When Rachael, the founder of Mighty Kids began diving deep into the world of nutrition, she came to understand that almost all disease and health issues can be traced back to 2 things:
- A deficiency of nutrients (DEPLETED)
- An excess of toxins (OVERLOADED)
The root of it is either your body is depleted in what is required to maintain wellness, or your system is overloaded by foreign, damaging toxins.
The answer is not as simple as “take a supplement”, but this was an area that Rachael realised could have a MASSIVE impact on health and restoring the body to homeostasis.
So how did we get here, with the need for supplements? Let’s look at just a few things contributing to what we collectively see and are experiencing as a “global health crisis”.
Nutrient depletion of fresh foods (DEPLETED)
From the National Institutes of Health: “In the last sixty years, there has been an alarming decline in food quality and a decrease in a wide variety of nutritionally essential minerals and nutraceutical compounds in imperative fruits, vegetables, and food crops. The potential causes behind the decline in the nutritional quality of foods have been identified worldwide as chaotic mineral nutrient application, the preference for less nutritious cultivars/crops, the use of high-yielding varieties, and agronomic issues associated with a shift from natural farming to chemical farming.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10969708
Declining eating habits (DEPLETED) combined with excess consumption of ultra processed foods (OVERLOADED)
Lack of knowledge around nutrition and it’s importance, reduced meals cooked at home from whole foods, the increase in readily available packaged foods devoid of nutrients, loss of traditional food preparation methods and the communal experience of family meals, increase in fast food and takeaway options, inflation of food prices… we have lost the art and beauty of nourishment!
Dietary restrictions (DEPLETED)
Global rise in intolerances to dairy, grains, even fruits, as well as restrictive diets such as vegan or vegetarian, have contributed to less varied diets rich in nourishing animal foods and important minerals and vitamins. Many children may be dealing with food aversions, sensitivities and allergies, and since children eat less, there is a greater chance they are not getting all they need from diet alone.
Environmental toxins (OVERLOADED)
Heavy metals, endotoxins, phthalates, pesticides, herbicides, EMF’s, and numerous other toxins are not just present in our air, soil, and cities- they are in everyday products that we fill our homes with. Body care products, industrially farmed produce, tap water, household appliances, and so much more. We are absolutely inundated with toxins that create an overload that is consistently added to at a faster rate than we can detox from.
“The simple truth is that we are living in a sea of toxins and it is destroying our bodies and brains.”—Dr. Mark Hyman
Chronic stress (DEPLETED)
The biggest drain on your mineral stores and your ability to properly absorb and utilise nutrients, the biggest contributor to oxidative stress and the aging of cells, linked to physical and psychological disease, and the culprit behind inflammation, is stress. We are all under stress from so many different angles, and all of the above points are part of this, as well as the emotional strain from modern lifestyles that is now considered normal.
From the National Institutes of Health: “The morbidity and mortality due to stress-related illness is alarming. Emotional stress is a major contributing factor to the six leading causes of death in the United States: cancer, coronary heart disease, accidental injuries, respiratory disorders, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3341916
Can a supplement magically cure all of this? Of course not. The clue is in the name. The Oxford definition for supplement reads, “a thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it”. Since most, possibly all of us, do not have diets, meals, or access to food that is “complete” in nutrient status, food supplements can be a vital, even life saving addition to our daily routines.
The higher your nutrient depletion is, the more you will need to add in for completion.
The higher your toxic overload is, the more you will need to add in for completion.
All of us are dealing with both of these things to varying degrees.
It is a vicious cycle to be stuck in, because sufficient nutrient levels are required for the detoxification processes in the body.
If you are already deficient, you are less likely to be able to adequately remove toxins, and then your overload increases, further depleting your nutrient levels, further decreasing your ability to detox!
If you have additional health concerns, like disease or certain conditions such as Diabetes, Asthma, ADHD, or Autism, you will likely be even more deficient in minerals and vitamins and therefore more overloaded with toxins.
From the National Institutes of Health:
“Nutritional deficiencies not only cause developmental failure, loss of various body functions, and several other diseases such as diabetes, vision loss, immunity loss, and cancer, but it also has several long-term effects on economic productivity. The major causes of nutritional deficiencies are insufficient intake of food, inability to absorb nutrients, and consumption of diets that lack some of the essential nutrients. Micronutrient deficiencies are the most prevalent type of nutritional deficiencies, usually caused by the insufficient intake of one or more of the micronutrients that are essential to maintain optimal health.
Dietary supplementation is one of the major solutions for managing micronutrient deficiencies, as it can increase the under-consumed nutrients intake within a population and fill the nutritional gaps.”
Supplementation is an accessible and amazing method for targeted support and as an overall “insurance policy” against deficiencies and the issues they cause. It can provide peace of mind for busy parents, and address specific areas of nutrition that may be lacking. Most importantly, it is a powerful tool against the constant bombardment of toxins and stress that we are all facing, and can be the missing link in a comprehensive wellness strategy.
If you are just discovering Mighty Kids and want to learn more about where to begin, read this post.
