Are Supplements The Key to Complete Nutrition?

Think you’re getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from the foods you’re eating? Well I used to think that too until I did some research and found out otherwise. Things are not always as they seem though. Unfortunately, no matter how conscientious we are about choosing wholesome nutritious foods we still need to augment that with high quality vitamin and mineral supplements. I’m talking about needing to take additional vitamins and minerals to supplement primarily anything grown and sold as food, including fruits, vegetables, grain products.

There are many factors that may influence the vitamin and mineral content we receive from the foods we eat daily;

SOIL

• One of the most important factors is the soil in which it is grown. That soil is probably alot more important than most people realize. Various studies by the US Department of Agriculture has shown declining nutrient content in several foods over the last 30 years because the nutrients are no longer in the soil for the plants to absorb.
• Paul Bergner shows in his book The Healing Power of Minerals …..’ that between 1963 and 1997 several fuits and vegetables studied by the USDA were found to have their calcium content down nearly 30%, iron down 32%, magnesium down 21%, phosphorus down 11%, and potassium down 6.5%.
• Similarly, a 50 year British study from the UK Ministry of Agriculture shows that from 20 different fruits and vegetables considered there was a decline in vegetables of 81% in calcium content, 65% for magnesium, and 86% for potassium, just to name a few.
• Modern farming practices use massive amounts of fertilizers (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) to prepare the soil for further planting but this doesn’t replace other needed nutrients. Also, phosphorus actually interacts with iron, sodium, calcium, boron, and aluminum and may keep those nutrients from being available to the plants, thus lessening their availability
• Plants take about a dozen nutrients from the soil but typical large scale farming practices only add three (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus) ….. ever wonder why that is?

GLOBAL WARMING ?

• A recent study by Southwestern University has shown rising CO2 levels correlates with a decline in protein content of certain grain products, barley has declined 15.3%, rice 9.9%, and wheat 9.8%. Soybeans protein is down 1.4%. Current atmospheric CO2 levels are around 380 parts per million (ppm) compared to 280 ppm in the late 18th century.
• Keep in mind that over 40% of the world gets their dietary protein from grains and root crops

CONVENIENCE FOODS

• A diet of highly refined carbohydrates with sugar, white flour, and fatty foods puts a great strain and demand on minerals and B group vitamins needed for proper food processing and assimilation. Such a refined diet contributes to major nutrient deficiencies and is often related to such conditions as irritability, lethargy, and sleep disorders

OTHER FACTORS

• Transport, storage, processing, packaging, and preparation also result in nutrient loss and the addition of toxins to our foods
• Food processing significantly reduces vitamin E, B1, and C. Foods frozen once defrosted lose considerable vitamin E
• According to Dr. Richard Brouse’s book, Build A Better You, more than 80 million pounds of antibiotics are consumed each year in America with the majority being fed to food animals. Residues of antibiotics are being found in eggs, pork, chicken, turkey, farm fed fish, and beef. Some antibiotics kill friendly bacteria in the intestines which normally help process B group vitamins to be absorbed through the intestinal wall. B vitamin deficiency can result in a number of nerve related conditions.
• Overcooking and reheating can oxidize and destroy vitamins such as B group, C, and E.
• Poor digestion and lack of proper absorption robs the body of needed nutrients
• Laxative overuse can result in poor absorption by quickening the intestinal transit time. Your intestines are where most of the vitamin and mineral are absorped into the body, not in your stomach as many people believe.

Okay, so what to do if you believe that supplementation is necessary? How do you know what are the best products on the market? Well, as a Shaklee Distributor I can absolutely guarantee you that there are vitamins and minerals that are natural safe, toxin free, and proven effective and have a 50+ year track record to back it up. Try us out and see for yourself.

The bottom line is that no matter how hard you try the average person simply cannot get all the nutrients their body really needs everyday only through the foods that are eaten. For optimal health one simply must eat high quality nutritious foods, take daily supplements, cut back on convenience foods, buy organic whenever possible or grow your own, and be careful how you prepare and process foods at home. The old adage that ‘you are what you eat’ is becoming more and more clear as evidence mounts that more and more of todays ills can be traced to inadequate diets that lack in complete and proper nutrients. Please consider using high quality all natural supplements daily if you’re not already! Your life really does depend on it.

Health IS Your Greatest Wealth!