Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. It becomes more difficult to find accurate information to help us make the right decision.
One person tells us we don’t need to take vitamin supplements and others say that we must. The best way to make a decision is to watch for and notice the results of either using or not using supplements that are being constantly reported.
I believe some people are stuck in the old school thought. Take for example the huge article in Reader’s Digest recently proclaiming that vitamins and minerals were not necessary. But, she didn’t stop there. She even went on to say that some vitamins will harm you.
I couldn’t find her background and felt that she was writing more as a freelance author. (IMHO of course.)
Granted some people obtain their knowledge from just a few circumstances that they have heard or observed.
Several years ago people were taking excessive Vitamin A. They thought if a little was good for them, then more ought to be better. In this case it proved to be true as Vitamin A accumulates in the body and becomes toxic. Fast forward – Beta- Carotene entered the scene. It was noted that you could take more of the Beta-Carotene without harmful effects, because your body utilized only what it needed.
Instead of forcing the body to accept something it doesn’t need, it is allowed to make that choice for itself.
To blatantly make the proclamation that all vitamins and minerals are unnecessary or even dangerous is swinging the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. We have come too far in our studies and trials where we could easily prove otherwise.
Some of the arguments that this author was using were made to sound like the gospel and last word. She was making the statement that we should be able to get all of our vitamins and minerals from the food that we consume daily.
I wondered where she has been the last several years while even some doctors were making a different observation. We do not and cannot get all of the nutrition that we need from the food we eat daily. In case some of us have forgotten let’s review some of the other reasons we are not getting all of the vitamins and minerals that we need.
1. Does anyone actually eat everything they should to absorb the necessary vitamins and minerals? If you were to eat as many different kinds of vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy products to give yourselves the needed nutrition, we would probably look like a stuffed pig. True it is better to get your nutrition first from the food you eat. This is better than nothing at all.
2. Where does your food come from? Most likely a long distance from your home unless you get all of your food from your garden or a local market. Remember, too, that each of our needs are different.
3. It is then stored for a duration.
4. Then transported to either the grocery shelf or the canning factory
5. It is stored again and probably refrigerated.
6. It sits on the grocery shelf for days or even in their refrigerator for days.
7. You purchase it and ‘fix’ it. You either store it in your ‘fridge’ or you peel, wash and cook it.
8. Sometimes we even store it in the ‘fridge’ and re-warm it.
9. This should have gone at the head of the list. Produce is picked before it is ripe thereby not allowing it to manufacture its prime vitamins and
minerals that are supposed to be in there. Not to mention that they even spray paint it to look like it is ripe.
10. Oh yes, and some, if not all, produce is grown with the assistance of pesticides and herbicides.
11. And the ground we used to grow our food in is depleted of the nutrition it needs.
Now go back and take a look at this list. To get a better idea as to whether you are getting enough nutrition out of the all of the food that you eat, let’s use a score to get an idea.
Whether the score should be 10% or only 3%, it does make us visualize what is happening to our food.
If each of these activities accounts for 10% loss of vitamins and minerals from your food before you eat it that would be approximately 110% loss out of your food. What’s left?
If you are planning on supporting your diet with vitamin and mineral supplementation, it needs to be one that will actually work and do what it is supposed to do. It has been noted that we benefit more from a natural product. We can take a higher dosage if it is natural, because we cannot take as much of a synthetic. A synthetic contains more impurities which is not good for us.
Let’s look at another reason we should take a supplementation. Many people try to cure their diseases ‘after the fact’ with medication.
Wouldn’t it be better to let the body do what it is supposed to do, in the first place? If it is fed the right thing in proper amounts, it will keep us healthy and safe from many diseases and maladies. The body does this on its own as designed. But, it needs the right nutrition given it so that it can do so.
Okay, one other thing we have not gone over as yet are free radicals. I won’t go into all of the reasons we have free radicals, such as polluted water, air and even food grown with pesticides and herbicides, but they are there.You CANNOT avoid them. You can’t stop breathing, eating and drinking water.
While considering your vitamin and mineral selections be wary of how it is made and where it comes from and if it is chelated so that it can be absorbed better by the body. Vitamins and minerals work better together than they do individually. Be sure to get something that is bio-available. Don’t forget your antioxidants.
They are the little ‘gizmos’ that protect you from the free radicals.
When you hear or read a topic that blatantly tells you that you do or do not need supplementation, stop and find out why and who said so and get a little back ground. Be observant of when and how nutrition has helped someone.
Also, keep in mind that the RDA is the minimum that we need and it is set for everyone, not by age, or size.
Do our children need supplementation? Does your doctor insist that you take a supplementation when you are pregnant? Does he suggest giving your infant supplementation? Wouldn’t you rather assist your child’s body so that it can grow as best as it should and stay healthy before they come into contact with the germs or free radicals that are out there? Don’t take my word for it.
Check it out. This is not just IMHO (in my humble opinion). It has been studied and we can observe what it does for others. In my mind this is the best scientific study we can have. You can even note that recently doctors have become quite aware of the need for Vitamin D.
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