I'm Hormonal | PCOS, periods, gut + hormone health insights

Supplement Mistakes: Stop Wasting Money on Expensive Pee | Ep. 102

• Bridget Walton, Women's Hormone Coach • Episode 102

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Supplements are an important tool in today's world where our food has fewer nutrients than in the past, but taking them without understanding why or choosing low-quality brands can waste money and potentially harm health. We explore the top three mistakes people make with supplements and how to choose products that genuinely support your body's needs.

• Mistake #1: Relying on supplements instead of focusing on a nutrient-dense diet and lifestyle changes
• Mistake #2: Buying supplements without checking brand credibility – 4 out of 5 supplements from major retailers don't contain the herbs listed on labels
• Mistake #3: Taking supplements without a clear reason or understanding if they're actually helping
• Look for third-party certifications like NSF, GMP, ISO, or IFOS (for fish oil) when purchasing supplements
• Consider working with a practitioner who can help identify what supplements will specifically support your needs
• Use lab testing to make data-backed decisions about supplementation rather than guessing

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Speaker 1:

If you're taking supplements just because someone told you that they are good for you, then you're probably not supporting your body in the best way possible and you're really just gambling with expensive pee. Today, let's talk about how to get smarter with supplements and we'll walk through what are the top three mistakes that I see my clients making. Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey there, and welcome to today's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm really grateful that you are here with me for this 102nd episode of the podcast. As I mentioned, we're going to be talking about supplements today. Supplements are consumed by the majority of adults throughout the United States and many other countries, wherever you're listening from. They're really important in today's day and age, when our food has less nutrients or fewer nutrients than it used to. So supplements are definitely important, but it's also important to be really thoughtful about your supplements and make sure that they are well-sourced, that they're the ones that you need, that you know how and when to take them, that you know how and when to take them. We will get into that in just a moment here with the top three mistakes that I see folks making, but first I just want to say again, welcome. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, then I'm really glad that you found me. However, you found me. My name is Bridget. If you have been here before, then thanks for coming back and thanks for sharing the podcast with your friends, with your sisters, with your coworker. It's been really fun to see the listenership grow, especially over the last couple of months, and I love getting DMs and messages from you guys with your questions and your requests for topics. So thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Now let's get into the subject for today, which is supplements, and maybe it's worth clarifying too that when I'm talking about supplements, I'm talking about vitamins and minerals, also talking about botanicals, right? So sometimes we'll say herbs, herbs, although for many of you maybe, when I say herbs we're thinking of like cilantro or parsley, whatever is in the kitchen. So I mean botanicals by, yes, sometimes herbs, but even beyond that right, because oftentimes it'll be part of the root of a plant or another component of a plant. Regardless. These are taken generally as an extension of what's going on nutrition-wise. So they serve as an extension of food, right. Some people take them you know what I'll hold my own thought there because I'll get into that in a second but they should be supplemental to your nutrition and we'll walk through a couple of different strategies as it relates to taking supplements as well.

Speaker 1:

Now, the backstory on why I want to talk about this today is because in all of my onboarding discussions with my one-on-one clients, of course, we will talk through what supplements are they taking, why are they taking them, how long have they been taking them, and sometimes they'll say well, you know, this was just recommended to me by somebody. Or my friend was taking it and she said that it really helped her. Or, you know, I just heard that it was good for me. And those are not inherently bad reasons to take a supplement. But when there are so many supplements out there that don't have what the label claims in them that they might have something in addition to what the label shows. I think it's really important to be thoughtful, and just because, personally, I know I don't want to be wasting my money on supplements that aren't actually giving me what the label says. So, all of that being said, I have this conversation with my clients all the time of how do we understand what you're currently taking, how do we look at what you might want to incorporate in the future? And then, just generally, when you're looking at brands, what do you want to consider, what should be a red flag and what could be a green flag? So let's dive into all of that now.

Speaker 1:

The first mistake that I see people making when it comes to supplements is really relying on the supplements instead of making adjustments to consume a more nutrient-dense diet or, for example, relying on supplements instead of maybe making some lifestyle changes that would help them to reduce or better handle their stress. Of course, there will be times in our lives when we need to supplement with a certain type of vitamin or mineral or botanical, depending on what is going on. So it's not that you shouldn't ever take them, but I really want to encourage you to think of supplements as just that supplemental, and first focusing on how can I get some of these nutrients through my diet, through what I'm consuming three times a day or more, and then from there say, okay, what can I supplement beyond this? There will be some people or perhaps you listening who maybe you need to take a supplement more indefinitely, right, For those folks out there who have the MTHFR gene mutation which impacts methylation. I know this is just one niche example, but that's something that, okay, your body is not super great at methylating, and so you'll need to take a methyl B complex on a more indefinite kind of basis.

Speaker 1:

On the other side of the spectrum, and just one other example, maybe you are going through some acute stress and you want to take a supplement that is going to support your adrenal glands in order to kind of help your body be resilient through this time of stress. That's something that you might take for just a set period of time, right, and then move on from it. Coming back to the original thought here, though, of just saying, okay, if you are taking magnesium because you have stress and maybe you're a bit anxious, right? Maybe right now, the pace of your schedule at work is just going 100 miles an hour and you say, all right, let me take some magnesium to help my body navigate this stress. That might make a lot of sense for your picture and you're using, then, magnesium as a tool to address that stress, in addition to hopefully making changes where you can in your life to better navigate that stress as well. So in another way, right, you're using supplements as a tool, not as a replacement, for doing the thing. That might be a little bit harder, might take more energy, might require a change in habits, and so just using it again as a tool, that's what I would really emphasize for you to consider.

Speaker 1:

Now the second thing that I see people doing quite often. I mean, I've certainly done this myself too. So it's not like you know I'm above buying certain brands of supplements, but I want you to just really consider if you are buying supplements, vitamins, just off the shelf at your local grocery store, take a look into that brand. Take a look into any certifications that that brand has on their production facilities. Do they have third-party testing? Do they have a lab where they actually validate what is in the vitamin or mineral or the fish oil, right? Did you know a little fun fact here there have been many investigations done, of course, but one particular investigation showed that four out of five products pulled from the shelves of major retailers like GNC, target, walgreens and Walmart actually didn't contain any of the herbs that were listed on the supplements label. Four out of five Like that's insane.

Speaker 1:

It's aside from this whole conversation about how the United States at least supplements need to be vetted before they are put into the market space. It's just worth knowing, like, hey, there are a lot of options out there that they would love to take your money and there might not actually be anything valuable, supportive for your body in there. Or, even worse, it has something again that's not on the label and maybe that could be setting you back in whatever progress you're trying to make with your health. So, coming back to the original thought of taking a look into what creditations or certifications do the labs have for the manufacturers of the products that you're using, a couple of certifications or a couple of pieces of terminology that might pop up for you as you look into that could be NSF. This is a third party that can do testing to just validate that the processes to make these supplements are good to go. You may also see GMP, or see GMP, which is good manufacturing practices, gmp or CGMP, which is good manufacturing practices Another way to say, hey, yep, their manufacturing practices are up to speed with the standards, at least here in the US, and I know I've mentioned that disclaimer a couple of times.

Speaker 1:

But just to make it abundantly clear, I'm not very familiar at all I would say I'm 0% familiar, in fact with the standards set forth for supplements in countries other than the United States. So just a little asterisk here, if you are listening from outside of the US. One other certification that I want to mention, that's really high quality, would be an ISO certified lab. So some manufacturers will have their own lab in-house so that, as they are creating the product, they're testing to make sure that it is up to their high standards. I know I said that was going to be the last one, but for real, this last one I want to mention is an IFOS or International Fish Oil Standards Certification, which, you guessed it. You might want to take a look for this.

Speaker 1:

If you are taking a fish oil supplement, this can be really important because fish oil, in addition to an array of other supplements, if exposed to oxygen, can cause the fish oil to go rancid or if it's a different nutrient, can cause it to oxidize, which TLDR? That's not the best. That's not going to be the best thing to put into your body. So, making sure that, a it is fish oil as properly identified on the label, that is important. And just the whole process of extracting it from the original source, whether that's the animal or another source of the nutrient.

Speaker 1:

Making sure that the distribution process, that all of the parts of getting this supplement into your hand before you swig it down with a drink of water, you know that should all be done in a specific what's the word I'm looking for? What? If I want to say manicured way, and as I'm rattling off all of these certifications, I also want to suggest to you right, hey, don't let this be a stressor for you. This could be as simple as you know, a 60 second Google to say, okay, type in the name of the multivitamin that you take and state NSF certification or GMP. Or if you just go to that manufacturer's website and understand okay, do they say anything here about certifications? That's going to be a really easy way to tell, like, hey, is this a brand that I should stick with or can I look for a better option. Another note on this would be that if you are working with a practitioner who is giving you recommendations for supplements and they're probably giving those recommendations to you either directly from the manufacturer or through a platform like Fullscript, right, fullscript, for example, does vetting of the products that they allow on their platform. So there are platforms like that that are already doing some of that vetting to make sure that what they're selling through that platform, or what they're facilitating the sale of, is really high quality and is going to help you actually accomplish whatever is the outcome of the supplements that you are taking.

Speaker 1:

So, in super quick summary, before we move on to the third mistake, we'll just recall that we talked about mistake number one being somebody who's relying on supplements instead of also focusing on getting a more nutrient-dense diet that provides a lot of these vitamins and minerals that are needed. Of course, there is a time and place for supplementation, for sure, but it shouldn't go at the expense or at the replacement of focusing on getting good quality food sources that can provide that to you naturally through your food. Number two making sure that the brands that you are buying are reputable and that there is some sort of third-party testing or assessment or other confidence that what you are spending your money on actually is the vitamin or mineral or botanical that you expect to be getting. Now, number three one mistake that I see people making and again one that I have made in the past myself is not having a solid reason for actually taking a supplement right, just taking it because, okay, I know, or I think I know, that this is good for me. I heard a podcast, or you know, maybe even I heard on I'm Hormonal that magnesium is really good for mood and stress, which that is true.

Speaker 1:

But it's also a question of, well, how is this? What does this mean for you and what does your body need? Of course, there are supplements out there that it might not hurt to take, right, like, let's just use a multivitamin, for example, might not hurt to take a multivitamin, but do you need to be taking a multivitamin or is it something else, like another adaptogen right to help your body during times of stress? Do you need to be taking that adaptogen? Is it one that you should be taking kind of indefinitely, or one that you should be taking in a therapeutic manner where you say, okay, I'm going to take it for these two months, one month, whatever it is.

Speaker 1:

So, just understanding, you know, if you can just think to yourself, or when you get home, if you're driving right now, wherever you are, just getting back, take a look at what is in front of you in your medicine cabinet or your supplement cabinet to say why do I actually take these? Like what am I trying to get out of this? Because, when it comes to what are you spending your money on, I know that I don't want to be spending my money on stuff that isn't actually going to be helping me accomplish my goals. And when you are doing some troubleshooting right, if you are somebody, you're probably listening to this because you have irregular periods, you have PMS, you have maybe no period at all. Periods you have PMS, you have maybe no period at all, and you say, okay, well, could what I'm taking even be working against my goal, right? Maybe you know there are some supplements out there, some botanicals, that can help you to recover your period. They help to support normal balance as it relates to women's sex hormones.

Speaker 1:

But there could be nuanced situations, like with Vitex, for example, where it actually is. For example, if you have PCOS, maybe Vitex isn't the right herb for you to take. For you to take even though we know colloquially, colloquially, colloquially, wow. Even though we know generally that Vitex is supportive for PMS and for hormones. Hopefully, that rabbit hole that I just went down made some sense.

Speaker 1:

But it all is just to come back to saying why are you taking a supplement? What is it actually for? Can you tell that it is helping you and, if not, do you need to be taking that supplement? Or is there something else that would better support the function or the process that you were looking to support? So, from here, what can you do?

Speaker 1:

Number one I want you to check out your supplements and do a little Google search. Ask some AI bot more about the product that you are taking and what sort of certifications that product and or manufacturer has. Is there any third party testing? This will take you 60 seconds. It'll either be a quick, you know, sense of safety. What is the term that I'm looking for? Why can't I remember words today? Oh, warm and fuzzy. That's what I was going for. Either it's a little warm and fuzzy, that perfect. Yes, this is a reputable brand, I'm going to keep on keeping on or it's just a good sign to say, okay, let me look into something that is more reputable. It doesn't have to be inherently good or bad, it's just you taking this information to make a decision in the best interest of your health.

Speaker 1:

I also want to mention, of course, that if you don't know what to take, if you don't know what is going to be supportive for you, then that could be a good opportunity to work with a practitioner who will help advise you on what's going to be supportive for whatever you are up against. So, whether that is a conversation with your primary care provider, with another practitioner, with somebody like me, with somebody like a naturopath, who also is more holistically minded, of course, and is going to be thinking of okay, how can we support your body, naturally, those would be good options to go down. Third and final thought here would just be that if you have something that you are working on addressing, like irregular cycles, like missing periods, like really heavy periods, like bloating or other digestive discomforts, it can be really helpful to have some sort of lab testing done in order to get a really specific and clear understanding of what direction you need to go and what supplements will be the most supportive for your normal body processes and systems to function. So you're making those data-backed decisions, science-backed decisions, instead of thinking, okay, well, yes, generally sure, vitamin A is good for us, and so is fish oil is going to be good for most people, et cetera, but really making that data and science-backed decisions. So no surprises on that one. I'm sure that we all could have deduced it, but I think it is a good, friendly reminder that, again, if you were spending money on these supplements, you were using them as a tool. How can you use that tool efficiently and effectively to get to your goal, instead of it being another thing that is kind of in your way and that is preventing you from getting to your goal, because you think, okay, well, I'm taking this supplement, I'm taking this botanical, it should be helping me, but it might not really be that botanical, depending on the source.

Speaker 1:

The last thing that I want to leave you with is don't be concerned, don't be scared, don't be stressed about what is going on with your supplements. Just take some time to look into what is there so that you can make the best decision for yourself, and then just move on and keep on with your strategizing and your implementation of what will best serve you. So if you're somebody who takes supplements, if you're somebody who will take supplements in the future, then I hope this episode was helpful for you. I hope you have some good takeaways. Share this with somebody in your life with whom you've been talking about supplements lately. I will see you on Thursday for a shorty episode about a couple of supplements and or foods that you can incorporate into your busy work week to support your body. So I will see you then.

Speaker 1:

Thanks so much for listening. I'm Bridget Walton. If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed, no work needed on your side. Let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes.