This article was edited and published on 23 June 2017 as part of LOHAS DIGEST.

Dear readers,

I hope you have been practicing LOHAS-ME regularly.

This is the simplest and easy way to energize yourself and ensure smoother Qi flow.

For the past few training that I’ve conducted, many participants had come to me asking about the supplement that they are taking. 

Frankly, I am not a huge fan of taking supplement for two reasons.  

Firstly, I don’t like to pop pills or swallow powdery drinks, not matter how ‘tasty’ the manufacturer made it.  

I would prefer let the real food be my medicine. 

Secondly, I am not sure what is the long term implication of taking those dietary supplement or herbal extract.

One need to know that the dietary supplement is not classified as medicine and thus it does not go through the stringent scrutiny and the approval authority such as FDA. 

Most of the supplement also do not indicate what is the long term implication or side effect or any interaction with medicine. 

Last year, there was a news article in Reuters, titled “Herbal and dietary supplements linked to liver damage”.  

It mentioned  that -“One in five cases of chemical-induced liver damage come from herbal and dietary supplements, a research review concludes.”

It also mentioned that,

Non-steroid supplements included green tea, mixtures labeled as “Chinese herbs,” “Korean herbs,” or “Ayurvedic medications,” as well as vitamins and dietary supplements.

Many cases were tied to products marketed under various company labels, including six from Slimquick, four apiece from Herbalife and Hydroxycut and two apiece from Move Free and Airborne.

A closer look at the source of the information – Hepatology journal, the researchers indicated almost one third cases is related to “Body Building Products” which might have elements of steroids. 

Charts on liver damage due to dietary supplement

If you look at the pie chart, the second biggest culprit is “Weight Loss” products, probably disguised under the name of ‘natural detox tea’ or ‘slimming tea’.    

That is the reason I never advocated any supplement in my Ultimate Slimming Program.

I recalled about two years ago, there was this craze (and now probably still is) talking about miracle healing properties of coconut oil.  It may have some potential benefits however one need to be careful to not treating it as superfood or miracle product.  (Most of the time the benefits are hyped up by the marketing effort). 

The recent news article at The Huffington Post – based on the report released by American Heart Association – suggest that it’s ok to put it ON your body and NOT IN your body.

Is coconut oil healthy or harmful, what American Heart Association says

Is coconut oil healthy or harmful?

From the article, it mentioned that coconut oil has 82% saturated fat.

Yup, saturated fat – the bad guy that could increase your bad cholesterol (LDL) which in turn could clog your blood vessels.

Based on the AHA report, coconut oil has far more saturated fat compared to the notorious lard – the little fried thing that makes your noodle smell and taste nicer.  

Here is the list of saturated oil percentage of various oil. 

Saturated Fat Percentage of coconut oil, olive oil, lard

Saturated Fat Percentage of various cooking oil.

Coconut oil has saturated fat percentage is 82% versus the lard 63%.

Comparatively, olive oil has 14% and canola oil has 7%.

In 2015, a Harvard study found that the practice of replacing saturated fat with refine carbs (e.g. white bread and soda) to make up for the calories or the taste, won’t lower heart disease risk.  However, swapping saturated fats like coconut oil and butter with unsaturated options — like those in nuts, seeds and liquid vegetable oil – will.

Having said that, it does not mean we should not use coconut oil at all. 

Sometimes, coconut oil makes our cooking to have more fragrance or better texture.  Coconut oil also can be applied on our hair or serve as massage oil. 

Just don’t treat it as miracle food or dietary supplement. 

As the article said, “You can put it on your body but don’t put in to your body”.

Hope this simple reminder helps you focus on the right thing –eat, sleep and exercise (including LOHAS-ME) properly and less reliance on the supplement – whatever the label claims. 

In my recent training, I know it is hard to ask the two participants to stop taking supplement totally.  I just advise them, you need to give your liver a break. 

If you have learnt LOHAS-MSP, just put what you have learnt into practice and you will sure be able to stay healthy and less reliance on supplement or drugs. 

 

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