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Episode 127: Why Take A Multivitamin
In this episode, we talk to Katie Hussong about vitamins and your body. She'll discuss if vitamins work, what they can do for your body, and how they can help support you.
Transcript
doTERA: Did you know that the word vitamine was coined by a Polish biochemist named Casimir Funk in 1920? It comes from the Latin word vita, meaning life, and amine because scientists originally thought they contained amino acids. Vitamins and supplements have come a long way since 1920. And today, we'll discuss the benefits that they can provide.
Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.
Today, we're excited to talk to Katie Hussong about the best vitamins and supplements for you. Katie, thank you so much for being here to talk with us today.
Katie Hussong: It’s my pleasure! Thanks for having me.
doTERRA: One of the big questions around this topic is do multivitamins actually work? Do they do anything for us?
Katie: Yeah, I can actually really relate to this question because I used to be one of those people that asked that question and kind of scoffed at the idea of multivitamins and supplements in general. Really, everything kind of changed. It was like a revelation kind of moment for me when I was studying nutrition and I was learning about the health of our soil, in even just the last century, there are estimates that it's been depleted of its vitamins and minerals, even like 50% perhaps of what used to be there many years ago.
doTERRA: Wow.
Katie: This is the result of farming and other environmental players, let's say, that are contributing to that. But the result is that even if you're eating this “perfect” local, healthy, organic, non-GMO diet of food, that the amount of vitamins and minerals that we would hope and that our body is looking for—right, in terms of optimal levels—just isn't present in the food anymore because it isn't present in the soil anymore to the extent that we want it to be, right? Optimally.
So that was kind of like a light bulb moment for me when I started to realize—actually not essential oils, yes, definitely—but also multivitamins and supplements that are really quality supplements can really be valuable in helping us to move closer to optimal levels, assuming they are quality supplements.
doTERRA: Now that we know that multivitamins are beneficial for us, to get those benefits, do I have to take those vitamins and supplements every day?
Katie:Yeah, that’s a great question. I think that this does probably vary a little bit person to person. But generally speaking, what I've found certainly for myself and in working with lots of clients over the years is that consistency really matters and makes a really big difference in terms of people really seeing the benefits that they're looking for when they decide to try taking supplements.
Consistency is Key
There are some supplements that may not be required every single day, but things like a multivitamin, for example, or other things that someone's really trying to address, something specific or particular, as opposed to just kind of a one-off supplement to help with something that might be happening, I think consistency really does make a big difference.
I often recommend that people try—give them some sort of a trial period of a few months and see how they feel. A lot of people, I'm sure you've heard this before, too, and a lot of people have found they may feel something right away, within days, sometimes that even happens. Other times it takes a little bit longer, you know, a month or a couple of months. And that's why I say give yourself three months and see how you feel.
Noticing a Difference
But what's so interesting is that a lot of people find that they give themselves that trial period of even, let's say, the 30-day, right, for the 30-day money-back guarantee, that when they stop taking the supplements, even if they didn't feel any significant shifts that they could tell really obviously while they were taking them, that when they stopped taking them, they feel more sluggish, for example. They don't have that balanced energy throughout the day that they had. They weren't aware, almost like subconsciously they were experiencing, then they can tell the shift when they stop taking them.
I think that's a great testament also to just the value in being consistent with your supplements and certainly working with whoever your health care practitioner is that you're partnering with on your journey to health and checking in on things and making sure everyone's on the same page and that things are looking good. But generally speaking, I really do feel like people have found the most benefit when they have been consistent with them.
doTERRA: Absolutely, so I want to dive a little bit deeper into what vitamins and supplements can do for your body. So can you give us a few specifics there?
Katie: For sure, yeah, you know, I think the key here I just want to go back to a little bit is that quality piece. What we get, in terms of our essential oils from doTERRA, what’s so incredible is that they apply that same approach when it comes to the formulations of their supplements, so the highest quality really that you can find, and they're made up of ingredients that are actually going to be able to be used by our bodies, right? They're bioavailable so our body can actually recognize and metabolize and utilize what we're taking in as opposed to something that might be synthetic or have fillers in it.
It's actually kind of similar to the conversation we have around oils, but in a supplement kind of direction. If you are, I think, provided that that's the caveat, right? If you're getting a really quality product, like we do with doTERRA supplements, and it's bioavailable, so your body can actually really utilize it, and it's not just mega overdosing of excessive amounts of supplements, which is common as well. People paying lots of money and then end up almost flushing them down the toilet, so to speak. I mean, right? You see that like the yellow color, and you don't want to be doing that, right? You want to really get the value and feel the difference. It's actually kind of similar to the conversation we have around oils but in a supplement kind of direction. If you are, I think, provided that that's the caveat, right? If you're getting a really quality product like we do with doTERRA supplements, and it's bioavailable, so your body can actually really utilize it, and it's not just mega overdosing of excessive amounts of supplements, which is common as well. People paying lots of money and then end up almost flushing them down the toilet, so to speak. I mean, right? You see that like the yellow color, and you don't want to be doing that, right? You want to really get the value and feel the difference.
So those are the caveats. Is it really quality? Is it bioavailable? And is it getting you towards optimal levels? And if those are all in place, which I do feel they are with doTERRA supplements, then yes, they can do so much for our bodies.
Nutrition: The Foundation of Wellness
You know really the foundation of wellness is nutrition. Of course, we should be getting a lot of these vitamins and minerals and cofactors, energy cofactors, sources of antioxidants, things like that, which we know are all going to be so beneficial for our overall health and wellness. We should be getting so much of that, in fact, most of it from what we're eating.
The Power of Supplementation
But sometimes, you know, just life is busy. Sometimes our diets kind of missed the mark a little bit, or there's that issue of the soil depletion that I talked about, right, at the beginning. Having something that can kind of supplement, I mean, that really is the name of the supplements is what they're meant to do, right? They're meant to supplement what we're doing. Having something that can supplement what we're doing in terms of what we're eating and drinking, what else we're putting into our bodies in a way that moves us closer and closer to optimal, right? And not just kind of acceptable levels of nutrients in our bodies really can result in us feeling significant changes in our bodies over time.
And that can range from a whole lot of different things from, you know, more sustained energy and feeling like you're thinking more clearly or things like cardiovascular benefits and immune benefits and brain health and circulatory system support. It really is kind of like all the systems when you're giving your body what it needs to get closer and closer to those optimal levels, things just start to work differently and better in our bodies.
And so we feel that benefit from it, whether it's that systemic level things happening, improving and being well supported in all of the different body systems or energy and even emotional health and support so many different benefits just from kind of getting that nutrition piece right with the quality.
doTERRA: Absolutely. So are there specific doTERRA supplements or vitamins that you would recommend to help see these benefits in yourself?
doTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack®
Katie: For sure, yeah. So I really like a kind of across the board if anyone is just kind of looking for just general health improvement, I think a really, really great place to start is kind of no matter what you're dealing with and if you're just wanting to move in that direction of greater health and wellness is with doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality Pack, with those three different bottles that are meant to work together. They're meant to be taken together to really optimize all the different benefits.
And you're getting an incredible multivitamin and mineral kind of combo in, again, that bioavailable form. You're getting your omega-3, omega-6, and fatty acids in the right ratios, which is often the challenge really when it comes to the omegas, as well as some doTERRA essential oils in there. So an incredible benefit of internal use of the oils on a daily basis. And then Alpha CRS+ for all of that kind of more systemic kind of antioxidant focus. And so those three together are kind of like a perfect foundation.
DigestZen TerraZyme® and PB Assist®+
And I think you can even just up the value of what you're getting if you add in our TerraZyme digestive enzymes and our pre and probiotic in the PB assist+. With those, let's say three things basically, right? The Lifelong Vitality Pack, the TerraZyme, and the PB Assist+, I just feel like so many people see such a shift.
Some people think about the digestive enzymes and the probiotic as being very specific to digestive issues. The truth is that, first of all, our digestive system is so key and core to our overall health and wellness. It ripples out. The health of our digestive system has so many ripples out in terms of all of the different ways it affects our overall health. And so it's worth really focusing on that, whether you feel you have a digestive issue or not. But if you do have a digestive issue and that's something that you're working on, creating greater balance in that area, that is a really powerful combo as well.
doTERRA: Those are incredible recommendations. I love all of that. My final question for you is more of a timely one as we're headed into a season where environmental threats are a little bit higher. Can taking these supplements regularly help support my immune system?
Katie: Absolutely. Definitely. And I think this just goes back to, again, the foundation of our health is that it is nutrition, right? And making sure that we are giving our bodies the, again, optimal levels or as close as we can get those optimal levels of antioxidants, of vitamins, of minerals, of the correct ratios of the essential fatty acids, not to mention the added benefits of those essential oils that are really powerful, supportive kinds of oils as well. Things start to function differently and more optimally, right? Because our body has what it needs to do that.
Supporting a Healthy Immune System
And so, when it comes to immune function, I mean the Lifelong Vitality, the TerraZyme, the PB Assist+, and I'll throw in also—I really am a huge fan of On Guard+ those are incredible, the softgels. And there are the Turmeric Dual Capsules like there's a lot of really incredible supplements.
All of these are just wonderful ways to support our immune system and create a body that's more resilient, you know, support our body in becoming just capable of helping to come back to homeostasis, come back to balance, regardless of what’s thrown at it, so to speak.
So these are things that I, for sure, I do a pretty good job every day at being consistent with my supplements. But if I start to feel like anything kind of shifting or if there’s any concern around my immune system needing a little extra support, these are things that I for sure get really, really disciplined about. I don't want to miss anything and maybe take a little bit more of certain things as well. For sure immune system for all of those reasons, not to mention all of the antioxidant benefits to help just create that resilience in our bodies. These supplements are really, I think, key and central to immune support. Absolutely.
doTERRA: And that is so amazing that we have these resources to help support our bodies the best way we can.
Katie: Totally. Yeah, I mean, even just a quick addition to that. I would say, you know, there are lots of things that practitioners in health and wellness world are sharing these days that aside from just really quality nutrition, quality supplementation, there are certain things that are getting kind of cold out like vitamin C and zinc. And these are things that are included in the new supplements, not to mention some of those extras, like the oil, like the Turmeric Dual Capsules. So there's a lot of extra support available beyond even just the basics just through what we get with doTERRA. It's pretty incredible I think.
doTERRA: I completely agree. Katie, thank you so much for talking with us today, for sharing your expertise and experience and helping us understand a little bit more why we need these supplements in our life.
Katie: No problem! So happy to share.
doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.
Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.
Today, we're excited to talk to Katie Hussong about the best vitamins and supplements for you. Katie, thank you so much for being here to talk with us today.
Katie Hussong: It’s my pleasure! Thanks for having me.
doTERRA: One of the big questions around this topic is do multivitamins actually work? Do they do anything for us?
Katie: Yeah, I can actually really relate to this question because I used to be one of those people that asked that question and kind of scoffed at the idea of multivitamins and supplements in general. Really, everything kind of changed. It was like a revelation kind of moment for me when I was studying nutrition and I was learning about the health of our soil, in even just the last century, there are estimates that it's been depleted of its vitamins and minerals, even like 50% perhaps of what used to be there many years ago.
doTERRA: Wow.
Katie: This is the result of farming and other environmental players, let's say, that are contributing to that. But the result is that even if you're eating this “perfect” local, healthy, organic, non-GMO diet of food, that the amount of vitamins and minerals that we would hope and that our body is looking for—right, in terms of optimal levels—just isn't present in the food anymore because it isn't present in the soil anymore to the extent that we want it to be, right? Optimally.
So that was kind of like a light bulb moment for me when I started to realize—actually not essential oils, yes, definitely—but also multivitamins and supplements that are really quality supplements can really be valuable in helping us to move closer to optimal levels, assuming they are quality supplements.
doTERRA: Now that we know that multivitamins are beneficial for us, to get those benefits, do I have to take those vitamins and supplements every day?
Katie:Yeah, that’s a great question. I think that this does probably vary a little bit person to person. But generally speaking, what I've found certainly for myself and in working with lots of clients over the years is that consistency really matters and makes a really big difference in terms of people really seeing the benefits that they're looking for when they decide to try taking supplements.
Consistency is Key
There are some supplements that may not be required every single day, but things like a multivitamin, for example, or other things that someone's really trying to address, something specific or particular, as opposed to just kind of a one-off supplement to help with something that might be happening, I think consistency really does make a big difference.
I often recommend that people try—give them some sort of a trial period of a few months and see how they feel. A lot of people, I'm sure you've heard this before, too, and a lot of people have found they may feel something right away, within days, sometimes that even happens. Other times it takes a little bit longer, you know, a month or a couple of months. And that's why I say give yourself three months and see how you feel.
Noticing a Difference
But what's so interesting is that a lot of people find that they give themselves that trial period of even, let's say, the 30-day, right, for the 30-day money-back guarantee, that when they stop taking the supplements, even if they didn't feel any significant shifts that they could tell really obviously while they were taking them, that when they stopped taking them, they feel more sluggish, for example. They don't have that balanced energy throughout the day that they had. They weren't aware, almost like subconsciously they were experiencing, then they can tell the shift when they stop taking them.
I think that's a great testament also to just the value in being consistent with your supplements and certainly working with whoever your health care practitioner is that you're partnering with on your journey to health and checking in on things and making sure everyone's on the same page and that things are looking good. But generally speaking, I really do feel like people have found the most benefit when they have been consistent with them.
doTERRA: Absolutely, so I want to dive a little bit deeper into what vitamins and supplements can do for your body. So can you give us a few specifics there?
Katie: For sure, yeah, you know, I think the key here I just want to go back to a little bit is that quality piece. What we get, in terms of our essential oils from doTERRA, what’s so incredible is that they apply that same approach when it comes to the formulations of their supplements, so the highest quality really that you can find, and they're made up of ingredients that are actually going to be able to be used by our bodies, right? They're bioavailable so our body can actually recognize and metabolize and utilize what we're taking in as opposed to something that might be synthetic or have fillers in it.
It's actually kind of similar to the conversation we have around oils, but in a supplement kind of direction. If you are, I think, provided that that's the caveat, right? If you're getting a really quality product, like we do with doTERRA supplements, and it's bioavailable, so your body can actually really utilize it, and it's not just mega overdosing of excessive amounts of supplements, which is common as well. People paying lots of money and then end up almost flushing them down the toilet, so to speak. I mean, right? You see that like the yellow color, and you don't want to be doing that, right? You want to really get the value and feel the difference. It's actually kind of similar to the conversation we have around oils but in a supplement kind of direction. If you are, I think, provided that that's the caveat, right? If you're getting a really quality product like we do with doTERRA supplements, and it's bioavailable, so your body can actually really utilize it, and it's not just mega overdosing of excessive amounts of supplements, which is common as well. People paying lots of money and then end up almost flushing them down the toilet, so to speak. I mean, right? You see that like the yellow color, and you don't want to be doing that, right? You want to really get the value and feel the difference.
So those are the caveats. Is it really quality? Is it bioavailable? And is it getting you towards optimal levels? And if those are all in place, which I do feel they are with doTERRA supplements, then yes, they can do so much for our bodies.
Nutrition: The Foundation of Wellness
You know really the foundation of wellness is nutrition. Of course, we should be getting a lot of these vitamins and minerals and cofactors, energy cofactors, sources of antioxidants, things like that, which we know are all going to be so beneficial for our overall health and wellness. We should be getting so much of that, in fact, most of it from what we're eating.
The Power of Supplementation
But sometimes, you know, just life is busy. Sometimes our diets kind of missed the mark a little bit, or there's that issue of the soil depletion that I talked about, right, at the beginning. Having something that can kind of supplement, I mean, that really is the name of the supplements is what they're meant to do, right? They're meant to supplement what we're doing. Having something that can supplement what we're doing in terms of what we're eating and drinking, what else we're putting into our bodies in a way that moves us closer and closer to optimal, right? And not just kind of acceptable levels of nutrients in our bodies really can result in us feeling significant changes in our bodies over time.
And that can range from a whole lot of different things from, you know, more sustained energy and feeling like you're thinking more clearly or things like cardiovascular benefits and immune benefits and brain health and circulatory system support. It really is kind of like all the systems when you're giving your body what it needs to get closer and closer to those optimal levels, things just start to work differently and better in our bodies.
And so we feel that benefit from it, whether it's that systemic level things happening, improving and being well supported in all of the different body systems or energy and even emotional health and support so many different benefits just from kind of getting that nutrition piece right with the quality.
doTERRA: Absolutely. So are there specific doTERRA supplements or vitamins that you would recommend to help see these benefits in yourself?
doTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack®
Katie: For sure, yeah. So I really like a kind of across the board if anyone is just kind of looking for just general health improvement, I think a really, really great place to start is kind of no matter what you're dealing with and if you're just wanting to move in that direction of greater health and wellness is with doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality Pack, with those three different bottles that are meant to work together. They're meant to be taken together to really optimize all the different benefits.
And you're getting an incredible multivitamin and mineral kind of combo in, again, that bioavailable form. You're getting your omega-3, omega-6, and fatty acids in the right ratios, which is often the challenge really when it comes to the omegas, as well as some doTERRA essential oils in there. So an incredible benefit of internal use of the oils on a daily basis. And then Alpha CRS+ for all of that kind of more systemic kind of antioxidant focus. And so those three together are kind of like a perfect foundation.
DigestZen TerraZyme® and PB Assist®+
And I think you can even just up the value of what you're getting if you add in our TerraZyme digestive enzymes and our pre and probiotic in the PB assist+. With those, let's say three things basically, right? The Lifelong Vitality Pack, the TerraZyme, and the PB Assist+, I just feel like so many people see such a shift.
Some people think about the digestive enzymes and the probiotic as being very specific to digestive issues. The truth is that, first of all, our digestive system is so key and core to our overall health and wellness. It ripples out. The health of our digestive system has so many ripples out in terms of all of the different ways it affects our overall health. And so it's worth really focusing on that, whether you feel you have a digestive issue or not. But if you do have a digestive issue and that's something that you're working on, creating greater balance in that area, that is a really powerful combo as well.
doTERRA: Those are incredible recommendations. I love all of that. My final question for you is more of a timely one as we're headed into a season where environmental threats are a little bit higher. Can taking these supplements regularly help support my immune system?
Katie: Absolutely. Definitely. And I think this just goes back to, again, the foundation of our health is that it is nutrition, right? And making sure that we are giving our bodies the, again, optimal levels or as close as we can get those optimal levels of antioxidants, of vitamins, of minerals, of the correct ratios of the essential fatty acids, not to mention the added benefits of those essential oils that are really powerful, supportive kinds of oils as well. Things start to function differently and more optimally, right? Because our body has what it needs to do that.
Supporting a Healthy Immune System
And so, when it comes to immune function, I mean the Lifelong Vitality, the TerraZyme, the PB Assist+, and I'll throw in also—I really am a huge fan of On Guard+ those are incredible, the softgels. And there are the Turmeric Dual Capsules like there's a lot of really incredible supplements.
All of these are just wonderful ways to support our immune system and create a body that's more resilient, you know, support our body in becoming just capable of helping to come back to homeostasis, come back to balance, regardless of what’s thrown at it, so to speak.
So these are things that I, for sure, I do a pretty good job every day at being consistent with my supplements. But if I start to feel like anything kind of shifting or if there’s any concern around my immune system needing a little extra support, these are things that I for sure get really, really disciplined about. I don't want to miss anything and maybe take a little bit more of certain things as well. For sure immune system for all of those reasons, not to mention all of the antioxidant benefits to help just create that resilience in our bodies. These supplements are really, I think, key and central to immune support. Absolutely.
doTERRA: And that is so amazing that we have these resources to help support our bodies the best way we can.
Katie: Totally. Yeah, I mean, even just a quick addition to that. I would say, you know, there are lots of things that practitioners in health and wellness world are sharing these days that aside from just really quality nutrition, quality supplementation, there are certain things that are getting kind of cold out like vitamin C and zinc. And these are things that are included in the new supplements, not to mention some of those extras, like the oil, like the Turmeric Dual Capsules. So there's a lot of extra support available beyond even just the basics just through what we get with doTERRA. It's pretty incredible I think.
doTERRA: I completely agree. Katie, thank you so much for talking with us today, for sharing your expertise and experience and helping us understand a little bit more why we need these supplements in our life.
Katie: No problem! So happy to share.
doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.
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