some sophisticated interventions, like hip replacements, organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy, and care of preterm infants, would become far more difficult or even too dangerous to undertake.”Well, we aren’t as gloomy about a post-antibiotic era. For all the good they’ve done, antibiotics as we’ve known them have done a whole lot of damage to almost everyone’s intestinal probiotic population, harming immunity and paving the way for all kinds of disease. We need different kinds of antibiotics that don’t indiscriminately kill good and helpful microbes along with the bad, and that the bad bugs won’t build resistance to. Fortunately,…

When “Junk Science” Is Used Against Supplements: What These Studies Really Show The supplement industry periodically finds itself under renewed scrutiny—often fueled by studies that appear to suggest vitamins and minerals are ineffective or even harmful. Recently, two widely cited studies have been used to reinforce this narrative, providing what some critics call “evidence” that supplements are unnecessary and that diet alone is sufficient for meeting nutrient needs. A closer look tells a very different story. A Climate of Scrutiny and Mistrust Regulatory pressure on supplements has intensified in recent years, with increased attention from the Food and Drug Administration and certain members of United States Congress—often framed as consumer protection, but viewed by many as disproportionately favoring pharmaceutical interests. Against this backdrop, any study questioning supplement safety or usefulness receives outsized attention. The Two Studie…

A friend of ours recently took an over-the-counter medication for intestinal gas. The results were amazing, and not in a good way. Although she got minor relief, it was followed by a splitting headache, and that night she had horrible, violent nightmares. While we were still musing about the power of what we ingest to affect the body-mind, we noticed the cover of the new issue of The Intelligent Optimist. It announcedan article within on “Why taking supplements leads to enlightenment.” While we’ve noticed being happier and more clear-minded since cleaning up our diet and adopting a program of high-quality supplements, we were especially intrigued that this article’s author is a modern-day shaman. While he has academic credentials, Alberto Villoldo, PhD, reports spending thirty years in the high Andes and the Amazon, training with master shamans. Yet, as we read his article, we found him recommending a similar diet and many of the same supplements Beyond Health recommends. Alth…

Humans may have other species beat when it comes to doing higher mathematics, but where food choices are involved, wild geese proved to be significantly more intelligent.Consider this report from anti-GMO activist Jeffrey Smith’s important book, Seeds of Deception.An Illinois soybean farmer had been plagued by a neighboring flock of soybean-loving geese which habitually made a feast of his fields, reducing plant growth to almost a stubble.Unwittingly, genetic engineering helped him to solve this problem. One year, he planted part of one field with genetically modified soybeans. When the geese arrived for their usual feast, they completely ignored this portion of the field and ate only the conventional soybeans, leaving a distinct pattern of growth that showed where each type of soybean had been planted.This solved the problem of keeping the geese away, but it’s just like the refined flour that no bugs want to eat. What are these animals, who are obviously smarter than we are in certain…