The American diet is basically crap, the soil is depleted, and we genetically engineer foods so we can spray the hell out of them. We all know this, so between 60% and 75% of us take supplements. Most of us do it wrong, or at least with the wrong concept. “I am taking magnesium to help my insomnia,” for example. WRONG. You are taking magnesium for your magnesium deficiency; your magnesium deficiency is making it hard for you to sleep. These things are not drugs.

It Is EASY to Know What Supplements You Need

If you eat like an American, you are getting about 200 pounds of sugar and 10 pounds of chemical additives per year. You are probably deficient in zinc, magnesium, most B vitamins. Even people who “eat pretty good” consume a fair amount of processed food. Over time, the lack of zinc and B1 will cause you to produce less HCl, so your digestion is not so good. The sugar and undigested starch have made a mess of your microbiome. You are starting to get fatty liver. As you get older, you start accumulating symptoms. Maybe reflux and the occasional sinus headache at first. High cholesterol and high blood pressure later. Maybe a little IBS when you are in your 40s.

You could find yourself taking a multiple, extra zinc and magnesium, a probiotic, essential fatty acids, CoQ10 (because you read it helps blood pressure), red rice yeast, and some kind of liver support and maybe a couple of things you saw on TikTok videos. Your bile production becomes sluggish, so you add vitamins A, D, E, and K. Maybe a TV ad selling a memory product appealed to you. You start seeing stuff on the internet that describes you and offers easy solutions. Unfortunately, they don’t usually work.

The HARD Part Is Knowing How to Take Less Than a Crateload of Pills

Supplements are not drugs. Symptoms are not the problem—they are clues. Sure, sometimes you can find something that makes you feel better. Unfortunately, many times it is like putting a Band Aid on a chancre. DGL may give you relief from your reflux, but if you are not producing enough stomach HCl and your bile is thickening, you really haven’t fixed anything.

Supplements are meant to supplement a healthy system—not compensate for a broken lifestyle forever. If you improve digestion, reduce inflammation, stabilize blood sugar, and stop overwhelming the body with processed food, you may eventually find that you need fewer supplements, not more. Learn how to restore function instead of just chasing symptoms.