Latest / Inside the Apothecary / #Ep07 - Stop Buying Random Supplements (Here's What Actually Matters)
Transcript
- MG Herbs: Thank you so much for being here with us today. If something in this episode resonated, just know there's always a way to explore it further and support your body the way it needs. You can find out more by going to the website nourishingapothecary.com or reach out if you're ready for more personalized care. Until next time, take care of yourself and keep listening to your body. Hey beautiful, I am so glad that you're here. Welcome to Inside the Apothecary, a space for real conversations about hormones, fertility and the body. So in this episode, episode seven, we're going to talk about why we bother to individualize every single protocol for every single patient that we see. Why don't we do one size fits all? why are we using these supplements that aren't available retail? Why are we using practitioner supplements? Like a lot of people that's weird and wonderful and they don't understand. So ⁓ talk supplements, misconceptions, the that is on the shelves in some we won't mention, you know. I'm really excited to just dig into this and bang it out with you. Cause this is people are buying supplements. Like nearly every person in Australia buys some kind of supplement. So let's educate. because your body isn't broken, ⁓ it's communicating. take a breath, get comfortable and let's tune back into you. Jaime: I love that this is coming from a place of wellness, that everybody is wanting to improve themselves. I love that. But what is really is there's just so much misinformation and just so much stuff out there. ⁓ think firstly, ⁓ know. MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Yeah, totally. ⁓ yeah. It gives me inner rage that people are spending money and getting But yes, firstly... Jaime: So firstly, let's just kind of strip it back and let people know that there are vitamins and there are vitamins, right? Same as there are herbs and there are herbs. If you saw our second episode, we talked about different types of herbs and different types of what it means for us to use our herbal medicine versus stuff that you can get the supplements, right? So it's the same thing with vitamins and minerals, right? So each different type of vitamin and mineral, you can have several different forms. MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Mm. Jaime: So magnesium is a prime example of this, right? There is different types of magnesium from things like magnesium glycinate, citrate, chelae or chelae down to, you know, and they'll have different levels of bioavailability. So those ones might be the best level, right? Pretty much picking and choosing down to the worst, which is magnesium oxide. But what happens is that magnesium oxide is very cheap. So cheaper brands will MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Jaime: it in there because it's really cheap and they can tick the box to say they've got magnesium they're doing it to save money and they're not thinking about the fact that you might understand how to read that label ⁓ they're playing into that ⁓ whereas MG Herbs: Mm. Yeah. I mean, you're going to check the back of your supplement, be like, ⁓ great. It's got magnesium. I really need that. heard Jamie speaking on TikTok said magnesium was great. Away you go. And then the next morning you may have a very interesting bowel movement. Cause what does magnesium oxide do? Relaxes the bowel. Doesn't help with our nervous system. Yep. Jaime: Yes, causes diarrhea. Yes, it does. No. And so different types of different vitamins and minerals, like I said, have will have different levels of bioavailability. So some are going to be amazing and some are going to be rubbish. Right. And is where, you know, ⁓ you see out there ⁓ the shelf of a chemist is the wild, wild west ⁓ Right. there isn't MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Yep. Jaime: They're not thinking about that. Not all those brands are thinking about that. Often they're thinking about the money, And trying to put something out there and playing into the fact that you don't know any better. And it's really sad, ⁓ So is something that we see a lot. the difference then, ⁓ do want to talk about the difference like the supplements that we use? Like what does practitioner, like ⁓ what that even mean? MG Herbs: Yeah. There's like levels, right? So it's like when you go to the pharmacy and you go, ⁓ can I get some Panadol and you can grab it off the shelf. Like you don't even have to ask. You can get it in, Woolies now, right? But if you want, or napragic or some kind of hectic, you know, ⁓ more analgesic and inflammatory, something behind the counter, you got to go and ask. And then if you want something like morphine, Jaime: Mmm. MG Herbs: You know, like I'm just, you got to go to hospital. So with our supplements, we have different kind of similar to the scheduling system. We have different levels. We have what you can get every day from Joe Blow can just pick up anywhere. have in a health food shop, you get a little bit better because they're a little more curated. They've chosen, they know what they're kind of talking about a little bit more. ⁓ of them. And then you get. Jaime: some of the brands. MG Herbs: the stuff that is practitioner only. And I'm not saying all the retail stuff's bad. I'm just saying that when it's, there's behind the counter practitioner only now. So you can ask someone, but then there's the stuff that we have to script to you. have to have a console legally to be able to then determine if that's appropriate and scripted. So the biggest difference, say between what we script and something you can grab off the shelf, there's a couple of things that will be quality often. Jaime: Well, there's the behind the counter practitioner only. MG Herbs: And it will be dosage. I would say. So I think like for me that comes down to quality, right? So like I get that there could be other stuff added. So there's lots of, there's lots here. There's, you know, those supplements might have additives, crappy, you know, they might be on like a soy base, whereas we want it on like a nice coconut oil base or something. the dose will often be lower cause it is retail. They need it to be safe for everyone. And then you've the forms for sure. Jaime: and form. MG Herbs: So you might be getting, you know, the wrong type of magnesium essentially. Whereas when we script it, we're going to give you the right type for what we're trying to do. Jaime: And also I think what's really important to know is the brands you see in the supermarkets are going to be the lowest of the lowest in terms of the strength because they have to be that super safe that nothing's going to happen, which also kind of means nothing good is going to happen. So ⁓ MG Herbs: And it does go to the point where like, you know, like swing if you, We can swing all the way into some of those supplements being harmful as well. So not, not, not just not helpful, but they can be harmful. So we took a bunch of fish oil off the shelf a few years ago and tested, I think they tested 11 or 12 different fish oils. Um, this is in New Zealand, not Australia, but very similar to, you know, regulation and. I think from, is my memory, like stretching my memory, but all of them are oxidized. So nobody's testing that these things are actually okay when they've been sitting on the shelf for a while, or they've been sitting in a truck or they've been sitting in a pallet in the loading dock. a couple of them were rancid. So completely off. And if you're taking fish oil, especially in our realm for fertility, ⁓ The one thing we're trying to avoid is free radical damage and oxidative stress on your eggs and sperm. So that can actually cause issues for what, you know, for you and what we're trying to do. That's like the hectic end of the scale, but there's lots in the middle. Jaime: Definitely. So fish oil is a biggie, right? That's a really big one where the brand, the form, the ethics, the sourcing, the storage makes a big difference, right? Like am so particular about the brands of fish oil that I recommend. ⁓ when you get it home, once you open it, got it. I always say to everyone, keep it in the fridge because you want to keep it cool. Also just want it, you know, not to be susceptible to heat. It's such a biggie. ⁓ MG Herbs: And like those big tubs, every time you open the big tubs, you're oxidizing it, right? So like every single time. So like, even if it is like a good quality one and you get 120 capsules or something, I say to decant it as well. Keep like your big one in the fridge and then keep a smaller one, you know, that you're going to have for like the next two weeks or something that you're opening all the time. But a lot of the oil-based supplements will be that. Jaime: You gotta be really careful. ⁓ my gosh, they're the worst. Yeah. Yeah. then MG Herbs: Like that, like even ubiquinol. I tell a lot of my patients, especially during summer, keep it in the fridge, your SPMs, your choline. A lot of the prenatals are coming to us now cold packed as well. So this is going to stabilize the ingredients. Jaime: Yeah, yeah, it's really important to kind of take that stuff into consideration for sure. So yeah, fish oil is a biggie. And I think the other one is like that we said, I see like magnesium, I just see a lot of issues with magnesium. With magnesium, I think it's really important to touch on. And this kind of goes with all the supplements, right? MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Jaime: magnesium especially, when you're reading the label, right, let's talk about the label part. I've done a few TikToks on this because I think it's really important. What you'll see on the back of the label is you'll see magnesium glycinate, say, and it will say 900 milligrams. What you want to see then underneath it is equivalent elemental magnesium and an amount. what you need to be looking at when it comes to magnesium, ⁓ And if it doesn't say that, that's not a good thing. MG Herbs: Mm. Mm-hmm. Jaime: Right? Or if it says the magnesium is from a blend and then it lists five different types of magnesium, not a good thing. Like ⁓ just so much dodgy stuff out there when it comes to supplements. ⁓ it's, they're so sneaky. They're really sneaky. And ⁓ don't know whether it's because they're, they're from companies that don't, you know, they're not started from people that are practitioners, ⁓ know, like, or ⁓ might not know better. MG Herbs: Yeah, Mm-hmm. Yeah, they might not know. Yeah. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Jaime: ⁓ And so therefore they're assuming other people don't know stuff like that. this is where like as Naturopaths, so the difference with our supplements, right? ⁓ brands that we recommend in clinical practice, everything like evidence-based, clinical dosages, the best bioavailable forms of vitamins and minerals. ⁓ You like I can't even tell you so many people that have said to me, ⁓ I tried magnesium, it doesn't work. MG Herbs: Yeah. Hmm. Jaime: And then I've gone, well, what was the one that you tried? And I've looked at it and I've gone, well, of course it didn't work. It was a tiny baby dose or not the right form. You know, it wasn't, you needed to have four of them, not one. You know, so I see that if it's not the right dose or the right form or, you know, if that will make a big difference into the efficacy of what you're trying to take. MG Herbs: Mm. Mm. ⁓ Definitely. And like for you and I, these brands that we use, we've been to a lot of their labs. We're not getting kickbacks or anything. Like they don't pay us to pick their brand. We look at the brand and go, are you doing? I batch testing. Are you, know, how are you transporting it? Like if they're sending us a prenatal in a cold pack, like I'm happy. You know I mean? That's care that's, ⁓ gone into that ⁓ ⁓ they, they want their products to be. Jaime: Yeah, for sure. MG Herbs: efficient and to work. ⁓ And so they've put that effort in to know what it needs. And often they will also do the testing to stabilize it until the expiry date, is very important. And then batch testing, like a lot of the other companies, like a lot of the companies don't have the resources or availability to test a lot of things. you know, that's also the case when it's a huge of like Jaime: Mm-hmm. Mm. very important. Yeah. MG Herbs: you know, I think you were saying in one of your TikToks, creatine, who's making sure that that's actually creatine when it comes to the person packaging it up. you know, they'll get like a huge amount, however many thousands of tons or whatever. And then it'll say creatine. And I think that you gave a great example that the top bits creatine and it's going to be awesome. And then the other ⁓ quarters of it might be some filler, but because ⁓ you know, The ability to batch test everything is, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money. The companies we're visiting have the resources to do that. Yeah. Jaime: Yeah. Yeah. And we feel, you know, really and we stand behind those choices as well. ⁓ know a lot about the ethics of the companies as well. Like, gosh, that makes a difference guys. ⁓ MG Herbs: Mm. Jaime: So longer been the industry, I just think you and I know way too much about how all this works. ⁓ And you know, it's a thing, but it's, yeah, you know, it's, yeah, it terrifying. Some of the practices that go on and it's really sad, you know, so this is where, you know, so often, you know, we're not. MG Herbs: Yeah, terrifying. Yeah. Jaime: you when we see clients in clinic and you know, I always ask them what supplements you're taking or medication as well. know, often the stuff that they're, you know, people are taking, I'm not saying ⁓ don't want you to have it because you know, I want you to have what I'm recommending. No, often it's because I that this isn't going to do what you want it to do. ⁓ You so it's, it's coming from that place, ⁓ which think is really important. Yeah. To kind of understand that. MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's not good for anyone when it doesn't work. If we say that this is what it's going to do, that this is what it's going to help, it gives us a bad reputation, you know, as people who prescribe these things, it gives that company, you know, wherever they've got that. It's not good for anyone. Like we want these things to work. We're not doing it for no reason. The other thing is some of this is, you know, We talk about whether it's intentional or not, but like, um, some of it's just old fashioned. We do have forms of iron is a really good example in, you know, the pharmacy and the supermarket and stuff like that. That's just a really old, heavy metal, nasty form. And our stuff is much nicer on your gut, like, you know, much easier to digest, utilize all that stuff. And it's most of the time it's the same price. So our stuff isn't necessarily more expensive either. Sometimes it is for sure. Jaime: Yeah, no, I think another really good example of this is vitamin D. Million years ago, when I used to work in a health food shop, when I used to manage health food shops, used to see little old ladies coming in when their doctor has told them their vitamin D is low and they need to take Ostalin vitamin D. ⁓ MG Herbs: Hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Jaime: And the thing with vitamin D, so some things, it matters, the brand, the source of whatever. Other things like vitamin D, vitamin D is pretty standard and it's quite a cheap nutrient, right? vitamin D is very expensive. ⁓ it is, yeah. And it's so much more, yeah, it's so expensive. And it's so much more expensive than I could give them herbs of gold or something else. So much cheaper. ⁓ I... MG Herbs: Is it? ⁓ I didn't know. And d3, d3. Like it's all d3. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jaime: D3, D3. And I was like, you don't have to do that. Why don't you try this one? This is going to be significantly cheaper because my poor little old woman on her pension. And she was like, no, but the doctor said I have to have Ostalin. it used to just really break my heart because I was like, no, that company, I know what they're doing. ⁓ just doing it because of money. That does not have to be that expensive. ⁓ not an expensive nutrient. MG Herbs: Thank Hmm. Jaime: You know, stuff like that just used to upset me as well. MG Herbs: We do. And you know, good quality irons readily available. doesn't have to be prescribed, but the next layer up in vitamin D, which is no longer D3 is prescribed by us ⁓ for specific things. So yeah, like it's just, that's what we're here for. This is our whole life, like our whole career. Every single day I learn about some other new thing with a supplement. You know, I did all this training this week on choline, a supplement. I've known about forever, but now I know new stuff about that. And I know new things about the dose and there's new clinical research. We are constantly in this world. And so I think that that brings us to prescriptions and you know, ⁓ are doing it in such a, like seeing every single patient individually and writing every single script individually. It's not very like, fast pace for us. We're not, you know, we're not churning that out. That takes a lot of time. We spend a lot of time with our patients. Why do we do that? Like, why does one kind of fit prescription or here's your naturopathic bag when you go out the door? Why doesn't that work for everyone? Jaime: sure does. ⁓ everybody's different. is different. You're all unique individuals and so what works for one person isn't going to work for someone else. ⁓ Which is why I did a TikTok just recently and I was like stop following TikTok prescriptions, ⁓ fertility prescriptions off TikTok. ⁓ just it's helped MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Yes. Jaime: one person, one couple to conceive doesn't mean it's going to help you what's going on in your body. Right? And like supplements don't have to be forever either. I think that's really important to kind of know like, and what happens in your life as things like move and they change as well. And so what goes on with you also moves and changes. And this isn't to say that everybody needs supplements, right? Like I remember again, years ago when I used to manage a health food shop, so much stress. It was so crazy. It was wild how busy I was, right? Because I was consulting, I was managing, was mental. And I remember like I would have certain people every night again be like, ⁓ what supplements do you take? And I was like, Look, you don't want to know because I am like I am I am so stressed. I am run off my feet, my brain needs to be going a million miles an hour. I train hard in the gym. I have a lot going on and that is very different to someone that works an office job. MG Herbs: Thank Yeah, you don't need what I'm taking. Jaime: They have no kids, they eat a good diet, there's not much stress in their life, they're cool. So it always depends on kind of what's going on with you at that particular point in time in your life as whether you need to supplement or not. Right? ⁓ MG Herbs: We call them supplements for a reason too. Jaime: Yeah. MG Herbs: not called, ⁓ must take this daily, forever. They're called supplements. We're supplementing. Jaime: For sure. Yeah. And also, you know, your age has a big influence on that. You know, so many things have an influence on whether you need it or not, you know, at different stages of your life. And look, in an ideal world back in the day when we were all eating organic and, know, because there wasn't the pesticides that there were and there wasn't the stresses of modern day life and the pollution and everything that we have today, it was a very different situation back then than what we have now. MG Herbs: Yes. Mm-hmm. I was. Jaime: And think it's really important to honor that and respect that. a different time now. MG Herbs: Mm. I also think, um, like with a lot of my patients, I'm like, look, like all of these supplements in the right quality and dose and form are great. All of these supplements are great, but we want to make them great for you. We want them to work for you, you know, and ideally we get your iron up to sufficiency and you don't supplement that for the rest of your life. Like why is your iron low? We get your vitamin D up with the right type and It should stay at sufficiency. know, maybe you need to go back and supplement it once a year or like during winter or for some reason. Sure. But otherwise the supplements that we're using aren't generalized, you know, this forever. It is trying to achieve a goal or address the symptom or, you know, do something really specific for that person. A really good example is we were having a chat on Insta live last night and One of my patients said, you know, I'm taking all this stuff. Like it's great. Like blah, blah. But what about creatine? And I was like, sure, creatine is great. Up for you right now. Number one, it's at the bottom of my list. You know, like there's so many things we're doing first, but you know, number two, like it's just, it's not something that I'm going to go, you need creatine. right now it's fine. It's great, but you don't need it right now. And the sheer amount of supplements I think is important too. Like we cannot. Jaime: Mm. Mm. Mm. MG Herbs: use and digest and you know, like everything that goes into your body, good, bad, whatever has to be processed. So it's about like our job, our job is definitely prioritizing and you know, funneling that for people. Jaime: sure. And you don't want to take a bunch of stuff that it's not going to really do much for you either, because that's just going to cause further stress on your body, ⁓ to break that down. ⁓ so the difference with the stuff that we supplement is often very clinical dosages ⁓ best form. So therefore, there's a lot more factors to take into consideration with what we recommend and what we're prescribing as compared to something that's really low dose, ⁓ much bioavailability. Like our stuff is like super duper. MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. Jaime: So because of that, we have to be very mindful of what's going on with you. And that's where a big difference of it lies as well. MG Herbs: Mm-hmm. And the reason a lot of this isn't available retail is because there is toxicity to consider. If you're using like this bang and form and your vitamin D is like goes awesome and you continue to take it, then you can have too much. You know, we've seen lots of news the news, high B6, like which can be damaging. There's these things to consider. You can become toxic. We don't need to supplement it if we don't need to supplement it. Like it's, you know, it's ⁓ ⁓ Jaime: Yeah, and honestly, the amount of times I've had someone in front of me and I've said, what are you on? And they give me a list, a mile, mile long of what they're taking. ⁓ MG Herbs: I've got the bags, the shopping bags coming into the clinic. And I literally the other day sat down on the floor in my clinic, unpacked the bags and just worked through it with her. If it's out of date, let's go in the bin. Let's not even go there. If it's ⁓ not a great form, it goes, it's going to go in this pile. From what you've told me in the last 45 minutes, this pile is not going to help. So let's put that in that pile. This pile is good. Let's look at that. Let's look at what we can do with that. You know, like, sure. I'm going to try and use what they've got. Cause I know they've spent money on it and I hate to be like, this should just go in the bin, but some things should go in the bin. ⁓ yeah. Jaime: I often say that to my clients as well. like, let's, you know, if it's, I'll sometimes say like, let's finish that, finish that one, but then let's get a better choice next time. You know, we're not, we're not like, ⁓ you got to chuck it in the bin and take everything that we've got. You know, it's kind of like, let's just make better choices. And I think, you know, that's kind of our philosophy with lot of stuff, right? Is it's not about being perfect. Exactly. You just want to start MG Herbs: Yep. Let's go better. Yep. Nutrition, food. Yeah, yeah, totally. I don't want someone to have to throw everything in their pantry out. Like that's stressful and financial and all. Let's just look through it and get some better stuff in there as we move along. Cleaning products. Let's use that up and like swap that over toothpaste. Like you don't have to throw your stuff out. Like it's yeah, same with subs, but if it is a worry, if it is damaging, if it's not going to do what they're there for, I do put it on pause or put it away. Yeah. Jaime: I know. Yep. Yep. Yep. Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Me too. MG Herbs: be like, put this up in the cupboard and we might come back to it. Jaime: Yeah, not right now. Just not right now. That's okay. Yeah MG Herbs: Totally. I've loved this one. I think it's going to be really helpful for a lot of people. Thanks for the chats again. Definitely. I'll see you later. Jaime: Yeah, me too. Yeah, I think it's a good, good chart. Yeah, thank you. We can always talk supplements. Love it. We can talk about anything.