Tips for Taking Tonics, Superfoods, Adaptogens, and Medicinal Herbs
by Jason Duke - Owner/Artisan
Fresh Content: January 28, 2021 21:00
Top Tips For Taking Supplements †
A common question:
Q: What is the best time to take supplements?
A: The best time to take supplements is around mealtime.
Taking Superfoods, Tonics, Adaptogens, and Medicinal Herbs
Breaking supplements down by classification:
- A superfood is nutrition without calories. For example, vitamins and minerals are the very simple version of superfoods. In other words, they contain concentrated nutrients, but lack the calories that supply energy and the building blocks for bodily tissues, glands and organs, so they need to be added to meals.
- A tonic is a superfood used for specific dietary and lifestyle programming purposes that needs to be taken with certain types of foods and kinds of meals for best benefit.
- An adaptogen modifies metabolism for work-tolerance and fitness performance with nutrition and unique constituents, but it does not have enough calories alone to tolerate work and recover from stress, so adaptogens are best taken consistently with meals.
- Medicinal remedies, herbs and botanicals, including medicinal mushrooms may be taken almost anytime, but are often enhanced by taking them with meals and any other lifestyle choices.
Supplements are Added to Meals
Q: What is most important when taking supplements?
A: Food, especially complete balanced meals. Skipping meals and fasting is not recommended as this will reduce results with supplements.
So, what's the big deal with meals?
Eating meals is a big deal when it comes to making supplements work. Meals and supplements supply the raw materials, as nutrients and unique constituents, for your body, emotions, mind, and spirit to heal, grow, and develop.
Supplements are Part of a Complete Diet
Q: How do supplements make food work better?
A: By supporting, maintaining, and promoting systems, organs, glands, and tissues to do what they do appropriately and more efficiently for health, wellness, and well-being.
The benefits of eating meals and taking supplements is that they work together, they meet-in-the-middle.
Food --> [Benefits] <-- Tonics
Supplements are most often best added to meals to make food work better by increasing nutrient density and medicinally.
Dietary Food Combining
Maximize benefits by using dietary methods of combining food with tonics, superfoods, adaptogens, and medicinal botanicals.
Scroll down to find your major benefit for food combos.
For your information, Joint Health is at the bottom of the page.
Adaptogen, Energy, Digestive, Strength
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These benefits require complete meals for best results.
- Skipping meals and eating incomplete meals will lead to ineffective results of all the above benefits.
Macros are the main foods to eat: Protein, fat, and carbohydrate together make a complete meal.
- Fats and carbohydrates utilize oxygen to produce energy for activity.
- Protein is necessary for energy utilization, blood circulation, posture and strength. Choose, eggs, chicken, fish, cheese, beef, lamb, turkey, and shrimp.
Did you know that testosterone and estrogen are over 95% cholesterol by weight? Eat eggs for cholesterol and healthy intimacy. Keep the yolks soft, so as not to denature the cholesterol and make it available for hormone production.
Time-to-take: During complete meals or within 30 minutes of eating, before or after, for best results.
Performance Timing: Eat a complete meal and take anytime in the following 1-4 hours for performance and stress-resistance. Avoid performing on an empty stomach.
Immune, Liver Health, Antitoxin/Detox, Antioxidant
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These benefits require consistent protein consumption and antioxidants a priority.
- Skipping meals and eating incomplete meals will diminish effects of all the above benefits, since the immune system requires protein and fat burning requires antioxidants.
Main foods to focus on in diet:
- Protein, minimum three times a day, to replenish immune cells - eggs, chicken, fish, cheese, beef, lamb, and turkey.
- Antioxidants, from plant foods, regulate energy oxidation and support detoxification of by-products of fatigue.
Time-to-take: Anytime, including on an empty stomach to promote detoxification once to twice a day.
Things to Avoid: It is important not to eat overcooked and burnt meat and avoid overheated and fried fats as they are highly carcinogenic and put a burden on immune, liver health, and antioxidant capacity. Even though it's important to eat protein and meats, watch for overcooked meat and try to stick to fats like butter, lard and other saturated fats which don't oxidize as easily as oils.
Adrenal, Endocrine Hormones, Cognition
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Did you know that your brain is over 75% cholesterol by weight?
Interesting fact: 'Adrenal fatigue' and sex hormone deficiency are simply a saturated fat and cholesterol deficiency. So taking an adrenal or endocrine hormone tonic without saturated fat and cholesterol will negate the effects.
- Choose saturated fats such as avocado, butter, cream, coconut milk (not coconut oil) and lard or beef dripping.
- Choose cholesterol rich foods such as eggs, cheese, cream, shrimp, and lard.
Hormones need a constant supply of raw materials.
- Skipping meals and eating incomplete meals will lessen the effects of all the above benefits since the adrenals, hormones and brain/nerve tissue require saturated fat and cholesterol to function.
Main foods to focus on in one's diet:
- Kelp - ensure that seaweeds are incorporated and eaten regularly to supply iodine and essential trace minerals to help with glandular, nerve and circulation functions.
- Avocado superhero - eat 1-3 a day. Fresh fats feed hormones!
- Choose animal foods to replenish and support hormone production - eggs, beef, and quality-made cheeses.
- Top trick! Make a protein shake and add 4-8 ounces of cream or half and half. Add 1-3 droppers of your hormone tonic such as saw palmetto, shatavari, ginseng or deer antler velvet. Bingo!
Time-to-take: Mealtimes. The effects build the more often hormone tonics are taken and the more often one eats fats.
Lungs/Breathing, Skin Cells, Heart Health, Cardiovascular
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These benefits require omega-3 fatty acids in the diet to work.
- Lack of essential fatty acids (EFA's) will negate effects of all the above benefits since they are required to make lubricating hormones called 'prostaglandins' that support tissue lubrication and vascular circulation.
- The heart uses EFA's for energy.
Main foods to focus on in the diet:
- Choose EFA sources such as flax, chia, eggs, avocados, fish, fish oil and consume 2-3 times a day at any time.
- Antioxidants reduce the effects of oxidation and will help soothe tissues. Especially berries high in polyphenols, such as blueberries, blackberries, etc. Tomatoes are good too, as well as, herbal and green teas.
Time-to-take: Anytime, before meals preferable, but not essential.
De-Stress, Clarity, Spiritual, Rejuvenate
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These benefits require complete meals to support stress-tolerance and stress-resistance.
Add b-vitamins, trace minerals, and calcium and magnesium supplements to enhance the benefits.
- Skipping meals and eating incomplete meals is stressful.
- It is hard to think when hungry.
- Stay grounded with food.
- Food heals.
Main foods to focus on in diet:
- Complete easy-to-digest meals like chicken or fish, rice and veggies, hearty snacks, like nuts or a protein bar. Eat 3-6 times a day, to prevent getting tired and stressed out.
- Add antioxidants to support circulation and reduce the effects of oxidation.
- Take with juice or fruit as a snack, but not as a meal replacement, during resting and rejuvenating time.
Time-to-take: Anytime, but in particular, after a meal and rest.
De-Stress Timing: Eat a complete meal and take anytime in the following 1-4 hours to support a stress-releasing activity, such as yoga or meditation, or before rest and bed.
Joint Health
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This benefit requires consistent consumption of proteins, fats and antioxidants.
- Protein builds joint tissue.
- Fat lubricates joint tissue.
- Antioxidants support joint integrity and healing.
Main foods to focus on in diet:
- Protein, minimum 3-6 times a day, to supply consistent raw materials - eggs, chicken, fish, beef, lamb, turkey, cheesed, shrimp and protein shakes.
- Protein shake power! - Whey protein is good, but gelatin and collagen powders are better. Take EFA's with the shake.
- EFA's like flax oil and fish oil lubricate. Daily dose: 6-12 grams flax which may be substituted with up to 3 grams of fish oil.
- Antioxidants regulate immune function in the joints to support healing and repair.
Time-to-take: Anytime, best with protein meals and protein shakes. Take with EFA's for better benefits.
How to Take a Tonic Tincture
Now you are ready to learn how to take a Tonic Tincture.
Comments
Jason J. Duke - Owner/Artisan
[Q] from Cindy: “Your blog consistently recommends taking velvet with food but also recommends taking it in the morning. Most days, I do intermittent fasting and while I do have some coffee with coconut cream in the morning, I don’t have an actual meal until early afternoon. Is coconut cream sufficient to accompany the Power Velvet? I’m concerned if I wait until midday to take it, I will not be that consistent and it might be too energizing for me later in the day.”
[A] from Jason J. Duke Owner / Artisan: “Tonics use much of the additional nutrition from meals and other supplements. They don’t work as effectively without concurrent nutrition. For example deer antler velvet enhances protein metabolism so consumption without protein, and enough protein throughout the day, will dull its benefits and effects. What generally happens is that clients get it to work for a short period of time and then and tonics will stop working as well. This is what I’ve seen over the last 10 years since I’ve commercially produced and sold tonics. Actually this is mostly true for all supplements that I sold over the last 20 years – they don’t work as effectively without some combination of complete nutrition. The clients who get the best results with tonics are the ones who take them with meals and vitamin/mineral supplements since they enhance glands, organs and systems in the body that use all necessary nutrition that you take with them.”
Cindy Thomas
Your blog consistently recommends taking velvet with food but also recommends taking it in the morning. Most days, I do intermittent fasting and while I do have some coffee with coconut cream in the morning, I don’t have an actual meal until early afternoon. Is coconut cream sufficient to accompany the Power Velvet? I’m concerned if I wait until midday to take it, I will not be that consistent and it might be too energizing for me later in the day.
Michael Jean
I love this blog information. A lot of useful I formation regarding guidelines and suggestions to promote the best possible outcome for the potentiality of each specific product.
Thanks to the team at Tonic Tinctures!!