Why Whole Food Vitamin C is Necessary to Protect Your Health

As we get into the winter months of cold and flu season, I start getting questions regarding what I am doing for my family for optimal health and preventative measures. I am going to share and focus on just one nutrient: Vitamin C. Just like most of you, I knew that I needed to take vitamin C when sick. It wasn't until my nutritional therapy training several years ago, that I really started to understand the power of this vitamin, and why it's critical to get vitamin C daily.

It's no secret that these past several months have been stressful. These uncertain times lead to additional stress, over and beyond our typical busy and stressful lives. Stress increases your need for vitamin C. When we are stressed, or in a continual state of stress, (you may have heard the term "fight or flight") the adrenal glands are working overtime. Your adrenal glands have one of the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the body. This nutrient is concentrated in the adrenal glands. When the adrenals are stressed, it it common to become depleted. Vitamin C plays a critical role in adrenal function, including their ability to produce numerous hormones, specifically cortisol. Vitamin C is also one of the most important nutrients for healing from adrenal fatigue or adrenal burnout.

Vitamin C is a key nutrient that I supplement, in addition to focusing on including it in my diet. I have noticed that colds for my family are less severe or don't last as long, once I faithfully started incorporating whole food vitamin C. Vitamin C is very powerful for fighting infections and strengthening the immune system. When someone is in adrenal burnout, it is very common to get sick frequently and recover slowly. In light of the coronavirus right now, I want to share some information with you, as well as some recommendations for vitamin C.

Just like with food choices: QUALITY MATTERS. Vitamin C (the whole complex of the vitamin, not solely ascorbic acid) is essential to human survival. We can't manufacture our own vitamin C, so we have to get it in our food. Vitamin C is water soluble and not stored in the body (except for the adrenals and a few other organs) so this is a nutrient we need to have DAILY.

The best source of vitamin C comes in vine ripened, raw fruits and vegetables. Luckily, there are many food sources that contain this amazing nutrient: citrus fruits, papaya, tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, dark leafy greens, acerola cherry, rose hips, and stinging nettles are just some of the sources. Vitamin C is degraded and lost in the cooking process, so it's best to consume fresh produce to ensure you get the most from your food. Fully ripened fruits and veggies will have higher concentrations of the vitamin than produce picked early and shipped across the country.

If you are in a deficiency, or in adrenal burnout, you would need to eat anywhere from 8-12 servings per day to get the recommended dose of 1,000-2,000 mg to help you get out of a deficiency or adrenal fatigue. In reality, most of us won't consistently eat this much on a daily basis, which is why adding a supplement is important. It's supplementing what you are not getting from your food.

90% of the supplements you will see on the market that have “vitamin C” on the label are really ascorbic acid, which is just the shell of the vitamin C complex. Most vitamin C supplements are in the form of ascorbic acid and made from GMO corn. I steer clear of it and recommend my clients do the same. I look for vitamin C in it's whole food form for my primary daily supplement, then compliment it with other forms when I need to up my dose, such as when I'm dealing with an illness. I prefer the whole food form for daily use because it comes from food. Our bodies recognize food and know what to do with it. When I look for vitamin C supplements, I'm looking first for vitamin C sourced from quality whole foods, and whole food sourced from non-GMO. Then, when flus, colds and viruses go around, and I need additional vitamin C, I add in ascorbic acid in a non-GMO form, on top of the whole food vitamin C.

In nature, you won’t find any food source that has 1000mg of vitamin C per serving, so this is one of the main reasons why I am not all for high doses of vitamin C. Balance is key in all things, and even something as “simple” and common as vitamin C. I prefer to introduce any new supplement slowly and titrate it up over time. However, in times of extreme illness, you won't have time for that. I am recommending my clients work up to 1,000 mg daily, divided in four equal doses throughout the day. There are some studies that show we can't absorb high doses of vitamin C at one time, so I recommend splitting up the dosage throughout the day. Otherwise, you are just wasting money.

Here are a few whole food vitamin C options that I personally use and recommend. You can order them through my discounted supplement dispensary (it just takes an email to access):

Jigsaw Adrenal Cocktail

Innate Response C Complete Powder

Garden of Life MyKind Organics Vitamin C spray - (my kids use this)

You will notice on the label, these show Whole Food Vitamin C from the specific foods listed, and some have a very small amount of vitamin C from ascorbic acid, but the majority of the vitamin C is sourced from whole food.

Vitamin C is just one nutrient we need right now for optimal health and preventative measures. Given the low cost and relative safety of vitamin C supplementation, and its possible benefits, it seems worth including it in an overall daily cold and flu prevention plan.

If you are ready to get clearer answers on how to support your body so you can make the right supplement and lifestyle changes, I invite you to learn more about my functional testing HERE.

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In Health & Happiness,

Karri, FNTP