TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Evolutionary appropriate diet is the foundation of health and longevity. However, in my coaching practice, quite often I get clients who expect me to recommend supplementation along with the diet. I am not against supplementing, I think it has its place in the healthy lifestyle, diet, and nutrition, but too much of a good thing – supplements – can have side effects. 

LEAKY GUT 

If you go carnivore to reverse leaky gut, for the duration of the dietary intervention, stay away from supplements. Let the meats and fat do their thing. Supplements will have rice flour, or rice bran, in it, which is a lectin that increases your gut permeability. If you already have issues with permeable gut, you don’t need any supplements. 

Supplements manufacturers, add the rice lectin to help the body absorb the vitamin or the mineral. Sounds good in theory, but if go carnivore to seal you gut, supplements will work against it. 

MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH OVERSUPPLEMENTING 

When my son was six months, I went back to work. At that time, he was only able to sleep about 6 hours. I would have to feed him around 2 AM; he would go right back to sleep, but I was tossing and turning for hours before I could fall back to sleep, and on occasion I wouldn’t fall back to sleep at all.Then I was a zombie at work.  I could hardly function, moreover, my work got a lot more demanding – I was desperate for a solution. 

I started supplementing with fish oil – omega 3 fatty acids. If you do a basic google search, you will see that it is recommended for better sleep both for moms and babies (if breastfeeding- I do).

I started taking it, and each night my son woke up and I couldn’t go back to sleep I would increase the dose. At some point, I was taking 5000mg a day!!!

I know, crazy, but keep in mind, I was desperate, overworked, and tired. 

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In the case of omega 3, too much of the good thing, will suppress your immune system.  That’s what DHA does when taken in large quantities. About a week into to the supplementation, I started getting pink eyes. From one eye to another, and then both at some point. On top of that I was getting a cold, every week. That went on for a 1.5 month, before I figured out that too much DHA suppressed my immune system. 

I stopped the omega 3 supplementation cold turkey and three days later my immune system returned to a normal function.  I didn’t get a pink eye, or a cold ever since.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Supplements can be helpful, but don’t overdo it. Too much of a good thing can hurt you. I now must fix my eyes sight, because my eye sights worsen after 1.5 months of pink eyes while I was staring at the computer screen.

Big City Mom