One of the popular exercise today is Yoga and food supplement is a prime concern. When we approach the subject of nutrition adapted to yoga, we often have the right to several speeches. Extremists, who favor only the natural, and others who favor raw products without going overboard, preferring to keep a lifestyle compatible with the one they already have. The argument is even more mixed when it comes to the choice of food supplements. Is it in yoguist culture to consume this type of product, often of artificial origin, or can we consume it provided that it is of natural origin?
Often, the diet of people practicing yoga is unbalanced for reasons of food choices. Some do without animal products entirely, some from all sources of carbohydrates. Bad eating behavior will certainly lead to significant vitamin deficiencies which can have significant side effects. It will reduce your well-being and therefore prevent the benefits yoga brings.
Here are some food supplements that may be worth incorporating into your diet.
Protein powder
Yoga practitioners often and voluntarily do without animal products, which are naturally rich in protein. While some manage to obtain sufficient intakes from plant-based foods, others do not.
In that case, protein powder may be necessary. Several types of protein powder exist – animal or vegetable. So you can be vegetarian and still consume enough protein, because there are several kinds – hemp, rice, soy, peas, for vegetable proteins. Milk and egg for animal protein.
If a protein powder supplementation is a bit tricky, it does not become effective on its own. Indeed, in the case of processed products, these proteins are low in minerals and essential vitamins, and supplementation in this sense is often necessary.
We should check the quality of the processed protein powders. You also can easily find organic products for a little higher price.
B vitamins
The intakes of vitamins B (group) are particularly well covered by practitioners with a varied and balanced diet of plant origin. They are found in many foods, with the exception of one – vitamin B12. Although vitamin B12 deficiency takes time to manifest itself according to your reserves, the needs are no less present and supplementation is mandatory in order to protect yourself from a deficiency with catastrophic effects. We, therefore, recommend that you supplement yourself with vitamin B12 on a daily or weekly basis at higher doses.
Vitamin D
You still get calcium even if you consume plant-based foods. But, the calcium brought by these foods has the reputation of having weaker assimilation than the products of animal origin. To compensate for this decrease in absorption, daily vitamin D intakes (better absorbed than large quarterly doses) are essential in order to boost your calcium absorption and benefit from the benefits of vitamin D, provided by animal products.
The iron
Like calcium, iron from vegetable origin has a lower absorption. Several solutions then exist in order to have sufficient contributions:
- Take an iron supplement
- Optimizing the absorption of iron
Iron supplements vary depending on the quality of the latter. Indeed, many are the bad sources where iron is harmful to the body, because of oxidization. Please consult a medical professional to find out which form of iron is best for you.
You can maximize the absorption of iron from food that you already consume, in particular by ensuring that you consume iron-rich foods. Please combine with vitamin C rich foods such as fruits and vegetables. If your fruits and vegetables are not of good quality or if they lack freshness, vitamin C supplementation can be tricky. You have the choice of turning to natural sources like acerola or synthetic sources like ascorbic acid. If you take ascorbic acid, you should take a higher quantity because it is less well assimilated.
In general, the typical diet of the yoguist consists of the ousting of food of animal origin for ethical reasons. All the choices are respectable insofar as they are made in good conditions, as by not forgetting to food supplement when it proves obligatory (vitamin B12 and vitamin D) for yoga practitioners.