Eat right before reaching for pills

Should you add a multivitamin to your diet and fund the pharmaceutical company’s board of directors’ holiday houses, or is there some benefit to taking water-soluble vitamins and minerals? If you research whether vitamins are good for you you arrive at two schools of thought. One says it is important and the other says we are slowly killing ourselves with high doses of vitamins which the body might not need.

I am stepping either side to argue the cause, but I prefer to step on the common sense side. Firstly, you need to understand what good nutrition is and decide whether you are getting enough good nutrients in your diet. Secondly, you need to understand the word “supplement”. The Oxford dictionary describes it as: “A thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it.” This means you already have a good foundational nutritional framework and when you find you are still not performing daily at your optimal level then you look to supplement – to enhance or substitute what is lacking.

Now common sense and research says few people are getting a balanced diet due to their environment, circumstances and taste preference. Your likes and dislikes already place you at a deficiency of not having the right nutrients to perform at your best.

People tend to be lazy and agree that they are not getting what they need, and instead of fixing their diet, they quickly run down to the pharmacy and buy an “all in one” with maximum doses for each vitamin and mineral. This is not the right approach because you are masking the problem.

The question? Is your diet or daily nutritional consumption sufficient for you? Unfortunately it does take a bit of time to read and understand what is important and how it can benefit you.

Firstly, try to get your nutrients from wholesome foods and then if you have external stressors – like a stressful job and long hours – then you want to supplement a support structure to keep you performing and recovering like a pro, even if you are a mere mortal like the rest of us.

It is also important to know that you get two types of vitamins; water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins.

Water-soluble needs water to dissolve the vitamins and generally these vitamins are not stored in large amounts in the body. As you ingest them through food or tablets they are absorbed by the body. Not eating any fruit or vegetables means you will have a serious deficiency in these areas.

Fat-soluble vitamins get absorbed and stored in the liver and adipose fat when not used. As and when the body needs the vitamins, the body will provide these.

This is why a good well-balanced and nutritional diet is so important for healthy functioning and for enhanced sports performance.

Below are eight essential water-soluble options which you can look to tweak by adding the right foods to your diet and only once you have this down to a tee, then look to finding specific vitamins that can add value to your health and performance.