What is Foundational Health?
No matter what your fitness goals are ... it starts with a strong foundation.
Think about a house.
What happens to a house without a strong foundation? It falls apart...
Your health and wellness goals are no different.
Think about your main fitness goals right now ... most likely you're wanting to burn some fat or build some muscle (or if you're like me ... you're trying to do some of both).
Well, your main goal (like burning fat or building muscle) is your house.
And without a strong foundation ... you're never even going to get that house off the ground.
Lifting weights, doing cardio, tracking food, taking pre-workouts & protein shakes ... that all has its place and can be very important.
But just like the foundation of a house ... it's going to crumble if your foundational health isn’t taken care of first.
So, what exactly is foundational health and foundational supplementation?
Think of foundational health as being anything that has to do with health and wellness ... but from a more "inside the body" or a cellular standpoint.
And before we dive into that a bit more ... here's a couple general health and wellness statistics:
-Only 56% of Americans consider themselves to be in "decent health."
-Life expectancy for men has been declining since 2017.
-19% of children and 39% of adults are obese (with 74% being overweight or verging on obese).
-Only 1 in 10 people eat the recommended daily amounts of fruits & vegetables.
-Just 2.7% of Americans consistently eat well, exercise, maintain a healthy weight ... and avoid smoking.
-Personal health expenditures are reaching trillions of dollars each year
With these statistics continuing to rise ... the need for “feeling better" and "being healthy" is becoming more and more common.
That is foundational health. If you're someone looking to just be as healthy as possible ... this is where it starts.
And, like we've already mentioned, if you're someone with specific fitness goals like burning fat or building muscle ... that also starts with your foundational health.
Unfortunately ... getting the vitamins, minerals and nutrients we need just through our diets has become near impossible ... especially with the way our food is made and processed these days.
So, that's where foundational health supplementation comes in.
You could argue that this is some of the most important supplementation to consider due to exactly what I just mentioned above ... the fact that our food does not give us the nutrients we need to function at our best.
And though foundational health supplementation is very broad ... we're going to focus on two specific categories:
1. Multivitamins
2. Phytonutrient Powders
Multivitamins - The "Backbone" of Foundational Health Supplementation
Just about everyone's heard of a multivitamin ... and most people probably take one or have at least taken one in the past.
I like to refer to multivitamins as the "backbone" of foundational health supplements. It could be considered the "main" supplement in this category.
Or you could say it "covers the most bases" in the category of foundational health.
Multivitamins provide what's called Micronutrients ... and these are the opposite of your Macronutrients (proteins, carbs, and fats).
These micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that help fuel every single process in the human body.
You would quite literally not be able to live or function without these micronutrients. They also fuel processes like burning fat and building muscle. They fuel EVERYTHING.
As a society, we're either lacking in or full on deficient in the following nutrients:
-Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Vitamin A, Vitamin C
-Magnesium, Calcium, Iodine, Iron, Folate, Zinc
-Omega 3's & Essential Fatty Acids
...and that's just to name a few.
These vitamins and minerals are responsible for aiding, fueling and regulating everything from your immune system, blood sugar, blood pressure, and muscle contractions … right down to your brain function and heartbeat (and everything else in between!).
And remember, no matter how well you eat or how balanced your diet is, our food just doesn't have the nutrients in once did because of how it's made ... and the processing that it goes through. We do get these nutrients ... but we don't get them in the amounts that we need to feel our best (or see the best fitness results).
This is exactly what makes a multivitamin such a powerful (and almost needed) supplement for just about everyone.
It's the "safety net" or "insurance policy" to ensure you're getting everything your body needs to function at its peak ... without having to worry about piecing together the perfect, balanced diet to do so.
These vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients are ESSENTIAL. Meaning we absolutely have to consume them through food or supplementation, our body does not (and cannot) make them on its own. The only exception to this is Vitamin D ... which we can get through sunlight.
But guess what? We don't get enough sunlight either.
And again, with our food not containing all of these nutrients in the amounts that we actually need ... a multivitamin becomes almost crucial to overall health and wellness.
Now, you're probably wondering what multivitamin you should take, or if you're already using one ... is that a good one to continue to use?
That's a great question with a very simple answer: Most vitamins are giving you a sufficient amount of micronutrients ... so it's more a question of how it's made vs. what's actually in the vitamin.
You’ll want to make sure you’re using a soft-gel capsule vitamin or a powered vitamin supplement.
Hard-pressed pills and tablets go through tons of heating, pressing, glueing and processing. This can damage the delicate micronutrients in the product, making them much harder for your body to actually use.
Soft-gel capsules go through much less processing and are very easy for your body to break down. Powdered vitamins are also very minimally processed.
You'll find your more generic style vitamins … and you'll also find what’s called Pack Multivitamins too.
A pack multivitamin contains more health and wellness ingredients than your “standard” vitamin.
Ingredients like:
Fish Oil and Heart Health Ingredients
Antioxidants
Fruits and Veggies Extracts,
Probiotics and Digestive Enzymes
....and more depending on the brand.
Pack style vitamins are great for people looking to "kill more birds with one stone" when it comes to improving health and wellness.
And I'll be honest ... this is the style of vitamin I have been personally taking for quite some time now, and you can feel the difference with consistency ... that's for sure.
Better natural energy, stronger immune system, more efficiently able to burn fat and build muscle … just to name a few things I’ve noticed overtime with consistent use of a quality multivitamin.
There’s even new data and studies emerging that show consistent use of a multivitamin may even help you live longer! Sounds good to me.
Now, let's move onto #2 on the list.
Phytonutrient (Greens) Powders
You can also call these greens powders ... which have become very popular in the supplement space over the last 5+ years.
That's for good reason too, because remember ... only about 1 in 10 people are eating the recommended amount of fruits and veggies on any given day.
And at the surface level, greens powders are giving you many different extracts from fruits and veggies (“Phyto” is referring to plants). Extracts and ingredients you'd otherwise be missing out on.
These extracts or "phytonutrients" provide many different health benefits, which include:
-Optimizing and Boosting Immune Function
-Reducing Bodily Inflammation
-Fighting Disease and Infection
-Improving Gut Function, Nutrient Breakdown and Overall Digestive Health
-Improving Health Markers like Blood Sugar, Blood Pressure, and Cholesterol Levels
...and so much more.
Greens powders can actually provide many different benefits depending on the brand.
Some may just provide extracts of fruits and veggies to help fill gaps for those of who don't eat enough of them (which remember ... that's basically all of us ... including myself).
And then some greens powders act as full-spectrum health products with a focus on your gut.
These typically provide extracts of fruits and veggies, digestive enzymes, probiotics ... and many other ingredients too. These can help not only improve overall health but specifically target your gut and gut microbiome too (which are the bacteria in your gut that help your body break down and process food).
Your gut is a complicated ecosystem, but to keep it simple ... when your body is having an easier time digesting and breaking down your food ... YOU will have a much easier time using your nutrients for energy.
And when you're using more of your food for energy ... that means you're storing less of it as body fat.
Some greens powders place such a heavy focus on this benefit (and provide this benefit so well) ... that you'll even see them in fat loss products or metabolism systems.
But at the bare, bare minimum ... these products provide many of the extracts and ingredients we miss out on by not consuming enough fruits and veggies. And when you get these extracts and ingredients ... you can improve your overall health and wellness tremendously.
And if you want a health secret or wellness cheat code … try using both a high-quality vitamin and greens powder together. It’s the ultimate health and wellness combination that will have you feeling your absolute best, FAST.
Not to mention it’s going to make the process of burning fat and building muscle much more efficient too … and that’s always a win in my book.
We've barely scratched the service on foundational health here ... it's one of the broadest categories in all of supplementation.
But now, you at least have a better understanding of foundational health ... and some of the supplements that fall into that category.
And if you have any more questions about these supplements, foundational health in general, or anything health and fitness related ... make sure you stop into your nearest Supplement Superstores location. Our Sports Nutrition Specialists will make sure you're set up for success!
*This post was written by Andrew Lynn, who has a B.S. in Nutrition & Dietetics. He's also a N.A.S.M. Certified Personal Trainer and N.A.S.M. Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist.