Everyone is focused on staying healthy right now but as you age, you need a little more boost than just to your immune system.
Your sleep, skin and hormones change.
Here’s what you can add to feel your best, according to Dr. Dian Ginsberg, from the GInstitute of Functional Medicine in Bellaire.
Probiotics
A variety of plants and youth keep your gut healthy, according to Dr. Dian Ginsberg, so she recommends everyone take probiotics to stay healthy as you age.
Omega-3
For overall health, Dr. Ginsberg recommends Omega 3. This can be taken every day by everyone.
Collagen
She recommends taking collagen to stay youthful, it’s as easy as mixing some into your morning coffee.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is important right now as there are many suspected benefits that it can help fight COVID-19.
Since it can help boost your immune system to fight off any illness, this is another supplement Dr. Ginsberg recommends taking daily.
If you get a good amount of sun daily, she recommends 2,000 IUs. If you don’t get much sun at all, take 4,000 IUs.
Zinc
Zinc is also thought to have great immune-boosting benefits, but Dr. Ginsberg steers away from recommending that everyone take it because too much zinc can cause a copper deficiency. Some Zinc supplements have copper added but if you’re not careful to make sure there’s a good balance, you can do more harm than good.
30s
Ginsberg said the biggest complaints of people in their thirties actually boils down to stress.
“If you’re really busy working, stay-at-home mom, working person whatever you’re doing, you’re going to run through your energy builders so a good B complex,” She recommends. “Make sure it has methyl folate in it… not folic acid.”
She said antioxidants are also helpful when you’re stressed.
Pro-tip: if you travel a lot, she said you should take antioxidants.
40s
In your forties, Dr. Ginsberg says DNA withers and estrogen fluctuates.
“Women will say ‘I’ve got weight gain, I don’t feel as good, I’m more tired all the time, I’ve got kind of fullness in my body,’ that can be more of a sign of estrogen dominance,” Dr. Ginsberg explained.
To counteract the side effects, she said you need good detoxification diet habits.
“That’s when I would add something like DIM (diindolylmethane), it’s a very inexpensive supplement and if you take that especially when you’re feeling fuller certain times of the month, you’ll feel better. It’ll help you detox and your energy will be better,” she said. “The second thing that happens is… you don’t ovulate as well as you get a little older in your late 30s as you’re starting to look at your 40s, so you don’t make as good progesterone. So, progesterone turns into gaba and it’s pretty common and that’s what we use at night to sleep. So, a lot of times women will say ‘I feel more anxious or moody and I also can’t sleep.’ And so I would say take magnesium and magnesium threonate at night will help you sleep better, and it’ll carry into the day to help a more calming mood and help you feel better.”
50s and 60s
Estrogen begins to decline in your 50s and 60s.
Estrogen is anti-inflammatory, said Ginsberg, and a lack of estrogen increases weight gain.
Add butyrate to aid gut health and combat weight gain. She said digestion begins to suffer among this age group and it becomes harder to break down fat.
“A lot of women will say they just feel lethargic all the time. Plus, when you can’t break down fat you start burning glucose as your primary source of energy, when you burn glucose as your primary source of energy, it’s very inefficient. It’ll only make a little energy burst where the fat molecule makes a big energy burst. So, you’re running through this quicker, you crave more, you get insulin spikes. So, the more you work on digestion, the better you’ll be. So, a very good digestive enzyme,” Ginsberg recommended.
“The second thing that happens is the free radicals go higher, and I would take glutathione,” Ginsberg said. “You can take it in a pill or you can take it under your tongue and it’s actually very COVID-protecting also.”
Make sure you know what you’re getting!
You may have to pay a little more, but you want to be sure that your vitamins and supplements are of the best quality.
“There’s nutritional grade, medical grade and pharmaceutical grade,” she said.
Nutritional grade is what you find on the shelf at local stores. Medical grade vitamins are a little more supervised than the nutritional grade.
She highly recommends pharmaceutical-grade supplements. She said they will have “third party tested” stamped at the bottle, which means they’re policed to guarantee what’s in the bottle is what is marketed.
Garden of Life and Nordic Naturals are some of the brands she approves of.
Avoid multivitamins
“It’s kind of like a lot of a little,” Ginsberg said.
She said there are tests to find deficiencies and she thinks it’s best to determine specifically what you should take instead of taking a multivitamin.