My slightly neurotic flu regimen

I don't consider myself a paranoid person in general, but all the news coverage in this years flu season pushed me to paranoia... which led to my slightly neurotic flu regimen.  Okay... the neurotic flu regimen of mine has always been a thing of mine, but the flu season this year certainly made me happy I already had a regimen down.  This is a pic of all of my go-to doTERRA products when sickness is in the air.  Even better, I already have a habit of using these year round to keep that immune system in tip-top shape.  Yes that's a ton of stuff to just pump my body full of.  But when my husband is on the couch with piles of blankets, freezing with chills and asking me to turn up the heat in our 70 degree home... it's in these moments I appreciate my neurotic tendencies more. 😂 Now I'm not necessarily taking these all at once (unless I do get sick, in which case it's an oil frenzy over here!).  Lets break down what's going on in that photo.  The big 3 bottles are dotTERRA's Life Long Vitality (LLV) vitamins.  I take those daily.  Why take a multivitamin daily?  I'll refer you to an older post of mine here.  Why take doTERRA's LLV?  Check out this brochure.  Yes they're pricey for a multivitamin, but you get you what pay for in my opinion and I don't want to roll the dice on something like a multivitamin.  I've noticed a huge difference in my health just from adding these to my daily diet.  I don't get sick nearly as often, and I have more energy.  The Lemon oil is one I add to my water daily.  I like the way it makes my water more refreshing, and more importantly, it cleanses my insides (yeah gross, but yay for cleaner insides!).  The smaller bottle of supplements is Onguard+.  It's the Onguard blend plus a couple other cool oils, and made into a convenient softgel. I've always got these packed in my purse, and any time I travel I take them daily, twice a day.  The other 3 bottles of oil: Onguard, Melaleuca, and Oregano - all three are great to use in what some of us affectionately call the "flu bomb".  The gist of it entails adding several drops of each oil in a veggie capsule at the moment you start to feel sick, and take several times a day for a few days until symptoms are gone.  Everyone's protocol varies from person to person, but that's how I roll.  So while I cannot prevent getting sick, I can say this neurotic regimen of mine has definitely reduced how often I get sick, and how severe I get sick.  I managed to skate by this flu season with what I'd call just a minor cold (minor thanks to my neurotic regimen!) while my husband took weeks to finally get over the flu.  A man who rarely gets sick.  Why wasn't he on my crazy regimen??  It used to be a periodic argument in this house. But after this last flu season, he's finally seen the light and is now taking the LLV daily.  😁 Hard to argue when you're sick with the flu and your wife, who used to normally be the sick one, goes out to get a pedicure with not so much as a sniffle.

The Multivitamin Revolution: Experience the Full Benefits of Multivitamins

NUTRITION CORNER WITH DR. CARSTEN SMIDT

Having created some of the most sophisticated and best-selling multivitamin/mineral supplements in the industry over the last 20 years, I’ve seen the products and their underlying research evolve in stages. Usually, it takes the products about 5–10 years to follow the research. Now, we have reached yet another critical point when research creates a new paradigm shift for multivitamin/mineral supplements. With our new Daily Nutrition Pack, dōTERRA® leads the way so that you can be among the first to reap the full benefits of a truly expertly formulated, all-in-one daily multinutrient supplement.

Do I Need a Multivitamin?

The short answer is a resounding yes. Anybody in the scientific community who seriously studies vitamin and mineral nutrition agrees that virtually everyone’s nutrition falls short in meeting even the bare minimum requirements for many nutrients (known as the RDI—Recommended Dietary Intakes). Trying to get the RDIs of all 26 essential vitamins, minerals, and trace elements—micronutrients—from foods alone is next to impossible, even if you eat a wholesome, balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables are rich in these micronutrients, plus they contain important phytonutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, essential oils, etc.). The problem is that hardly anyone eats enough fruits and vegetables. A recent analysis of WHO/FAO data (Murphy et al., Br J Nutr 112(6):1004, 2014) shows that this is a world-wide problem: three  out of four people on this planet don’t even meet the minimum recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables! Instead, modern diets are high in refined foods and beverages devoid of micronutrients and full of empty calories.

In the U.S., nine out of ten adults do not meet the RDIs for vitamins D and E, and over half of us don’t meet the RDIs for vitamin A, calcium, and magnesium (Fulgoni, et al., J Nutr 141(10):1847-54, 2011). Even if you are vegan or vegetarian, you’re unlikely to get enough vitamin D, B12, calcium, iron, and zinc. Long-term, these nutrient deficiencies cause lack of energy, poor immunity, weak bones, cognitive decline, and a host of other health problems.

Experts agree that you should try to eat a healthy diet high in fruits and vegetables and take a multivitamin/mineral supplement. Now, the real question is which supplement should you take and how should it be formulated? Are the RDI amounts even sufficient? We know today that for most micronutrients they are not, and that optimum intakes are often higher than the RDIs. But how much higher? And what happens if we get too much? These questions have kept scientists busy for the last 50 years, and recent research makes it clear that it’s time to rethink again.

Multivitamin Evolution

The first multivitamins hit the retail shelves in the ‘50s and ‘60s and remain a staple in today’s retail and mass markets. These inexpensive products deliver the RDI of most vitamins and lesser amounts of most minerals. Their mineral sources are often poorly absorbed and utilized by the body and they lack phytonutrients and essential  omega-3 fatty acids.

Then, research in the ‘80s and ‘90s suggested that above-RDI amounts of certain antioxidant vitamins, some B-vitamins, and trace elements have additional health benefits, and these studies paved the way to the current generation of micronutrient supplements popular in the specialty and direct-sales markets. These comprehensive products often include mega-doses (10x RDI or more) of vitamins, better quality minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and phytonutrients, and some make you take 16 or more capsules or tablets a day. In fact, competition is fierce and many companies are playing a horsepower game where  more must be better.

Most recently, however, the results of very large, long-term studies have shown that mega-doses of micronutrients like vitamin C, vitamin  E, beta-carotene, folate, and selenium don’t work. In fact, some of these studies found negative effects at high  doses  previously assumed to be safe. Unfortunately, the supplement industry is still taking a defensive position  belittling or dismissing these studies.

Multivitamin Revolution

The good news for you is that dōTERRA® never believed in the “more-is-better” horsepower game. In fact, we are now in the unique position to embrace all the recent micronutrient research—positive and negative—and create a completely revolutionary concept of formulating multivitamins. How?

Let’s take a step back. I mean a giant step back to when we humans first roamed this planet. Our genes change very slowly and they can take thousands of years to adapt to dietary changes. For most of our history we ate hunter-gatherer diets. Only recently, our diets and lifestyles changed dramatically  with the introduction of agriculture. And in the last 100 years, even more drastic changes occurred due to the industrialization of our food supply. So modern diets today are very different from the diets our genes are used to.

Now, take a good look at the dosages used in all of the micronutrient studies, and compare them to the amounts that we used to get from diets we are genetically programmed for. That’s what we did, and it soon became clear that problems only arise when we consume much more or much less than what we could possibly get from the natural diets our bodies are genetically used to. This makes a lot of sense, and we used this approach to set a new standard, one that embraces the concept of natural balance. For each micronutrient we now have a range of natural intakes that our bodies were made for, and they coincide with the amounts needed for optimum health benefits.

Restore Natural Balance with Daily Nutrient Pack

dōTERRA’s new Microplex MVp™ and xEO Mega® (Daily Nutrient Pack) are the first micronutrient supplements in the industry that apply this new standard of natural balance to all vitamins, minerals, trace elements, phytonutrients, and essential fatty acids. This game-changing, patent-pending approach ensures that you get the optimum amounts and types of all micronutrients every day, including a full spectrum of omega-3s, antioxidant polyphenols, and carotenoids. With Daily Nutrient Pack, you don’t have to worry about getting too little or too much of anything anymore. Instead, you get what your body was made for and demands—the most efficacious and safe amounts needed for long-term health and vitality.

How Do I Use Daily Nutrient Pack?

Daily Nutrient Pack (the new Microplex MVp and xEO Mega) is a foundational supplement designed for men and women of all ages as well as for teenagers. Pregnant and nursing women also benefit, but should consult with their physician as they may require additional iron or folate. If you desire extra energy benefits, you can add our new, more potent Mito2Max®  (with lychee fruit extract), and if you deal with occasional joint discomfort, we recommend adding our new Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex™. We also updated Lifelong Vitality Pack with the new Microplex MVp and xEO Mega formulas while keeping the current Alpha CRS+®.

Dr. Smidt recommends:

Daily Nutrient Pack: A revolutionary micronutrient supplement providing naturally balanced amounts of all vitamins, minerals, trace elements, phytonutrients, and omega-3 fatty acids. Lifelong Vitality Pack:Now with our new naturally-balanced Microplex MVp and xEO Mega.

Bio:  Dr. Carsten Smidt is dōTERRA’s Chief Science Officer and oversees research and product development. Dr. Smidt has held executive research and development positions for almost 20 years, working for leading global companies in dietary supplement, nutraceutical, and medical food industries. He holds a doctorate degree in Nutrition Science and Physiological Chemistry from the University of California at Davis, and is a fellow of the American College of Nutrition. Dr. Smidt is passionate about health and fitness, and enjoys the outdoors.