More than 25 Years ago, in the early years of Life Time, I often presented health and wellness workshops on exercise and nutrition. One of the common questions people asked me was about vitamins and which ones they should take.
Although I was taking some vitamins and supplements myself, I didn’t feel comfortable making specific recommendations. But this sparked my curiosity and sense of responsibility: What was in these products?
So, the team sent some vitamins and supplements to a lab for third-party testing. The results were abysmal.
Some didn’t contain any of the nutrients they claimed to provide; others included the nutrients, but in amounts below what they purported or short of the necessary dosage to be effective. In nearly all cases, they were full of poor-quality or artificial ingredients — and hardly any had everything they promised on the label.
That’s when we resolved to devote a portion of Life Time’s resources to creating a nutritional division to develop a supplement line we could trust and feel good about recommending, especially since government oversight was inadequate.
While the Food and Drug Administration first provided guidelines for labeling vitamins in 1941, it wasn’t until 1994 that it established the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Even under this statute, though, the FDA is not required to approve dietary supplements before they go to market. Instead, it generally responds when injury or illness are reported.
This process hasn’t changed in 30 years, yet the supplement industry has exploded. Go down the supplement aisle in nearly any grocery store and you’ll see all sorts of health-enhancing promises. Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent advertising the health benefits of dietary supplements. For instance, you might see claims that a lentil-size pill can help you lose weight, sleep better, and get all the nutrition you need. (In reality, to accomplish all of that, one pill would probably need to be the size of a baseball.)
People want to be healthy, but it is hard. The typical American diet makes it nearly impossible to get all the nutrients we need from food alone; our veggies and fruits are not as nutritious as they used to be.
Add that to other modern-day issues that often increase our nutrient demand — chronic stress, poor sleep, exposure to more cumulative environmental toxins, lack of adequate sunlight, and more — and our bodies and minds are likely missing much of what they need to function optimally, let alone thrive.
The need for safe and trusted health-supportive supplements is greater than ever. It’s why now is the right time at Life Time to give additional focus and energy to the nutritional products we’ve been developing for the past 20-plus years. Recently rebranded as Life Time Health (LTH), our nutritional supplements are high quality, consistent, and effective to meet this need. Each product undergoes regular and independent third-party testing to validate that it contains what’s promised. (For more on this promise, see “Good Ingredients, Effective Formulas, Rigorous Quality Controls: A Look at the Standard Set for Life Time’s Nutritional Supplements.”)
LTH is one of the company’s most exciting initiatives this year, and I’m so proud of the team — Brandon Dyksterhouse; Anika Christ, RD; Paul Kriegler, RD; and Samantha McKinney, RD — leading this effort. They each bring unique backgrounds, experiences, and skillsets to this work while sharing an understanding of the powerful ways supplementation can transform lives.
Spend five minutes with them, and they might tell you about a 37-year-old mom who didn’t feel well for a year after her twins were born. A Life Time food-sensitivity test revealed she had digestive issues, so she addressed them with our gut-friendly eating protocol and targeted supplementation. She started feeling better and lost weight.
Or they might share the story of a Life Time performer who experienced one viral illness after another. She started taking our immune-supportive supplements and got through the next winter with no issues, despite being surrounded by sickness.
And, of course, I wouldn’t recommend LTH supplements if I didn’t take them myself. I have a very robust supplement plan, which changes based on the bloodwork I do with the LTH team. I take nearly 80 pills a day: Some are the general nutrients most of us need (vitamin D, fish oil, magnesium, etc.); others are specific to me based on my biology, physiology, and activity level, among other factors.
I strongly recommend learning as much as you can about your individual needs, too. Talk to the nutritionists, personal trainers, and other experts at Life Time, as well as to your healthcare provider, about your options. Get blood tests done so you know where you might need support; the dosages for different nutrients will be unique to you.
Once you have a consistent supplement plan in place, get your blood retested regularly, and refine your regimen as needed. It may take time to notice a difference, but a good plan is an effective path to feeling your best.
