What to Look For and What to Avoid in Your Supplements
Today we're going to be chatting about supplements! Specifically, what to look for in your supplements AND what you should avoid.
Before we even get started with what you should be looking for in your supplements, let’s start with why you’re supplementing in the first place. Maybe someone (who’s not your doctor) told you you should be taking fish oil and you're like, “Oh, okay!” Or someone told you to take magnesium and you're like, “Oh, okay!”
But first, please find out if it’s something you really need. Talk to your doctor. Run some labs. Do some research about the benefits (and side effects!) of these supplements. I don’t recommend randomly supplementing without a clear idea of why you're doing it. Otherwise you might end up wasting your money on something that isn’t actually helping you!
Get what you paid for, not what you didn’t.
First of all, I think one of the biggest things that I see in supplements that we want to watch out for is heavy metals, which we see a lot in vegan protein. Especially pea protein. They're also really prominent in collagen and greens and in supplements in general and we don’t want that. For example, lead is often found in pea protein and greens, arsenic is common in magnesium, and many different heavy metals are found in fish products, like fish oil.
Where do your products come from anyway?
A great place to start is by looking at where you're getting your products from. This is really, really important. You don't want to buy your supplements from Amazon, your local grocery store, Walgreens, CVS or any other generic store because you're probably not paying for what you think you are. A lot of these products are really high in heavy metals and a lot of them contain filler ingredients. So even though it says you're getting magnesium, you're also getting a bunch of other stuff you don't want, like soybean oil, Carrageenan, etc.
Another reason to pay attention to where your products are coming from is because they aren’t regulated to the same degree that medications are. Sometimes the drugstore versions just don't even contain what you want in the first place! There have been so many lawsuits where companies, like GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart, were sued because a third party tested their products and they were either unrecognizable or from some other substance that was NOT what the product claimed to be.
So even though you think you're saving money because you're spending $10 instead of $20, you're actually just wasting $10 because you're not even getting the actual supplement.
Amazon is a big, big, big one that you want to avoid because they can't regulate it. Often people will order a supplement from Amazon and then they end up sick because it’s expired or doesn't even have what it says it has in it.
So, you definitely want to look for professional-grade supplements. I highly recommend buying from Jigsaw Supplements or a practitioner dispensary like Fullscript. You just want to make sure you’re ordering directly from them and not some third-party place where it can't be verified.
Once you have a reputable source - check the ingredients.
So it says it has magnesium, great! Now turn it over and look at the ingredients. You don't want to be taking a supplement that has Carrageenan in it or Maltodextrin or soybean oil or food dye. And it’s so frustrating because WHY do people put food dye in supplements?! My pill does not need to look pretty, I'm just saying. So just be sure to educate yourself on what you're actually getting and try to avoid these kinds of fillers.
Also, a side note - Maltodextrin is a derivative of corn so if you’re allergic, be sure to look out for that one. And if you have issues with mold, you want to be very careful with citric acid.
Third-Party Testing & Transparency
Now, we want to look even deeper than just the label - we want to look into the testing. You really want to be looking at products that have been third-party tested. Because let me just tell you that if the company says, “We tested it, it's pure.” They’re saying that because they want you to buy it. They’re going to tell you whatever they think you want to hear.
So look for third-party testing. And then look to see if you can actually see those results for yourself. Because some companies will say that they do third-party testing, but then they don't release the tests for you to review. Some companies will say that's proprietary information. And just no... it's not. How much lead is in your pea protein is not proprietary information. I need to know because if I'm taking a protein powder, I don't want to also be ingesting a ton of lead. So definitely check for third-party verification and then see if you can actually read the results.
I love it when supplement companies will have a checkmark on the label to indicate that it has been verified. This means that every batch is tested by a third-party lab to ensure that the purity and potency are accurate with what's on the label. This allows anyone to see the third-party lab results in the product, including traces of heavy metals. All you have to do to view the individual results is go to the product page and click on the label claim verified logo.
This is not common practice for a lot of companies, but transparency is super important to me. I always pull up the supplement company and look at their about page to see what they care about. I'm specifically looking for the purity of their product and why that's important to them. I just think it's ridiculous when I pull up a supplement company and they have pages and pages and pages about their mission statement, but they don't say anything about the purity of their supplements or the product’s quality.
If they don't share anything about testing, that’s immediately a red flag.
A lot of times, they'll try and put forward big certifications like Leaping Bunny certified or vegan or cruelty-free - which are great certifications and I'm glad that they have them - but that doesn't mean it's non-GMO. That doesn't mean it's not full of heavy metals. It doesn't mean that it’s a supplement you should be consuming.
A few recommendations
Fullscript Dispensary. This is where I get a lot of my supplements and you can use this link to get 10% off professional-grade supplements. Here you know that what you're buying is what you're getting.
Ned. This is another fantastic company to check out just because the transparency on their page is so awesome and I wish that all companies were this transparent!
On Ned’s website, they tell you about the farmer that grows it, you can track each batch, you can look at the testing, you can look at how things are processed - it's all right there on their page! They WANT to educate you.
And that's how companies should be selling their supplements. Because then you can make an educated decision on whether or not you want to take it and not just be fooled by the marketing.
You can use coupon code LEAH to save money at Ned too, but my main reason for bringing it up is because they are the transparency gold-star that all other companies should strive to be.
So, go take a look at the supplements in your cabinet and go through these steps:
Where are you getting them from? Is it a reputable source like Fullscript Dispensary or Ned?
What’s in the ingredients? Do they have Maltodextrin, corn syrup solids, Carrageenan, or citric acid? Any and all of the above?
Are they third-party tested? This is especially important if you're looking at a greens powder, pea protein, or magnesium. You don't want to be accidentally ingesting a ton of arsenic in your magnesium!
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The recommendations presented in this blog are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your health care provider.
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