It is so common to think that we eat healthy, why supplement with vitamins??? Especially if you are on the GA healthy living plan, with all the greens we eat, who needs more vitamins and minerals, right? Aren’t vitamins and minerals for those that do not eat healthy and need to supplement their processed foods with a healthy vitamin!? The truth is, fresh fruits and veggies lose their vitamins by the hour and not to mention cooking them can decrease their vitamin and mineral content significantly! By the time fresh fruit and veggies gets to the store, sits on a shelf, is purchased, sits in the refrigerator, is cooked, and finally eaten, only a very small fraction of the nutritional value is left to be absorbed.
Many nutritional experts agree that even if one were to eat 100% raw and organic fruits and vegetables, picked and eaten same-day straight from farmland, it may be a different story but who can eat 100% raw and organic? Going to the farmers market on a regular is a great addition to your diet but even still, it is almost impossible to eat ALL raw and organic, not to mention the price!
Vitamins are organic substances that are present in food and are required for metabolism. Most plants can synthesize all vitamins they need, but human bodies cannot make them and must rely on dietary intake. Vitamins do not offer us any energy for the body, but they do assist in chemical reactions, promoting in our bodies overall health and development. For example, we need vitamins to help our blood clot when we get an injury. What about what makes our bones and teeth healthy…. Vitamins!
Everybody needs vitamins to work, grow, and develop properly, which makes them essential to our dietary intake! We need vitamins to help fight off disease, increase our immune systems, and not to mention increase our overall moods!!
Since we cannot make vitamins or can only do so in extremely small amounts, they must be obtained from the diet or from some synthetic source. Since the body simply cannot make many of the vitamins it needs, a good liquid or capsule form multivitamin is essential. If you have been feeling tired, irritable or not cognitively with it, let’s first take a look at your vitamins and minerals. Have you been consistent with your vitamins and minerals? You may have an essential vitamin that is absent from your diet or is not properly being absorbed! It is essential to be taking a well balance multi-vitamin everyday!
There are two groups of essential vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, dissolve in fat before they are absorbed in the blood stream and are stored in the liver. Water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water, are not stored and are eliminated regularly in urine. We, therefore, need a continuous supply of these vitamins. The water-soluble vitamins are the B-complex group and vitamin C. Water-soluble vitamins are easily destroyed or washed out during food storage or preparation, i.e. heat, light, etc. To help reduce vitamin loss, refrigerate fresh produce, keep milk, essential fats and grains away from strong light, keeping them in their dark containers, and use the cooking water from vegetables to prepare dishes!
While our sufficient human systems can produce some vitamins, in minimal amounts, minerals are one thing our bodies CANNOT manufacture. Some minerals can be inhaled from the air or absorbed through the skin, but the quantities are so minuscule that they almost don’t count. This makes many minerals essential.
Minerals are part of all body tissues and fluids. Although they make up only a small component, minerals are necessary for most physiological functions the body performs to function optimally! You need them for proper nerve responses, muscle contractions, to help maintain body’s fluid balance, regulate electrolyte and hormone balance, and keep metabolism of all nutrients in check. Once again, all about BALANCE!
There are two types of minerals: trace and major. A trace mineral is one that must be present in the diet, but only in very small amounts. Major minerals are called “major” not because of importance, but because the body requires them in larger amounts.
Major minerals include: Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Chloride, Sulfur while
Trace minerals include: Iodine, Selenium, Copper, Manganese, Fluoride, Chromium, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Cobalt, Boron
Eating a wide variety and balance of healthy foods in your every day diet is the best way to get your vitamins and minerals. The best way and most ideal way to take in these healthy vitamins and minerals is through organic unprocessed foods but with the reality of life, busy schedules, time restraints and of course the expense, organic is not always practical and realistic! Most foods are now grown on soils depleted of vitamins and minerals by years of intensive farming but also the fact that most foods are stored for long periods of time or cooked improperly, depleting them of the vitamins and minerals. We are not even mentioning the everyday stress factors, air pollution or even poor food choices that very rapidly deplet the stores of many minerals and minerals!
The solution and way to combat lacking vitamins and minerals in our foods is to take a multi-vitamin in conjunction to eating a well balance diet, consisting of as many raw foods as possible. Supplements are meant to supplement your current diet. If you eat a relatively healthy well-rounded diet made of organic fresh products, live a stress-free life, get enough rest, drink fresh clean water and breathe unpolluted air, then you probably can match you nutrient requirements closer to what you need for optimal functioning but this is not necessarily realistic, is it?? A well balance diet, smart choices, adding in fresh, raw ingredients and taking a solid multi-vitamin is my answer to ensuring you are getting in all the vitamins and minerals you need! I do suggest a liquid multi-vitamin over a capsule or pill, as the amount of vitamins and minerals you will absorb can be up to 5x more!
Don’t forget to take your daily multi’s, regardless of how healthy and balanced your dietary intake is!
Remember, without our health we have nothing!!