THE FAB FIVE: SUPPLEMENTS YOU SHOULD BE TAKING EVERY DAY

By: Gleason Center Editors, Emily Bozik

Transform your health and address common deficiencies with The Fab Five. These five supplements are crucial to overall wellness and healthy aging. They include: multivitamins, vitamin D3, magnesium, fish oil, and probiotics. In combination with a whole, fresh foods diet, these Fab Five set the stage for long term health.

THE FAB FIVE

​Multivitamin
Even with a perfect diet, our genetics and environment may not allow us to get all the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to thrive. The best way to ensure we’re filling the gaps is with a high quality, complete multivitamin supplement. This is not a replacement for a healthy, unprocessed diet, but rather a complement to it. Your multivitamin should be the appropriate dosage for your unique needs. Some patients may need higher dosages or a prescription multivitamin to receive the benefits of supplementation.

Vitamin D3
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin responsible for many key aspects of health including brain function and immunity. Our bodies are designed to obtain vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunlight. However, getting enough vitamin D throughout the year can be difficult. Vitamin D may also be found in food sources such as fatty fish, dairy products, eggs, and fortified foods. Low vitamin D levels have been linked to a vast number of chronic conditions therefore it’s important to add a vitamin D3 supplement to your diet. High quality vitamin D supplements can help patients reach optimal levels and effectively treat underlying deficiencies.
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Magnesium
Magnesium, the “relaxation mineral”, is an essential mineral and main electrolyte of the body. Magnesium has a calming effect which improves sleep and relaxes muscles. Magnesium is critical to cellular function and needed to absorb and regulate other nutrients, such as calcium. Magnesium deficiency is common but rather simple to treat. Magnesium rich foods include spinach, kelp, avocado, nuts, seeds, and yogurt. There are also a variety of magnesium supplements including mineral blends, salts, and creams.

Fish Oil
Fish oil contains important omega 3 fatty acids which are essential to good health. Omega 3 fatty acids are not produced by the body so we must get them from our diet. However, most Americans don’t consume enough wild caught fatty fish to maintain a healthy ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. The best way to meet our bodies needs is to supplement our diet with a high-quality fish oil supplement. Scientifically proven benefits include improving brain function, lowering cholesterol, reducing inflammation, and preventing or even reversing cardiovascular disease.

Probiotics
A healthy gut microbiome is one of the biggest factors that impacts our health. Many chronic conditions are affected by the health of your gut including allergies, asthma, and autism. When your microbial ecosystem is out of balance, bad bacteria out numbers the good. Chronic stress, antibiotics, and a typical American diet (high in processed foods) changes your gut flora for the worse. The solution? In addition to a whole foods diet, probiotics can help repopulate your gut with good bacteria. High quality, high potency probiotics contain a variety of strains and should be taken every day. Fermented foods are also an excellent natural source of probiotics.​

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