What If Dietary Supplements Really Do Work?
Exploring Dietary Supplements
I probably should have entitled this post "Personal Musings on the Topic of Vitamins and Nutritional/Dietary Supplements." But it's a long title and might have lost a reader or two along the way. So, I pose a question instead: What if dietary supplements really do work......even just a little?
You know, it's awfully hard for me to buy into the big-government bureaucracy talking heads that tell me they know what's best for me. It's particularly challenging when the one doing the speaking is morbidly obese and they look just plain sick on camera or in person. For sure, not all of them are that way. But plenty are! And I'm supposed to buy into that? My mind can't help going to the place that reminds me these are the same folks who continue to raise my taxes and increase government regulations out the wazoo. Yet somehow I'm not feeling things are getting a whole lot better.
Hey, I'm a realist. We are all going to die sooner or later. There's no escaping that. I'm just about the quality of life as I age....and even NOW. A bit of my story and why I even started taking some supplements in the first place seems in order.
Opting to take Dietary Supplements
A decade ago while still in my 40's I experienced some serious health issues. Bottom line is after surgery and treatment, my blood pressure became dangerously elevated all of a sudden. Trying out 8 different blood pressure regimens, we finally landed on one that worked. I was told I'd have to take these pharmaceuticals morning and evening for the rest of my life. After a year or two, I decided I didn't like that idea. The side effects were awful. And I was tired of it all. So, I continued taking all those pills AND started doing my own research on natural over-the-counter dietary supplements alternatives.
Diet and exercise kept coming up. So I started slowly doing aerobic exercise and changing my diet, eating more fresh organic vegetables, fish, and chicken. Over time, I lost weight. Along with eating better, I decided to start taking a whole food multi-vitamin and mineral supplement each day. I increased the vitamin C I took. And I started taking EFA's (essential fatty acid) daily. Interestingly, after about two years, my pharmaceuticals started making me sick. I thought there were other serious problems, but medical tests showed nothing, so my doctor decreased the dosages.
I continued my self-administered program without much thought and added a time of quiet meditation most days. Now that was a totally new experience for me, a driven type-A personality. Rather than go down the religious path here, I chose an easy method called Holosync which you can learn more about at their website when you click that link. And again in about two years, I shared with my medical doctor during a routine check-up that I'd been getting dizzy and feeling light-headed quite a bit. They made the decision to wean me with strict supervision from all medications. Now, 5 years down the road, I am still pharmaceutical free. I'm still exercising and doing the meditation thing. I am still taking my daily regimen of vitamins, minerals, EFA's, and C. I've added an organic unfiltered tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a glass of water to that regimen each day. And I'm doing great! 
Would I have been able to get off the expensive pharmaceuticals if I did not take these dietary supplements and only exercised and ate differently? I don't know the answer to that. I just know that I felt compelled to buck the traditional trend and be a bit contrarian taking personal responsibility for my own health and well being and not simply concede that over to the FDA bureaucrats, my doctors, or others who thought they knew what was best for me.