Welcome to the Health and Happiness Movement; A 28 day interview series that focuses on your whole body approach to health and happiness. My name is Jennifer, your host and today as part of the Health and Happiness Movement I am excited to be speaking with Dr.Calin Pop, MD, the “Energy Doc”!
Dr. Pop Is a leading expert in the Nutritionand Supplements field. As a licensed medical doctor he specializes in Internal Medicine and has 25 years of hands on experience in combining main stream medicine with unconventional therapy. He has brought back to life hundreds of patients that were not helped by other doctors.
He gives advice on nutritional supplements and has a designer line of powerful daily supplements named “Power Source One”. Beside this, Dr.Pop is also the author of the “Perfect Order of Illness”, a book using a new informational and symbolic approach to health problems. Let’s welcome Dr.Pop!

Dr.Pop: Hello Jennifer and thank you for showing your interest in making an interview with me.

Jennifer: Yes, it’s a pleasure and I’m excited to be talking about energy today, especially in this high pace world we live in, were we are always going and going… I know for me there are certain lulls in the day that happen. So tell me Doctor Pop, what is the difference between having a perfect and healthy energy vs. taking stimulants?

Dr.Pop: Thank you for asking me Jennifer!
I’ve been really interested in how we can get healthy energy to our patients, to our relatives, to our brothers and sisters, because, lately everybody seems to be tired for one reason or another. So what I did, I spent some time not only to condense my experience of a two decades hands on medical practice into what I can do to give people more healthy energy. I also put together a new bookseries that will be coming out soon, about how to get more healthy energy. Who knows, I may even incorporate this interview in the book. (My note: It happened!)
One of the things that I found out through the years is that people were repeatedly coming to me saying “Doc, I JUST want to feel better.” And I always have to remind them that in fact what they want is not to “just feel better” for some time, but to have some sustainable vibrant energy.
I keep telling them that the difference is huge. I would tell them if you JUST want to feel better, then you can go and have some kind of alcohol or some other stimulant and you will feel better right away. However, what you’ll be doing is kind of borrowing from your future energy and you will not have a long sustained vibrant energy and body, and a vibrant energy that you could really enjoy. So, in short, that is really just borrowing from your future energy and this is not what people really want.
What people really want is for their body to return to what it used to be when they were young and vibrant. In those times, when they were younger, they were putting out a day’s worth of work,and it seemed like it was nothing. This kind of energy is what I’m talking about, Jennifer.
There are several basic general rules to return people to their vibrant energy and there are probably about 10 elements that are connected and fit together like a telephone number, but today I’m going to talk about the most important ones, the area code, the first three or four.

J: Perfect, I have a three year old daughter and I’m envious of her energy because she can get by, full force all day without taking the energy drinks that seem to be so popular nowadays. And this madness has spread so fast, everybody is having express energy boosts; you know just about everybody is either popping an energy pill, a caffeine pill, or a “Red Bull”. You said you were going to go into detail to discuss some basic elements in order to understand how to raise our energy naturally and I believe you said you were going to discuss three or four. What are those elements?

Dr. Pop: Well, what I ‘m thinking is that there are four basic elements that everybody needs to understand and get them in line and in order to improve their energy.
Everybody thinks they know how to do it but in reality we all have habits that don’t serve us, so what I would like to propose is that there are four basic elements and they are: Air, Water, Food, and Sleep, in this order.
The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe (here I also include the exercise that we need to make a habit to do – at least some of them – every day or every other day) and sleep are very important. Sleep is extremely important. Most people don’t realize that this is when the body heals,regroups and reorganizes, and a good sleep is absolutely essential to good energy. So this is what I’m going to talk about today.
One concept I want people to realize is that I like to compare getting back to health to dialing a telephone number. In order to get somewhere you have to dial the right telephone number, so when you do that there is something very important: It’s called the area code. You have to put a 1 and an area code in order to even get to the phone number to reach the person you want to reach.
It is the same with health and these four elements described above are like 1 plus area code. Air, Water, Food, and Sleep are like the 1 plus area code of good energy and good health. They also need to be given a certain order of importance and this is exactly how it is when dialing a telephone number. This concept is very important and most people don’t really understand the importance of that.

J: Now Dr. Pop, what are the biggest mistakes or misconceptions that people need to know about air, water,food,and sleep? It sounds pretty basic! What about air being first? So let’s get into some air.

Dr. Pop: Well, thank you for asking me Jennifer.
Let’s talk about them one by one and I would probably start with Airfirst, which is the most important element. Air and Oxygen is probably the first element in this order of importance. We can’t be alive for five minutes without continuous supply of oxygen to every single vital organ.
Oxygen and breathing gives us life, and also it’s what nature uses to clean out humans and just about everything else. We are oxygen based life forms, we thrive in oxygen. Oxygen is a cleanser; if you are full of garbage, you are low on oxygen! Bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites will live and thrive on that garbage.

We need a good supply of oxygen for the cells (mitochondria) to efficiently burn food and generate energy. So many people complain they don’t have enough energy anymore. It’s all from a buildup of toxins, and the lack of oxygen and water is the reason we age faster.

Toxins need to be combined with oxygen to come out. This is how the body does it. Oxygen will take anything that does not belong in the body and oxidizes it, then takes it out.

Low oxygen environment is like a wet wood camp fire, with lots of leftovers, with no good burn. This will not generate enough energy and you won’t detox the trash inside because you can’t.So instead of you taking out the trash , the trash takes you out.

When in low oxygen we shift to survival mode.In this mode we are not able to get rid of diseased, weak, and dying cells because the body has only enough oxygen to keep us alive, to keep us minimally functional.

Our cells need oxygen all the time. It is crucial we get plenty of it.

When it comes to Air, people think there is not much they can do to change the air they breathe, but that is not true. Of course, the first thing our body needs is clean air. This can be addressed in different ways: the first of them is mold. Avoid moldy houses; if you have any mold around your house, clean it up, fast and thoroughly! Molds can make you sick for life. Avoid un-necessary pollution and have a house filter or purifier. Sometimes air can be too dry. This may be caused by heaters or similar devices that we use in our houses. There are also electric appliances that can add moisture to the air. Dry air can cause breathing and sinus problems.
Apart from the quality of the air, there is one simple and easy thing everyone can do to improve their breathing: breathe deeper! Everybody can breathe deeper, but they rarely do, in fact. Although it sounds like it is natural and unconscious, we do it wrongly. We usually breathe too shallow; therefore we do not oxygenate our tissues properly.
Shallow breathing is happening even more when we are under stress or constant pressure. During these times of pressure it becomes even more important to have a daily routine by taking a few minutes 2-3 times a day to purposely do deep breathing exercises. Just breathe deep for 2-3 minutes and your perspective will change. Your body and brain will get more oxygen. Your organs will have more oxygen and will work better. When you learn how to really breathe, life gets much better. Breathe in and count, breathe out and count double.
When I talk about air, it brings us to our next subject. Exercise. It’s very important to exercise every day. Exercise will improve air flow into our body and brain; it will extra oxygenate your cells and make you feel better.
The minimum exercise that I’m recommending, probably to just everyone, is to buy a high quality mini trampoline, the one that has like a handle attached on it, so you can hold on, and may safely go up and down without your feet losing contact with the trampoline. Even if you don’t jump, (however, those who are in better shape and balance could jump) just go up and down on it five minutes a day. It’s probably one of the best exercises you can do.
It will exercise every single cell in your body because it goes alternately with gravity and then against gravity. It is like an alternative current ….of gravity. It strengthens the body. It cleans the lymphatic system. It is a very, very important component of my daily routine. You could also do some jogging, or aerobic exercises every day, but a minimum of five minute daily mini trampoline exercise would be absolutely fantastic.

J: Not only it does us good, but it’s fun as well!

Dr. Pop: It’s a lot of fun, exactly!

J: It’s like being a little kid again!

Dr. Pop: Yes, you could jump up and down, just like when you were a kid. In fact, we need to wake up a child in ourselves from time to time, otherwise we will all become dull adults with no humor and no laugh in our lives, and laughing is healing as well.
Oxy¬gen is crucial to every func¬tion of the human body. Whether you’re a Navy Seal, an Olympic Athlete or sim¬ply an unwell per¬son, you will ben¬e¬fit greatly from flood¬ing your cells with even more oxy¬gen. Nothing will dis¬tance any per¬son fur¬ther from death than more oxy¬gen.

The con¬cept is to drive a lot of oxy¬gen deep into the body via the blood stream. This is best accom¬plished by any activ¬ity which raises the heart rate. When the heart rate is elevated more oxygen is carried out to tissues. We use concentrated oxygen from two generators while the patient exercises.
More oxy¬gen trans¬lates into more cel¬lu¬lar energy, more heal¬ing energy and more over¬all energy to help us feel good, have more energy and per¬form bet¬ter in life.
Exercising on Oxygen is heal¬ing with¬out drugs, chem¬i¬cals, surgery or inva¬sive procedures. You can do it in the com¬fort of your own home or office. It can be used to pre¬vent or treat many health prob¬lems. Fatigue, memory problems, mental fog, depression are all helped.

J: I can’t wait to hear about food, let’s skip to the food before talking about water,is it all right Dr. Pop?

Dr. Pop: Sure, let’s talk about food. Food is important. Maybe the most important, misunderstood and ignored out of the four crucial elements. Everyone has opinions, ideas and likely food addictions. In a way everyone knows something about food. Like in many other fields of life, what hurts us is not what we don’t know, but what we know “that just isn’t so” that is dangerous. Food is the modern day addiction.
There are some basic concepts about food dealing with the amount of the food, the quality of the food, the timing of the food, and we could talk about those in some details.
As far as the timing of the food is concerned I’ve noticed over the years that most people want to eat every three hours or so, or they want to have snacks. Some of the most common mistakesare that people start counting calories, they eat too many carbs, and they think that the products labeled “diet” or “light” are okay for them. Well, I’m here to tell them that there is a problem with calorie counting, there’s a problem with carbs, and there is an even bigger problem with “diet” products.
I have a firm belief that if you eat naturally and balanced, you only need to eat three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and you will not be hungry. The fact that you require a snack in-between tells me that you are not taking the right foods into your body.
The fact that you need a snack means you are having too many carbs, because the carbs burn very fast and then you need something mid interval, between the meals. This is probably one of the basic concepts that most people don’t realize, or are not taught about. Attention to the food is crucial.
As far as the quantities are concerned everybody should have as much as they feel good if the food is non-processed. You can’t eat too many apples, or cabbage or beans. You will be full soon. But you can take too much processed food before you even know it. If people eat, you know, the organic foods, the non-GMO, the vegetablesand fruits, they would not eat too much.
When you’re talking about the amount of food,people nowadays eat much more than their body needs in order to be in optimal condition. This amounts and the fact that they choose the wrong food, speeds up aging, it makes our body grow older faster than it would if we would feed it with the correct, highly nutritional food.
What I would like to underline is that medical studies show beyond a shadow of doubt that the number one anti-aging recommendation that really works and the only one thoroughly and scientifically documented is calorie restriction. Meaning we should eat less food. Meaning fasting. Meaning portion control. Meaning common sense. Meaning less food overload. Meaning food is overrated. Meaning food is a modern day obsession and a modern day addiction. Most our modern age illnesses are from food overload.
This is not necessarily about the calories, but a strict portion control habit. If you eat less you’ll feel better. What a simple concept!
One habit I recommend is that people pick a day out of the week, whatever that day would be. During that day, don’t eat so much, or not at all. In fact I have one day a week that I eat only apples. There’s nothing else I eat that day, and I feel fabulous, especially the next day. The body gets a rest and you really feel good. There are many metabolic processes that are being reset and changed for the better that day. In time you will also find that sometimes is easier to not eat or drink anything for that day, than it is to eat some fruits only. The second day of fasting is also easier if you really are committed for longer fasting. However, please keep some common sense in this, do not fast for weeks in a row.
In order to explore your personal food reactions, to see how you feel and tolerate each food I would invite everybody to make some experiments. It is important to do so. You can eat several kinds of foods one day and several kinds of food of a different kind the next day and see how you feel. We all respond to food differently and have different food sensitivities and food allergies. We usually don’t know what they are. This way we can at least begin to have an idea what food agrees with us and what not.
Eating the food that makes us feel good, not only that makes us feel lighter and better, but helps our body to easier digest this kind of food.The stomach is not under too much pressure, it can easily digest the food we ate and this is the reason why we feel better and lighter. We digest easier. This can be connected with fatigue as well. For example, there are combinations of foods such as carbs and proteins which are heavy to digest and our stomach will take more time to digest this combination, which may cause fatigue.
One easy thing that you can do is eat less and see how you feel. Most people who do fasting and eat less feel lighter and energy comes back to them in time, but you have to do it the right way. We all eat too much here in our culture. There are places in the world where people live well into old age with water, a few crumbs of bread and some fruits for decades.
Most people believe in the concept that “calories are calories” but I don’t agree with that. That is kind of a misconception and my firm belief is that “calories”from carbs are three or four times more damaging than “calories” from proteins and fat. The reason is that calories from carbs are not used into the structure of the body. The calories from carbs are almost completely burned to zero by the body, unlike calories from fats and proteins which are only partially burned. The more natural and biocompatible the fat and proteins are the more they are incorporated into the body structures, therefore not completely burned. This is as logic as it can be.
Our body is clearly made out of approximately 65% water, 20% fat, and 15% proteins. Carbs are maybe a tiny, tiny little bit; it’s just maybe a table spoon full of sugar or two in the whole body. Why don’t we eat in the same proportions? Is this not a clue that was given to us? It is, but the commercial lobby changed this common sense concept to their benefit and our detriment.
I strongly believe that we should all eat according to that exact natural proportion: 65% water, 20% fat and 15% proteins, and maybe a tiny bit of sugar. What most people do instead, is load up with sugar, carbs and sweet snacks and drinks because they think it’s okay and then they wonder why they don’t have the energy.

J: That’s so true. I am sure a lot of readers can identify with this.

Dr. Pop: By the very definition of “calories”, this means that technically you need to burn or metabolize every food particle until its water and carbon dioxide. This is how we are determining how many “calories“are in each portion of food. The problem is that this is okay in the laboratory, but when you’re talking in real life, the fats and proteins don’t get completely burned to zero, as they get incorporated into your body structures. They’re not completely burned, these calories are not all released, they’re maybe 10% released, and maybe they are 50% released. Who knows… It depends on many factors!
I believe that calories from natural fats and proteins are far less burned than the “experts” may even imagine.
The problem is with the sugar, because the sugar needs to be more or less completely burned and consumed by the body, or changed into fat or placed into storage; in any case the body has no way of efficiently incorporating a lot of sugar intoits structure. There is nowhere it can go. Where would it go if there is no need for it?

J: It’s quality vs. quantity, really, and it sounds like if you eat the proper ratio, you’re going to retain your energy as well. You are also saying that water is an important element in this formula, is water qualityof concern?

Dr. Pop: Well, the quality of Water is very important and I strongly suggest that everybody at least have a filter in their house and they filter their water. I’m not such a big fan of bottled water because as most people know there are chemicals that are being released from the plastic of the bottle. These chemicals are connected with at least some endocrine cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers. They’re also disrupting, nerve synapses and block other chemical reactions and metabolic processes.
What I recommend is to have water, but have it filtered. It’s probably the best bet. When people live in area where the city water is fluoridated I strongly advise them to totally stay away from that water. It is my firm belief that fluoridated water is very hazardous to people’s health. Fluoride competes with iodine and this is one good reason why lots and lots of people develop under functioning thyroid and become tired.
In terms of how much water to drink, the fact is the amount of water we drink is usually underestimated by us. You will tell me today that you drank more water yesterday than you really drank.
Everyone should drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day, by glasses I mean, about 8 ounces. This is the minimum. Water is an active participant in many chemical energy reactions and by forming or splitting water molecules, energy is released to the body. Water is not just a flush like many people believe. Water is the most amazing element. It is alive, it has “memory” it heals and soothes and cleans and builds cells. We need water, we can’t have efficient metabolism when all water inside is like molasses. When this happens, chemical reactions slow and then stop, dehydration sets in and finally death. People can live without food a long time, but much less time they can go without water.
When it comes to temperature of the water, room temperature water is best. My advice is to squeeze some lemon or sprinkle a little bit of unprocessed salt into water. This way the water will stay in the body when needed, rather than just passing through you and dumping it into,well, the bathroom.

J: It’s quality vs. quantity, really, and it sounds like if you eat the proper ratio, you’re going to retain your energy as well. You are also saying that water is an important element in this formula, is water qualityof concern?

Dr. Pop: Well, the quality of Water is very important and I strongly suggest that everybody at least have a filter in their house and they filter their water. I’m not such a big fan of bottled water because as most people know there are chemicals that are being released from the plastic of the bottle. These chemicals are connected with at least some endocrine cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers. They’re also disrupting, nerve synapses and block other chemical reactions and metabolic processes.
What I recommend is to have water, but have it filtered. It’s probably the best bet. When people live in area where the city water is fluoridated I strongly advise them to totally stay away from that water. It is my firm belief that fluoridated water is very hazardous to people’s health. Fluoride competes with iodine and this is one good reason why lots and lots of people develop under functioning thyroid and become tired.
In terms of how much water to drink, the fact is the amount of water we drink is usually underestimated by us. You will tell me today that you drank more water yesterday than you really drank.
Everyone should drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day, by glasses I mean, about 8 ounces. This is the minimum. Water is an active participant in many chemical energy reactions and by forming or splitting water molecules, energy is released to the body. Water is not just a flush like many people believe. Water is the most amazing element. It is alive, it has “memory” it heals and soothes and cleans and builds cells. We need water, we can’t have efficient metabolism when all water inside is like molasses. When this happens, chemical reactions slow and then stop, dehydration sets in and finally death. People can live without food a long time, but much less time they can go without water.
When it comes to temperature of the water, room temperature water is best. My advice is to squeeze some lemon or sprinkle a little bit of unprocessed salt into water. This way the water will stay in the body when needed, rather than just passing through you and dumping it into,well, the bathroom.

J: Wow, this kind of intrigued me,because you’re right, I drink a lot of water, probably about 3 liters a day and I’m running to the restroom every five minutes or at least it seems like it. So a little bit of salt would not be bad to help you retain the water?”

Dr. Pop: No, absolutely not. I am not telling you should put a lot of salt inside. Just a sprinkle would give it a great load of minerals. Never use refined salt which is white in color, but the unrefined salt that has all the minerals in it. You see, white refined salt has only two elements: sodium and chloride. White salt is very unbalanced, unhealthy, and even toxic in high quantities. It is one of “three white deaths”- white sugar, white flour and white salt. Just the name people gave to this trio tells us about the hazard they can do. On the contrary, natural unrefined salt from the sea or from mined salt is very healthy. It contains all the minerals that were dissolved or floating in the sea. These are minerals that we all need, minerals that are healthy. Natural salt is like a fine mixture of elements and minerals essential for life. It is a totally different product than the white salt you find in stores. It is in a totally different league. As a side note, it cracks me when people mention “sea salt” as opposed to mined salt when actually mined salt comes from an ancient sea as well.
Also in order for the water to first enter then stay in the tissues the water molecules need to be negatively charged as the water channels of the cell membranes are lined up with positive charges. Most commercial water is positively charged. It would help hydration if we could use a water ionizer for example.

J: I use Himalayan salt. What do you think about it?

Dr. Pop: Himalayan salt is okay, you can use it. When it comes to recommended use, some say to use about a third of a tea spoon to every gallon of water, or sometimes rarely to a liter of water. This is of course all up to your taste, you won’t do harm to your body if you are within these limits.It is very good if you can find a natural substitute for the white salt. You can also use lemon; lemon water tastes really good, that’s what I do.

J: So lemon as well, helps you retain water?

Dr. Pop: Yes, but not in excess, do not misunderstand, lemon just helps water go where is needed, but it does not cause edema or water retention in any way.
A big mistake that people do is they think that drinking liquids is the same as drinking water but it’s really not. So those “flavored” waters which seem like a great substitute for those who don’t like water, well, I have bad news for you guys: they’re not good for you. The “vitamin water” is not good for you. There are not many vitamins inside and it’s all full of sugar, which basically does more damage, than it helps your body. So be aware of this information next time you want to buy some “flavored waters”.

J: True, I tried one, just the other day, I had a sip of one, and it was nastiest thing I had ever tried. It was so sweet (laughs) it was like drinking sugar water or something.
J: Right… Let’s move on to next subject: sleep. Now what do you recommend… on average how many hours of sleep? I know for me it’s actually the opposite when I get to much sleep I get groggy, is there a set amount or does it varies on each individual? The amount of sleep you get, I mean.

Dr. Pop: Each individual is different and you can say that some people need less or need more Sleep, but recent studies have kind of disproved that. I’ve seen some studies that showed that anything less than7.5 hours starts to build like a “sleep debt”.
So I strongly recommend everybody getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night. More so, because at the end of the sleep, the sleep is deeper and the dream cycles are more intense this is when the body regenerates even more. Studies also show that kids who start school at 10 am are at least a third more productive than the ones who start school at 8:30 am.
As a fun experiment for you: try telling your body to wake up at a certain time before the alarm sounds and you will be surprised to wake up at that time. You can set up your own internal alarm clock.
I don’t recommend (as much as possible) an external alarm clock, but 8 hours of sleep, in my opinion, is essential.
Studies show that if people miss at least one hour of sleep, meaning that instead of 8 hours of sleep you get 6 or 7 hours of sleep a day, then you’ve already accumulated a sleep debt and you don’t perform as good that day. What’s even more amazing is that when you question those people with just an hour of less sleep a night for 2 or 3 days consecutively, they believe they are at their top shape but they really aren’t.If you ask them: “Do you think you perform as well?” they all say “Yes, I am in my best shape.” But when they actually test those people, in reality all of them under perform. So it’s just a false impression that you do okay with less sleep, it’s not the reality.
So what I’m telling everybody is go to sleep. Go to sleep for 8 hours, go in a dark room, don’t take your electronics, go early at the same time each day, and maybe take a melatonin pill. It will help not only your sleep, but your immune function and endocrine system. Take at least as many milligrams as many decades of life you have. If you are 55 take at least 5 milligrams each night before bed.

J: Perfect, as we wrap up here I really want to get into supplementation a little bit with you. I know you have your own product as well but what is a really good supplement to start with? Do we even need one?

Dr. Pop: Well, great question, great question. So Jennifer, after you’re checked off good food, good water, good sleep and exercise, I strongly recommend nutritional supplementation, because what we get from the food and what we used to get from the food is not the same any more. Even if the food would be the same you just can’t get all nutrients from the food. Your food does not have gingko biloba in it or enough sulphoraphane to protect you from cancer. For example, if you wanted the same intake of nutrients now and 10 or more years ago, you’d have to now eat 5 apples instead of 1 you’d eat 10 years ago. It is because food has lower quality and it is not as nutritious as it was before.
So, just to wrap things up in a few words, there are several basic steps that I recommend. One of them I call the FOUNDATION of supplementation which consists of four elements. What I recommend people to do, and I’ve realized this over the years, is that they need a great multi-vitamin. Not just a “good” multi-vitamin but a very good one, even a “great” one. We all need a Great Multi. What I mean by a Great Multi is not just about vitamins. A great multi should also contain minerals, amino acids, herbal extracts, detoxifiers, hormone modulators, adaptogens and all the ingredients in the correct amounts and proportions in order to have a positive impact on health and longevity.
Now, how do you find a very good or greatmulti? Contrary to the popular opinion a one- a-day vitamin is really no good, and two a day is not much better. In fact, logically, the more capsules a day the multi vitamin has, the better it is, because it can pack more ingredients in 6 capsules then in one or two, therefore it usually gives you more power.
There are supplements that are 14 a day or 20 a day, however I recommend one where you can take 6 to 8 a day. The 20 a day likely has a lot of green powder and other filler ingredients like dried vegetables, but above 6-8 a day they don’t pack much more “power”. So the sweet spot is somewhere from 6-10 a day.
Naturally I have studied this field for many, many years and over the many years of research and improvements we came out with an outstanding formula called “Power Source One”. It is available online and from our office.
It is so good, I challenge everyone to try and find a better formula, but they won’t be able to. I’m going to be very surprised if anyone can come up with a better formula. It works amazing! I have great testimonials from my patients so I recommend a daily dose of 6 or 8 capsules of Power Source One (or at least of a very, very good multi-vitamin) daily.
The three other supplements forming the FOUNDATION are (now,please remember, I initially said 4 elements) Vitamin C, Magnesium and Fish Oil.
Vitamin C is something totally crucial to how the body functions and I recommend a 1,000 or 2,000 a day at a bare minimum, however, if you are under stress double or triple that. Vitamin C is essential for coping with stress and humans are the only “animal” species (except guinea pigs) which can’t manufacture vitamin C. We all have a genetic defect that makes this manufacturing impossible.
Magnesium is very important and I’m recommending about 500mg a day or more. Avoid the magnesium oxide. It is the cheapest, less absorbable kind. Magnesium is necessary in over 300 chemical reactions in the body including energy producing reactions, and metabolism of ATP.
When magnesium or Vitamin C are too much for the bowels to handleand you will have loose bowel movements, then just cut the daily dose slightly.
Some kind ofFish Oil is crucial. Fish oils or other omega 3 rich oils are important as they are incorporated into cell membranes and make these membranes soft and elastic. They “lubricate” red cells and other organs. They are necessary for brain and nerve function. Make sure that you clearly see on the label the exact amount of EACH of the two essential ingredients of fish oil: EPA and DHA. Some low quality products only list the oil amount as 1,000 mg but with no milligrams for each of the EPA and DHA. These companies are frauds, stay away. For heart and inflammation take more EPA, for eyes and brain take more DHA. A dose of 1-2,000 mg of EPA is a good daily dose.

If you don’t have fish oil available, then at least load up on olive oil. Olive oil, cold pressed ultra-virgin is healthy, and good, but when you cook use grape seed oil as it burns at a higher temperature.

I call these four supplements “THEFOUNDATION” of nutritional supplementation or Tier I supplements.
We also recommend that older people over 55 also take Vitamin D5-10,000 IU a day with some Vitamin K2,Digestive Enzymes with each meal, good Probiotics (over 20 billion per capsule) and a good quality Vitamin E in the form of “mixed” tocopherols and tocotrienols. These four supplements make what I call Tier II supplements.Also over 55, you could take and monthly B12 shots and melatonin as explained above. It will keep you young and vibrant.
For SPECIFIC CONDITIONS or further wellbeing you could take Tier III supplements:Antioxidants, Anti-cancer supplements (sulphoraphane,DIM, blueberries, spirulina/chlorella, etc.), CoQ10 (the ubiquinol form ), the more the better. You could also take supplements for special conditions like arthritis or prostate, or cancer, or diabetes, or heart, you name them, there are really good supplements out there for those conditions.
Be careful to never substitute from the Foundation or even tier II, in other words, the foundation always stays the same. You don’t punch holes in the Foundation. You can build upon it, but you can’t,for example, take Vitamin C away and say “Oh, I take CoQ10, or Resveratrol, or something else, but in exchange I don’t take vitamin C”.
In my opinion Vitamin C stays into the Foundation of supplementation. You take more if needed, but you should not substitute, especially not from the “Foundation”.
It’s very important to remember, there are several tiers; tier one, tier two, tier three. Tier one is the Foundation and is for everyone, young or old. It stays the same no matter what. Tier two applies if you are older than 55 – and please do not change that either, and Tier three is if you have a problem with one organ or a specific condition.

J: So basically, what you are saying is that you have your Foundation consisting of your multi plus other supplements like magnesium, vitamin C, and fish oil, then if older you have some more supplements and thirdly the last part will be tailored around your special needs; special requirements at that time like you said for example a joint pain or if you are overcoming a certain illness right?

Dr. Pop: Exactly, exactly! This is a strategy of how you should prioritize the nutritional supplementation. If you do not use some kind of strategy, then you will have “holes” and imbalances in your supplementation, and even more scary, you may just order all the latest supplements you hear about on the latest advertisement. You will have no direction and no focus without a good strategy.

J: Perfect!

Dr. Pop: First things first, so the Foundation comes first and then if you want to build upon that, that’s a very good thing to do, but never neglect the Foundation. It is like building a house. You cannot build a house without a strong foundation, can you?

J: No, you can’t, you are right. Perfect! Let me ask you: taking supplements throughout the day, will that help your body assimilate them better vs. putting it all in at one time where you are “overpowering “ your body. I know when I do that I’m sometimes sick to my stomach. Which is better?

Dr. Pop: Well, yes, you can take supplements throughout the day, but that depends. It depends if it’s a powerful formula or not. If you take a powerful formula late in the day, it may hold you from sleep. I prefer people taking the supplements either in the morning or at lunch time. You see, opinions are split, however, I personally like to take them all in the morning and flood my body with vitamins. This way is easier for me. Also, taking them at once, in theory, it creates a bigger concentration difference between blood and cells, therefore supplements will be pushed more into the cells just by osmosis.
Probably the reason you have some stomach upset is because you may not eat enough before you take supplements. That’s the most common reason I’ve found so far. Indeed, if you have a good, good breakfast which I recommend to everyone, to have your hearty breakfast then to take 20 pills or so – like I take daily -is not a problem at all. However, if I don’t eat enough, I don’t even try to take 10 of them because I know I’ll have a “stomach” problem.
Precisely because they are called “supplements”, they are to be taken with food, and not instead of food or with minimal amounts of food.
Anyway, either morning or lunch is just fine, split or not, however I personally prefer them all at once (several gulps though) after a good breakfast. If you don’t have the habit of a good breakfast, then I tell my patients to take supplements right after lunch because that’s a bigger meal for you. Try taking supplements with a thicker liquid, they go down easier and keep your head down when taking them.

J: Well Dr.Pop, thank you so much for all this wonderful information. Everyone, if you have not checked out Dr.Pop’s website I strongly recommend you to check it out at www.PowerSourceOne.com and his office website at www.calinpopmd.com . Dr. Pop, is there anything you want to bring attention to,maybe highlight on your web site?

Dr. Pop: Well, thank you Jennifer, there’s a phone number if they want to call. There’s a 1-800 number everyone can call to get a month worth of vitamins. I would recommend to everyone to give them at least a month trial and they will see a difference. 9 out of 10 people feel something good working for them. It is subtle but it’s there. They feel more mental focus, more energy, and more aliveness. I have some friends taking them and they are young and they are taking them for years and they are saying if they don’t take them, they just don’t feel like a hundred percent themselves, they feel like they are in a lower gear. Power Source One really works and I encourage everyone to give them a good try. They are the Ferrari of supplements, very powerful, complete and very safe.

J: Well this interview has been terrific Dr. Pop. Thank you for being a part of the Health and Happiness Movement. Please remember again to check out Dr.Pop’s website at www.PowerSourceOne.com. and Dr. Pop’s office website at www.calinpopmd.com . Thank you Dr. Pop and, again, this has been Jenifer and Dr.Pop with the Health and Happiness Movement, a full body approach to health and happiness. Thank you, doctor.”

Dr. Pop: Thank you Jenifer it’s a pleasure talking to you.