lesson three - amazon s3 · •first, when working with clients, and to understand yourself, please...

Hompes MethodPractitioner Training Level I

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LESSON THREE

Part Three

Micronutrients In Supplements

Micronutrients - Supplements

• If I had a pound or dollar for every client who told me he or she had a cupboard full of supplements, yet still felt unwell, I’d be a very rich man.


• But does the use of nutritional supplements to enhance vitamin and mineral status actually help, or is the supplement industry as “out of control” as Big Pharma?


• First, when working with clients, and to understand yourself, please remember that symptoms are not caused by supplement deficiencies! Deficiencies are caused by:

– Poor food selection

– Poor digestion and absorption

– Excess nutrient utilisation through stress, exercise, toxins and so on.


• Until foods, lifestyle and digestion have been corrected, there’s little point in having your clients spend lots of money on multi-vitamin and mineral supplements.


• You can try to fill your “nutrition bucket” with supplements, but if your bucket is leaking you’ll only ever manage to fill it to a certain level:

– Optimize food intake

– Improve gut function

– Avoid exposure to toxins

– Manage lifestyle through optimal sleep and movement


• The intelligent use of nutritional supplements containing vitamins and minerals can be incredibly helpful once food choices, sleep and exercise habits, etc. are moving in the right direction.


• Rationale for multi-vitamin and mineral supplements:

– Soil and the food that grows in it are nutritionally depleted.

– Animals that eat nutritionally depleted food are, themselves, nutritionally depleted.

– Our stressful lifestyles and polluted environment cause nutrients to be used up faster.

– People are already deficient and need “topping up”.


• Experts are in agreement that the nutrient content in general has declined over the last 50-100 years:

– Commercial/conventional agribusiness has depleted the soils in which crops are grown.

– Livestock is raised on questionable food.

– People are eating lots of processed food.


• An article in the highly respected magazine, Scientific American, highlighted a major reason why supplementation may be helpful even in people who appear healthy and have no symptoms.


“Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American

College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different

vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and

vitamin C over the past half century.”


“Davis and his colleagues chalk up this declining nutritional content to the preponderance of agricultural practices designed to improve traits (size, growth rate, pest resistance) other than nutrition… “Efforts to breed new varieties of crops that provide

greater yield, pest resistance and climate adaptability have allowed crops to grow bigger and more rapidly,” reported Davis, “but their ability to manufacture or uptake nutrients has not kept

pace with their rapid growth.”


“There have likely been declines in other nutrients, too, he said, such as Mg, Zn, vitamins B6 and E, but they were not studied in 1950

and more research is needed to find out how much less we are getting of these key vits and mins…The Organic Consumers

Association cites several other studies with similar findings: A KushiInstitute analysis of nutrient data from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh vegetables dropped 27%; iron

levels 37%; vit A levels 21%, and vit C levels 30%.”


“A similar study of British nutrient data from 1930 to 1980, published in the British Food Journal, found that in 20 vegetables

the average calcium content had declined 19%; iron 22%; and potassium 14%. Yet another study concluded that one would

have to eat eight oranges today to derive the same amount of Vitamin A as our grandparents would have gotten from one.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss


• Alex Jack, an American nutritionist, examined recently published food nutrient values with an old USDA handbook he had lying around. Some of the differences between contemporary vitamin and mineral content values and those recorded in 1975 were enormous…

http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/0601.lemag/le%20magazine,%20march%202001%20-%20report%20vegetables%20without%20vitamins.htm

http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/0601.lemag/le magazine, march 2001 - report vegetables without vitamins.htm


• In apples, vitamin A was down 41% from 1975

• In sweet Peppers, vitamin C was down 31%

• In watercress, iron was down 88%

• In broccoli, calcium and vitamin A were down 50%

• In cauliflower, vitamin C was down 45%; vitamin B1 was down 48%; and vitamin B2 was down 47%

• In collard greens, vitamin A was down 45%; potassium was down 60%; and magnesium fell 85%


• There is clearly a need for improving your clients’ nutrient status. But as previously stated, in the majority of cases, it’s more important to improve food intake, eating habits and digestion before asking your clients to consume supplements.


• Basic multi-vitamin and mineral supplementation is ok when you’re working with clients at this level (i.e. nutrition versus functional medicine).

• I have created a document for you with some recommendations for basic multi-vitamin and mineral supplementation.


• Supplementing with individual nutrients isn’t as simple as it may seem. Nutrients interact with each other, meaning that if you take too much of one, you can bring the level of another crashing down.

• For example, taking zinc can bring copper levels down, and vice-versa.


• Another reason why it’s prudent to take care with supplementation is that in high levels, many nutrients become toxic:

• Copper

• Iron

• Selenium

• Manganese


• Without testing, how could you possibly know whether your client has a special need for an individual nutrient, or whether he/she may even have a toxic level of a given nutrient to begin with?


• If you are not careful, you can do more harm than good in your clients by recommending individual nutrients in supplement form. Don’t get me wrong, individual supplementation can be extremely beneficial, but only when it is done correctly.


• In Hompes Method Level II, I teach you how to test and evaluate your client’s nutritional status. It is not an exact science by any means, and the tests are not perfect. But you can gain great insight into nutritional status.


• All manner of nutritional supplements are promoted by the media and in so-called health magazines. Many of the supplements sold in the mass market are of inferior quality and contain filler ingredients that aggravate the gut.


• These ingredients may even cause immune responses and create symptoms. Improperly formulated supplements can also cause serious situations that may lead to hospitalizations.


• I do use vitamins and mineral supplements with my clients, but generally only in the following situations:

– When levels of a specific nutrient are low.

– When clients are very busy, traveling a lot and may not have time to eat a an optimal diet.

– When it is going to take time to heal the digestive system and allow the body to process whole foods. In this situation, I use generally try to use cream-based, gel or sublingual (under the tongue) products.


• When supplements should be purchased from reputable manufacturers, not from high street retailers who generally compete in the market place according to price, not quality. Consideration should be given to gut function because supplements entering a damaged gut won’t be absorbed effectively.


• The forward thinking supplement companies invest research funds into other delivery forms such as sublingual liquid and transdermal supplements that can enter the body without needing to pass through

the gut. At Hompes Method we find these products very useful indeed.


• I’m sure you would agree that it’s more enjoyable to indulge in the sight, smell and taste of Mother Nature’s bounty than it is to pop anonymous pills that only contain one or two nutrients and certainly do not stimulate the senses.


• In fact, I would go so far as to say that the enjoyment of learning to use food as your main healing tool rather than relying on supplements is stimulating to the recovery process itself.


• My rules for nutritional supplementation are:

– First, optimise your clients’ food intake and eating habits.

– Second, optimize digestive function.

– Third, consider adding a high quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.

– Fourth, run specific tests to check vitamin & mineral status, the scientifically correct individual imbalances.


• In summary, there’s no doubt that nutrition supplementation can be helpful and it may be necessary even in healthy people if a clean, organic diet can’t be consumed 100% of the time because of dwindling nutritional value in food.

• But spending lots of money on supplements without tracking their efficacy can lead to a great deal of wasted money (and cupboard space!)

Thank You!

• Thanks a million for tuning in and consuming this information. I hope it’s been insightful. I will be teaching you lots of ways to help your clients optimise their micronutrient levels during the program.

lesson three - amazon s3 · •first, when working with clients, and to understand yourself, please...

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