Us vs Them – Supplements Salesmen

Dr. Graham discusses his thoughts, practices, and opinions about supplements and supplementation in this video. Written transcript provided

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Transcript:

Hi, Dr. Doug Graham here, author of the 80/10/10 Diet. I just want to talk with you a little bit today about the way I view supplements and supplementation versus the way some other people might view it. It’s not really … There’s no war going on. It’s just a matter of, we’re looking at things a little different and expressing it a little bit differently. My view is that I want to teach people concepts. I want to get to a point where people understand the concepts, so that they are then free to make their own decisions. I think when people have the best information, they’ll make the best decisions.

My view on food is that when we eat a really healthy diet and live a really healthy lifestyle, that that should supply us with what we need. If due to some reason or another, you’re going through undue stress and need more B vitamins, or you’re blowing through iron due to the way you train, or there’s something going on in your world that results in a nutritional deficiency, well, it could happen.

It could happen to anybody, but once it’s happened and we correct that problem, whether you supplement or whether you change your diet or you change your lifestyle in order to correct the problem, we don’t want to reestablish that problem and have to live with it again and again. In other words, I’m not looking for a maintenance program where we’re constantly monitoring and managing and medicating, thinking that there’s always problems that have to be solved. I like to think in terms of health is the natural outcome of healthful living.

Now, there’s other people who look at the approach from another angle and they go, “Oh, no, no. We want to supplement all the time. We want to make sure that we don’t run into deficiencies. We want to supply nutrients in dense doses.” Essentially what they’re talking about is a repeat consumable product. I’m looking at selling a copy of the 80/10/10 Diet, you becoming a free agent, running with the program, never needing me again, unless you want to come to me for further clarification and for the associations and the fun family experience that comes from being part of a healthy family.

But really it seems to me more that they’re selling you a repeat consumable. It’s like getting haircuts. You’re going to get a haircut again and again and again and again. You’re going to go back for food again and again and again and again. You’re going to use up your bottle of supplements. You’re going to go back for more. You’re going to use them up. You’re going to go back for more. I’m trying to free people from that sort of a situation. I’m really looking at health freedom as the result of supplying the forces, influences, conditions, and substances that are essential to healthful living.

I hope that clears it up a little bit. There’s a time and a place for supplementation. I can understand that, but I’m not looking for preventative supplementation. I’m not going to take supplements before they’re needed. We’re not trying to say, “Oh, I see something that could happen and I better prevent it before it does.” I’m really not trying to prevent anything in my approach to health. What I’m doing is causing health, participating in healthful practices, teaching people how to live healthfully so that they can be free agents of their own, and not be dependent upon repeat consumables.

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.