The 4 Most Underrated Supplements That Make SHIFT Happen

The world has been inundated with health promoting supplements, and although this a good trend with regards to weaning off pharmaceuticals, there is a lot of discernment required to separate the contenders from the pretenders. It’s the wild wild west out there and too many people are getting trigger happy and shooting their mouth off, long before they truly understand how to use supplements properly and with grace, not wild abandonment.

It wasn’t so long ago, only 10 years in fact, that I participated in this buying spree, and loaded up on the latest promises to fix my health problems. Fortunately, I was following advice from someone who ACTUALLY knew what they were endorsing (a skill few possess today), so even though I may have went to excess, the supplements were working and that’s all that mattered to a guy who was dealing with heavy inflammation and 13 chronic disease conditions.

However, after 12 years of experience and taking hundreds of supplements, I found the MOST important ones were those that were the least used by those wanting to recover their health. Perhaps it was because they were the least “sexy”, and this somehow undermined their importance to the proper functioning of the most taxed and stressed systems in the body. However it happened, those recovering their health or simply trying to maintain good health, were seriously missing out.

With all this in mind, I wanted to uncover four of the least talked about supplements that have the greatest ability to SHIFT your health in a positive direction, and you would be silly to ignore if you truly want to discover what a healthy body and mind feels like on a daily basis.

Enzymes

Without enzymes, every chemical reaction that occurs inside the body would be put on hold. They are what allow vitamins and minerals to do their work, and are really what make life possible. We often confuse enzymes with being only responsible for the digestive process, but in reality, they are substances that are required by ALL areas of the body.

However, let’s focus on the digestive system for a minute. It has been called “the gateway to health” for good reason, and enzymes are a major player in ensuring that gateway runs as smoothly as possible. As noted in Causes and Signs Of Enzyme Depletion:

“The human body makes approximately 22 digestive enzymes, capable of digesting protein, carbohydrates, sugars, and fats. Food is digested in stages, beginning in the mouth, moving to the stomach, and finally through the small intestine. At each step, specific enzymes break down different types of foods.”

With chemically treated, months old, irradiated, pasteurized, microwaved, and cooked foods being the norm today, at the expense of organic, fresh, and raw foods, it’s highly reasonable to say that those delicate enzymes we need so dearly are being stripped out of our fare long before our teeth sink into them.

Unfortunately, there are a multitude of diseases that can manifest with an enzyme deficiency, and you can see what types of deficiencies are related to which enzymes, here. For brevity, consider that any issues related to digestion (especially constipation) will have enzymes deficiencies implicated, as well as skin conditions, liver issues, heart health, allergies, lung problems, and immune system issues.

To remedy an enzyme deficiency, use raw foods as the foundation of your diet (smoothies, juices, salads, etc), and use digestive enzymes at mealtime, especially when eating hard to digest foods, like animal protein, legumes, and starchy vegetables like potatoes.

HCL

Although lowered HCL (hydrochloric acid) has recently gained more attention (due to that fact it is becoming an epidemic), it is still relatively unknown or at least misunderstood. For example, people are still treating problems such as heartburn, GERD, and acid reflux with acid blockers and antacids like Tums, not realizing that low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria) is the source of their issues, NOT high stomach acid.

Lowered stomach acid can occur in many ways, but some common culprits are H. Pylori, antibiotic usage, NSAIDs, as well as chronic stress. Once your stomach acid becomes lowered for a period of time, one unfortunate consequence that manifests is mineral deficiencies. If these deficiencies worsen, your blood becomes more acidic and looks for various areas of the body to leech from to create a more alkaline state in the blood. This ultimately leads to a robbing of minerals from your body (most often, the bones), and leaves you in a very delicate and exhausted state. But wait, there’s more…

As described in What You Don’t Know About Your Stomach Acid Could Easily Ruin Your Health:

“This cycle continues to feed itself if left unabated, as the acidic blood further creates low minerals and low stomach acid. If this goes on for a period of time your cortisol levels can be raised (stress or death hormone), thereby raising your blood sugar levels as well. This will eventually wear out your adrenals and your DHEA (youth hormone), and lower your immunity due to an “open door policy” for pathogenic bacteria, candida overgrowth, and viruses to enter your body virtually unscathed.”

It should be relatively clear now that sufficient stomach acid is wildly important, and it shouldn’t be suppressed with acid blockers and antacids. Rather, you should encourage strengthening of it through foods like cultured vegetables, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and celery juice. To help speed up the process (it can be a long one), look for HCL formulas like that contain a generous amount of HCL along with some key enzymes to break down tougher to digest foods.

Over the last 10+ years I have consulted with and spent thousands of dollars on doctors and specialist seeking help with numerous health issues such as weight gain and weight loss resistance, digestive issues, GERD, acid reflux, heartburn, pancreatitis, rosacea, skin itching, fatigue, migraines and all over body pain among other issues. I never received help that resulted in any level of healing. After a short period of time on the THRIVE Academy, my heartburn, acid reflux and GERD were all gone and I was able to eliminate the 4 daily medications I was taking for the issue. Not long after that, my rosacea cleared up and today I have clear, normal skin. Derek has also been able to help me significantly reduce pancreas attacks, and has given me natural protocols to over come UTI’s, migraines, and oral health issues. I am so grateful for the many positive results I’ve experienced so far. Thanks Derek!  – Jadine K., Jackson, TN

Minerals

When the health movement began in earnest, I’d hear a lot of people talking about taking their vitamins. Although many of these formulas would often contain minerals, it proved that minerals were taking a back seat while vitamins were the driver.

However, as we began to discover the soils were being depleted of precious minerals and many of the processed foods we were eating were further stripped of them, it began to dawn on some of us that getting your minerals is a serious chore. This was even before considering that things like stress depletes stomach acid, which also botches your ability to properly absorb minerals. Not only that, but having an overly acidic body will be compensated for by robbing mineral storehouses (like the bones) to buffer it out to maintain a proper pH.

Although some minerals have enjoyed some fandom, like magnesium, the respect for them as a group has been lukewarm at best. However, when one realizes that they are responsible for the proper function of many areas of the body (magnesium for bones, muscles, heart, and digestive system, for example), and one single deficiency can lead to a severe diagnosis (like a lack of iodine can create a hypothyroid condition), it may dawn on you that getting enough minerals is a foundational requirement that is not receiving the attention it deserves.

To get minerals through food, consider a wide range of vegetables, especially leafy greens. You can also take minerals individually, but a generally smarter approach is to use a mineral formula as the base to your needs, that will deliver a spectrum to cover off any deficiencies that may exist.

Medicinal mushrooms

Even though medicinal mushrooms have been around for over 2000 years, their lineage hasn’t been fully embraced by the Western World. I consider that a dire mistake, given that this four sigma food (the safest and most effective foods which medicinal mushrooms take 10 of the top 50 spots) has some very important qualities that Western society needs desperately.

First of all medicinal mushrooms include reishi, chaga, agaricus blazei, cordyceps, maitake, shiitake, turkey tail, lion’s mane, and more. They are helpful for some of the most important (and stressed) areas of the body, such as the immune system, hormonal system, liver, cardiovascular system, digestive system, and adrenals. With autoimmune issues out of control, hormones out of wack, liver disease prominent, heart disease in the top three killers, digestive diseases omnipresent, and stress at an all time high, these highly dynamic fungii should be considered one of the most important supplements anyone has EVER taken.

With reishi known as the chill herb, chaga as the antioxidant master, cordyceps as the energy creator, and lion’s mane as the brain enhancer, you have an excellent opportunity to creating whole body health while focusing on what health benefit resonates with you the most.

Fortunately, technology has allowed these medicinal mushrooms (which mostly don’t taste like culinary mushrooms at all) to be consumed in teas, cold drinks, smoothies, and even coffee. In fact, if you currently drink coffee (an adrenal stimulator, which will weaken them over time), the Four Sigmatic line of coffee mixes will help you transition to a healthier coffee habit with the addition of key medicinal mushrooms, while getting the other benefits mentioned earlier (including adrenal support).

No matter how you get them, adding these medicinal mushrooms to your daily routine is a game changer and will create a nice shift in your health. A company that has completely focused their products on medicinal mushrooms through an owner who has a history of harvesting them from a very young age, I highly recommend you check out Four Sigmatic and their teas, drinks, coffees, and superfood blends that have these powerful plants inside them.

So although these four supplements currently don’t get as much attention as protein powders, collagen, turmeric, CBD oil, or probiotics, their power to SHIFT your health into another dimension should NOT be underestimated. As someone who has healed 13 of his own chronic disease conditions, and has helped people eliminate over 20 through my THRIVE Academy, I know how important these supplements (along with a good nutritional plan) can be to the recovery and maintenance of good health.

So what do you say? Is it time to make SHIFT happen?

Sources include:

Healingthebody.ca

Healingthebody.ca

Healingthebody.ca