The Great Superfoods Hoax: Should I Supplement My Diet?

I don’t now about you but when I first decided to take my health seriously and discovered more and more about the benefits of a more alkaline diet, the question of ‘superfoods’ came up:

Do I take superfoods and supplements and if so which ones and how often?

There are a number of slick ‘natural health gurus’ out there who would have you believe that we need to be taking reishi mushrooms, ormus gold and deer antler on a regular basis to ensure peak health and healing.

I’m not so sure.

I have listened to hours upon hours of interviews and lectures with these so-called raw food/ natural health experts and I was left feeling more confused about what to do for good health than ever before.

I have studied health and nutrition for 15 years and I could not make sense of it all, so what hope does the average busy person like a working mum or dad have?

I reminded myself of one of my favourite quotes:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”

Any fool can make something complicated but it’s a true master in their field that can simplify things.

Healthy eating should be and is SIMPLE.

So I gave myself a shake and asked some deeper questions to work out whether I should buy into all of this weird and wonderful superfood hype.

The questions led me to a resounding NO!!

Questions to ask about your health ‘Guru’

Here are the questions you need to ask when following a ‘health guru’ and their recommendations for supplements…

Does this person LOOK in peak health?

Do they have great skin and eyes? Do they have a vibrancy abut them? Do they walk their talk?

Do they have a fantastic physique?

It’s not the be all and end all but if they are so super-healthy, they should be a shining, lean example and not overweight

Are they Fit?

When you’re at peak health, you want to MOVE and exercise. Do they do fitness activities on a regular basis and excel at them?

A lot of health gurus tout things that may just about be ok for a sedentary person but would cause an active person to fail miserably – such as a high fat raw diet that includes a lot of nut butters. I followed this kind of diet for a few months and felt TERRIBLE and my peak fitness went out of the window!

Do they stand to gain a lot of money from promoting these ‘superfoods’?

Are the products they promote expensive and marketed as rare and exclusive?

Like the Big Pharma and Big Food companies, if these people make a lot of money from selling you potions and powders, your best interests may be second to their financial interests.

Do they make it simple for you to understand?

Do you get what they are talking about, not only in theory but can you easily see how it would work in the real world, day to day?

Don’t put the cart before the horse

So the next thing you need to look at is the overall context of your life and diet.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of people buy into taking a lot of superfoods and alkaline supplements for good health but they are still drinking sodas, milk and alcohol and eating all sorts of meat, dairy and processed foods.

You really need to get your priorities straight: Work on cleaning up your diet and THEN think about supplementation.

With health and diet, it’s often more of a question of what can I ELIMINATE not what can I ADD which will have the greater results.

Let me ask you, what do you think would be more beneficial to someone – being a smoker and taking superfoods or giving up smoking and not taking them?

Giving up smoking.

So check the areas of your diet that you can work on first – cutting back on or eliminating highly acidic and disease-causing foods like meat, dairy, GM foods, packaged foods with additives and preservatives.

If you are struggling with knowing how and what to eat for the best, you should definitely check out my Alkaline 5 Diet book.

It’s a complete ‘system’ for healthy eating, which means that anyone can take it and run with it to get the same predictable results of fat loss, more energy and improved health.

There are 5 meals you eat daily and you can choose from lots of food options within each meal, so it’s very convenient and tasty.

Alkaline 5 Diet is truly Simple, Satisfying, Sustainable, Super-Healthy and Systematised.

I have been on this diet for years and I have had great results – lost over 14lbs in fat, am super fit and healthy and regularly get told I look about 10 years younger than I am.

These are not unusual results for following this easy alkaline diet. Plus, it totally takes the guesswork out of it for you.

Adding Supplements

Once you have cleaned up your diet by keeping the acidic foods to a minimum, you may want to experiment with superfoods, mainly as a replacement for things you used to like.

For example, I use coconut oil as a great natural body moisturiser to replace chemical and animal tested products.

I use powdered maca (cruciferous root veg that tastes malty) to make a hot drink replacement for coffee.

I use chia seeds to make a tasty porridge with coconut or almond milk.

I use coconut palm sugar and agave nectar to replace refined white sugar.

Wheatgrass

One supplement that I absolutely 100% recommend that everyone takes is wheatgrass juice – either in powder form mixed with water or freshly juiced.

There are many benefits of wheatgrass to our health – such as anti-aging, disease prevention and healing reported by thousands of people can doctors such as Ann Wigmore.

I experience super-energy levels on wheatgrass and I definitely feel and look younger since I’ve been taking it (over 6 years as I write this).

Wheatgrass is super-rich in minerals and plant amino acids (protein building blocks easily used by our body in this form, without the harsh strain on our liver from meats).

You an get organic wheatgrass pretty inexpensively these days and it’s pretty tasteless which means you can add it to meals and smoothies and if you have kids, they will benefit a lot from it in terms of health, growth and behaviour.

So to wrap up, here’s what I recommend:

1. Clean up your diet – follow my Alkaline 5 Diet if you are struggling at the moment or have a health issue to reverse

2. Include superfoods that make sense to you and that you understand about, not ones you have been blinded into thinking works

3. Check out the many benefits of wheatgrass and add wheatgrass juice to your diet

Check out the Alkaline 5 Diet for you optimum health, healing, fat loss and energy

Check out wheatgrass and alkaline diet supplements