Why Your Plate Beats Your Pill Box: The Power of Getting Nutrients from Food
In our busy, health-conscious world, supplements have become almost as common as coffee. Walk into any pharmacy and you’ll see shelves filled with pills, powders, and gummies promising more energy, stronger immunity, glowing skin, and better sleep. While supplements can play a role in supporting health, they are not a magic replacement for a nutrient-rich diet.
The truth is, getting nutrients from real food is far more effective for most people than relying on supplements—and here’s why.
1. Food Gives You More Than Just Nutrients
Whole foods don’t just provide isolated vitamins and minerals. They contain a full spectrum of nutrients—like fibre, antioxidants, plant compounds, and healthy fats—that work together in ways we can’t always replicate in supplement form.
For example, eating an orange doesn’t just give you vitamin C—it also delivers fibre, folate, potassium, and over 170 different plant compounds that help the vitamin C work more effectively in your body.
2. Nutrients in Food Are Better Absorbed
Vitamins and minerals from food are often absorbed more efficiently than those from supplements. This is because they come packaged with all the other “helpers” your body needs to process and use them properly.
For instance, spinach offers iron along with vitamin C, which boosts iron absorption. A synthetic iron pill? Not so much—it can be harder on the stomach and doesn’t come with the natural absorption support.
3. Good Nutrition Creates a Clearer Health Picture
If your baseline diet is strong, your body has what it needs to function well. This makes it easier to spot when something is off—like a genuine deficiency or a medical condition—rather than having poor nutrition muddy the waters with similar symptoms.
Fatigue, brittle nails, headaches, brain fog, or mood changes can all be signs of nutrient deficiencies or of more serious health issues. If your diet is lacking, it’s much harder for you (and your doctor) to figure out what’s causing the problem.
When you’re well-nourished, those symptoms are less likely to be caused by diet—so you can get a faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatment.
4. Supplements Have Their Place—But They’re Not Step One
Supplements can be incredibly valuable in certain situations:
Correcting a confirmed deficiency (e.g. iron, vitamin D, B12)
Supporting specific needs during pregnancy, breastfeeding, or menopause
Helping people with certain medical conditions or absorption issues
But they’re called supplements for a reason—they should supplement a healthy diet, not replace it.
5. Start with Your Plate
If you want to build a strong baseline of health, focus first on:
Eating a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein sources, and healthy fats
Minimising highly processed foods
Staying hydrated
Prioritising regular, balanced meals
Once you’ve got that foundation in place, your health becomes easier to maintain, problems are easier to detect, and supplements can be used strategically—not out of habit.
Bottom line:
You can’t out-supplement a poor diet. Build your health on real food first, and you’ll get more than just nutrients—you’ll get long-term energy, resilience, and a clearer picture of your true health.
PLEASE NOTE: Good nutrition or supplements will not replace a Doctor if you have a medical condition. Please, always see your doctor if you feel something isn’t right, the best case scenario is it was a false alarm.