Episode 9: Supplements and Alopecia

Today’s episode of the podcast is about Supplements and Alopecia

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• We have to look at the ingredient, where it is coming from, how much of it is being absorbed by our body, what quantity is appropriate for us.

• Certain supplements do not interact wonderfully with other medications you are taking.

• Targeting certain supplements to support every body's function is very critical.

• Look first to food and then look to the supplements.

• The more you stay away from processed ingredients, the better it is.

HIGHLIGHTS YOU CAN'T SIMPLY MISS

• Hairloss is much more than supplements 03:13

• Natural things can have an effect 05:17

• Supplements can only allow your body to absorb up to 2-4% 05:58

• Think about the little things that go along with the supplements 09:45

• There could be an ingredient or two or three or four that's not helping you 11:10

• Supplements may not be doing anything for you 12:51

• More supplements doesn't mean more effectiveness 14:27

• A lot of times it's pairing a complete diet with the support of vitamins 15:29

• Be specific, this is where then the evaluation and personalization comes in 18:35

• Not one pill will do it for everybody 20:05

• Targeting certain supplements for you and for our support of every body function is critical 21:26

• First and foremost you always want to support the body with the food first and then target the supplement 23:01

• Supplements are the sidekick to diet 23:26

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Transcription

Awaken to hair growth. Awaken to hair growth because there is, possibility to get your hair back. Awaken to hair growth because we're not told that we're able to conquer and overcome alopecia. Awaken to hair growth because I want to be a positive light and beacon for you because I've healed my alopecia and now I help others do the same with different types of alopecia, men, women, children, of all ages of all races and ethnicities.

Hey everybody and welcome back to another episode of alopecia angel podcast, awakened to hair growth. But before we start into the podcast, I wanted to let you know that I have a free giveaway and for those of you who don't know about my hair and heal program, it’s a program that helps heal and reverse hair loss naturally, alopecia naturally in less than eight weeks.

And it happens and it opens up periodically, and so now I wanted to do a free giveaway to all my podcast listeners since I have a new baby, which is my podcast, and I wanted to spread the word. What do you need to do to enter into this giveaway? So the next program starts early March and this program is valued at over $3,000.

And so this will be a fantastic opportunity for one listener to get this free giveaway. What do you need to do? You need to write a review, take a screenshot of the review and email us @helloatalopeciaangel.com. Once again write a review for the podcast and screenshot it and send it back to us via email so we know, and we have your info so we can contact you. Should you be the winner? And we will announce the winner via email and then also via the podcast. 

So I'm really excited to do this. I believe this is actually the first time we're doing a giveaway of this nature. I've given away the full program for free. So again this is to one lucky person and again, quite simple, write a review, subscribe and send us a picture of your screenshot, of your review and email us @helloatlopcangel.com.

So going back to today's topic, let's talk about supplements and many times people think, okay, I have hair loss. I have this, I have that, I must be deficient and many times we are many times we are deficient in vitamins. Many times we are deficient in nutrients. And so what do they do? They go to the drug store or they go to the pharmacy, or maybe even just to one of those big box stores, like a Costco or a Target, or of this nature and grab a bunch of supplements.

And the problem with that is,

1. It's not tailored to you.
2. It's like shooting in the dark

And without really seeing what's going on. In addition to that you're not evaluated and all the other pieces that go along to it, because if you have hair loss, we already know it's much more than just supplements. We already know it's much more than just diet. We already know it's much more than so many things that people think and have tried before landing to alopecia angel, before coming to me.

They think it's the CRMs or the specialty shampoos or the specialty supplements, right? And there's many supplements out there, supplements that are geared for hair loss, right? Hair, skin, and nails, that's the typical brand and there's others that are geared for just overall like a multivitamin. And there's other ones that are geared specifically that have specific things that they do and how they interact with and how they interact with, for you. 

And this is all very important because for example, you could be allergic to something, one of the ingredients inside, one of the supplements, or maybe the ingredients that they're using are very cheap and very processed. And so that will also maybe detour you from actually getting the results that you're looking for. And so this is why, this is very frustrating, and this is why navigating hair loss and the typical tactics for the most, part result in not giving you a hundred percent of what you're looking for, because something's off.

And like I said, it's much more than one thing, two things, or three things. It's a whole host, it's multiple puzzle pieces to all this, it's multiple puzzle pieces. And so this is important to know, this is important to take into consideration and then furthermore, the interactions that the supplements that you're grabbing off the shelf could be interacting with your current medication, with your current birth control, with your current anything that you might be taking.

And so a lot of times we think, oh, supplements are safe, supplements are natural, supplements for this, supplements for that and they can be, but even the natural things can have an effect that we don't want or maybe can lead us into a path that we're not really looking for either. And so this is where spending your money on supplements or throwing money at the problem so to speak is not the solution. In other details of supplements, many times, especially the cheap ones are very processed and have lots of fillers and have lots of preservatives and additives in there. And a lot of times it's actually contradicting what it does for you.

In other supplements, some of them actually only allow your body to absorb up to 2 to 4%. So even, let's say with a certain type of supplement, your body can only be absorbing 2 to 4%, why? because it's the quality of the supplement. The type of supplement that this is, and essentially is forcing you to throw away your money because you're buying something, not knowing that your body only absorbs a very small amount of it and that very small amount is not enough.

The other tricky part about supplements is that a lot of people like to go by the RDA. The RDA is what, it's just a national average that someone in some agency in the US decided that we all needed to a certain degree. So for example, let's say vitamin C, we all need a hundred percent vitamin C a day, but if you were to take the vitamin C supplement, this looks different for the eight year old who weighs maybe less than a hundred pounds, probably more than likely, less than a hundred pounds to the average female, which in today's day, there is no average weight for a female, so that can range anywhere from below a hundred to over 300, right? 

And the same for a man and does that mean that that one pill of vitamin C works in the same manner for the child as it does for the female? Adult female as it does for the adult male? It can't and it won't why? because it's not the same amount that is needed for such a bigger person, right? If you weigh more, you need more, more than likely have certain vitamins and minerals. And it is just like water, if you weigh a hundred pounds, you need a certain amount of water a day to filter out your body.

If you weigh 200, that looks different. If you weigh 300, that looks a lot different too. And so you know, in one of my first podcasts, I talked about how one size fits all, how one size does not fit all and that's the problem. When you go to the store, you're picking up vitamins, let's go ahead and pick on the hair, skin and nails. You're picking on the hair, skin and nails as a substitute for your hair loss. 

But in reality, this could be wasting your time and money because it's not tailored to you. It could be having lots of negative effects and maybe not necessarily a negative side effect like a rash or something, but it could have harmful chemicals or ingredients in there that aren't doing you any good.

And on top of it, maybe creating more inflammation and on top of it maybe at very small quantities so that it takes longer so that you have to buy the product longer. Does that make sense? So many times as manufacturers do they'll put in just like the minimum amount of let's say vitamin C we'll use that again.

A vitamin C it's not a hundred percent, it's just 30%, but you've chosen it because maybe it was the one that was available. Maybe it was because it was the cheapest one or maybe because what have you, we all have a budget price, product branding in mind when we purchase things. And so you grabbed the vitamin C and let's say this is a different type of vitamin C, where it's made from corn. Ascorbic acid is made from corn. So any vitamin C that's made from a sorbic acid is made and derived from corn. And the majority of the corn for vitamin C is GMO. So you see how this can be a downward spiral.

So you have to think about all the little things that go along with it. It's not just about the vitamin C, we also have to look at the ingredients. We also have to see where it's coming from. We also see how much of it is being absorbed by our body. We also have to see what the quantity is appropriate for us, for our weight, for our type and our medical situation, because maybe certain supplements do not interact wonderfully and don't interact or play nice with other medications that potentially you're taking with. And so a lot of times, the supplement genre that the supplement shelf is riddled with booby traps and you need to be a very conscientious consumer to be able to navigate this correctly

And many times I've seen my participants, in my clients who do the hair and heal program. And I always ask for a list of their supplements, how much they're taking the brand. I also want to see screenshots of what's in there, because just because they say, oh, this is a natural one, or this is one I bought here.

This is one that my doctor recommended, or this is this, or this is that. I still want to see it. I still want to see what's all in there because there could be an ingredient or two or three or four that's not helping you, it's hindering the process and it's holding you back.

And in one client, I remember she was absolutely astonished. She had spent a lot of money on supplements and lo and behold, when I told her, look, these have these ingredients that are not doing you, that are not doing you well, they're not promoting health, they're just taking it in a way and promoting more inflammation in your body.

What are these ingredients? Well, they vary and they also have long names and long names that are tongue twisters. I actually have a PDF inside my hair and heal program where you can decipher and see and have it as like a cheat sheet, moving forward of all the ingredients that you need to avoid in supplements. But then also there's certain different types of supplements.

You know, for example, with magnesium, there's like 12 different types of magnesium. How do you know which one to purchase? How do you know which one to get? And even in different countries, the availability of the actual supplement varies. So for example, in the Netherlands, I've gone to pharmacies and I've gone to different stores and they only have a very, very low threshold of practically all their supplements.

So whether you're looking for vitamin A, B, C, D E F, G, or Z, all their supplements have a very low, low threshold and it could be very expensive because they tend to be expensive but at the same time, they're not doing anything for you. You can be taking them until you turn blue in the face and they're still not moving the needle.

So, this is also a problem and being able to move around, buy things online, it actually makes things a lot easier because now I can buy my supplements online and I know which websites and I know, you know, it's got the threshold I need. I know it's got the ingredients I need and it doesn't have all the fillers, all the preservatives, all the junk, that's gonna do more harm to it.

And a lot of times, in addition to everything else that I mentioned a lot of times supplements buddy up to certain ones. So for example, you need vitamin K2 to go along with vitamin D three. They work synergistically, they have to go together. It's almost a requirement and so there's a lot of times where supplements are not just go to the store, a few clicks here online, or fill your basket and be done.

That's not it, I've had numerous clients who have been on Nutriful, have been on the hair, skin and nails. They have been on prenatals, have been on so many different vitamins and supplements out there and that doesn't work, that doesn't heal the alopecia, that doesn't put a dent into the hair loss and so for those of you who are, who have a lot of supplements out there, this is important to take note of because you don't want to throw your money.

And more supplements doesn't mean more effectiveness. So for example, I have a client, a mom, she came to me last week and we were helping her daughter go through the program but then also to go through those blind spots. She has a couple of blind spots that we're working through and they take a little more time but she's already seen hair growth, which is fantastic. She already has her eyelashes back. She already has her eyebrows back and she sent me actually a picture today of her eyebrows and they look fantastic. 

There's a lot of growth coming out and that's important. Now this mom asks me, she's like, well, I was reading online that these vitamins and she named like a handful, like five different vitamins and I told her you don't need those vitamins at this point because she's already taking other ones. And because her diet is already tailored to her, which gives her a lot of these vitamins. So a lot of times it's not all about supplements. A lot of times it's pairing a complete diet with the support of vitamins.

So for example, here the main character in this situation would be diet, the supplement is like the sidekick and then going through all the blind spots and cleaning all that up would be, you know, the full picture. And then from there, you're already seeing hair growth, which in this case, this child is.

And so it's not about throwing more supplements down your throat, that's not what this is about. And that's not how you're going to get the hair or the healing that you want. You have to look at supplements like a side dish. That's what it is. It's a side dish to the main entree. Your main entree is really your blind spot. The diet comes with it. It's another side dish. It's another puzzle piece. All these are all different puzzle pieces, but that blind spot, once you clear that up, then it's just like nothing is impeding and all this hair growth is coming in. And she's already seen it coming in with the eyelashes and the eyebrows, and that's a big deal.

So, especially for a little girl who's around like eight or nine years old, that's a big deal. Take heart in terms of supplements, sometimes less is more and sometimes more is better, but this all depends on everyone's situation, to everyone's blind spot, to everyone's personal evaluation, to everyone's current medical condition.

What they're currently taking, what's best for them. This is all just very different. But across the board, there are numerous supplements that you could be taking. And I will say that probably one of the biggest mistakes is taking a multivitamin. Multivitamin is it's waste of money. Let me just say that it's a waste of money and even with a prenatal.

So for example, let's say you're pregnant and everyone says you have to have a prenatal. Okay. Yes, but not all prenatals are made the same. Not all multivitamins are made the same. And even when I was pregnant, I didn't just take a prenatal. I took, let's see, 1, 2, 3, I took like five other supplements to go along with the prenatal to boost the prenatal because the prenatal alone is not enough.

So for those of you who are pregnant and who think that a prenatal is more than plenty, it's not. And even with the fantastic diet, it's still not enough, it's not enough. Vitamin D it's not enough, magnesium it's not enough, and a bunch of other things that it's missing. The prenatal cannot have it all, it cannot. 

There's not one out there that exists that has it all to the exact needs or requirements necessary to create another human. So, and so then maybe some of you were thinking, okay, so does that mean I need to take double the amount of the prenatal and I'd say no, do not take double the amount of the prenatal or the multivitamin, because again, you're also throwing away your money.

What you want to do is really be specific, you want to be really specific and this is where the evaluation comes in. This is where then the personalization comes in. It needs to be customized to each person and to how they live, what they do on a daily basis and what their needs are first and foremost.

So I think that was a huge tip for many of you to understand that a prenatal is not enough and multivitamin also. I think multivitamins across the board is a waste of money. It doesn't matter what brand it is. I think it's a waste of money and the prenatal is necessary, but it's not the end all be all. It definitely needs much more, much more support because guess what? you're creating a human and this human needs much more than, than gesture, diet and one multivitamin cause that's exactly what a prenatal is, it's multivitamin. 

So it needs more than that and results show. I mean, if you're watching this on YouTube, I'd have all my hair back, eyelashes and eyebrows, everything's back for more than six years. And if you saw pictures of my baby, you see how healthy he is. He was born with nine pounds, seven ounces. So no nutrient deficiency there let me tell you that much. So for all of those of you who have inquiries about supplements, this is a very, very important topic because again, not one pill will do it for everybody.

So if you're spending your money, cause I know lots of supplements out there for hair, skin and nails costs a lot of money. One in particular has like it's like 60, $70 a month and you I guess that's the other thing with supplements. You have to wait, it's like an eye cream. You have to wait three months before you actually see any results.

And that's for the majority of things, especially if you're doing this in the dark, shooting yourself in the dark, because you don't know how the synergies are with one supplement with the other, with when to take it. Do I take it at night? Do I take it during the day? Do I take it with food without food?

Like there's so many ways to take supplements and there's a lot of, let's say nuances to it. There's a lot of borders and boundaries with supplements. And so this is all very personal and very necessary to each person. And so I hope this clarifies a little bit more of how supplements play a part.

Yes, they are important. Less is more I'd like to say because you know, throwing away a lot of money on supplements in general is not the answer. So I think less is more, but I also think that targeting certain supplements for you and for our support of every body function is critical, is very, very critical.

And also depending on where you are in life. If you're just looking to heal hair loss, that's one thing. If you have hair loss and maybe trying to conceive, that's another thing. If you're looking to heal hair loss, and maybe you also have rheumatoid arthritis, maybe you also have MS, maybe you also have another autoimmune disease that looks a little different too. 

So all these things have to be taken into consideration. It's not a one size fits all and even when I get emails or inquiries for a consultation for just supplements, like I got one today and the dad was like, oh, you know my daughter needs a supplement information. We're reading your book, but I was just like, I need to evaluate that whole child, that they can't just be supplements.

And maybe some of you are saying, well, what if I get a blood test? And you can, you can absolutely get a blood test and get checked for certain vitamins and see where you are nutrient deficient but let's say your doctor says, oh, you're deficient in these five vitamins and minerals and so he or she might recommend that you supplement with that. And what I would say is look, first to foods and then look to the supplement.

First and foremost you always want to support the body with the food first and then target the supplement. The supplement is the sidekick, it's the conditioner so to speak. Conditioner is important, but shampoo is more important because you need to clean the hair and take out the oil and the grease and anything else that could be lingering in your hair, right? So conditioner is the sidekick to shampoo.

In this case, supplements are the sidekick to diet and I hope this helps a little bit. I hope it makes you more aware of the ingredients of what's going on in your body, of how not having a strategy, not having a plan, not being evaluated could be forcing you to be thrown out your money, trying things out.

Again, one size doesn't fit all. So a lot of those hair, skin and nails, so one in particular that I even used to use contain soy and that's one ingredient that you should stay way, way, way far away from. You don't want to have any soy in your supplements or even in your diet and I've had nutritionists come to me and I'm looking at their diet and they're drinking soy milk and soy milk is not good for you and especially for women but in any case, any soy products, especially processed soy stay away from it, especially in the supplements. 

You want to stay away from it because again, soy is like corn in the sense where it's a GMO genetically modified. So the more you stay away from processed ingredients, the better it is. The more natural ingredients without the added additives or preservatives, the better your supplementation.

And there are many name brands that I love and I recommend but again, it's not one size fits all. And also it depends, you know, you can be listening to me and you can be in one country where you can't get one brand or you live in another country and you have access to all the brands. It just all depends where you live as well.

And so in the hair and heal program, I guide you through this and if you didn't hear earlier, I have a give away. So don't forget about the giveaway. I will be announcing the winners the week of March eighth, that week. I will be announcing the winner to have them and bring them on, into the hair and heal program for free, imagine that.

So I hope this helped you a lot with supplements. Sometimes with all the information that I have, it leaves people a little bit more confused, but hopefully you took away some nuggets of information and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out, I'm here to help. Take care, see you next time.

Thank you for listening to the alopecia angel podcast, a positive light and healing alopecia. You can do this and we can help. Spread the word that reversing alopecia is possible by telling your friends and family.