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 Frequently
I receive emails asking about vitamin and mineral supplements. The question comes in two forms. My friend told me about
this new product . . . , and then they go on to provide this impressively
long unpronounceable name, asking for my opinion. The second email is
their network marketing friend trying to convince me with cutting
edge scientific documentation, into selling their pill or powder on
Freedomyou. This is the new generation of nutrition that will change
human health, or something to that effect.
So
the question is do we need to be taking pills or powders to supplement
an already healthy diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables?
You
will be happy to know that I will not examine each vitamin and its
complex biochemical functions in the body. There are whole books written
on vitamins and their RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance). Instead I would
like to focus on what your diet should consist of to insure every cell
is receiving enough essential vitamins for optimum operation, which is
not complicated at all. We have been doing it for thousands of years,
even before pills and powders.
A quick
overview. Vitamins are organic nutrients and are essential even though
we only need them in small amounts. They serve as chemical buddies to
the enzymes involved in the body’s cell production, repair, metabolism,
and other vital processes. Other than D, the B biotin, and K, all other
vitamins must come from dietary sources.
water soluble
and fat soluble Vitamins
Vitamins come in two groups: water soluble and fat soluble. Fat-soluble
vitamins, which are absorbed into the body paralleling the processes
used to absorb fat, include A, D, E, and K. Vitamins C and B, on the
other hand, are water soluble, and can be used up very quickly and the
excess will be eliminated in the urine.
Big money in Vitamin Pills
Today vitamins have become big business.
Fourteen years ago, freshly juiced on health, I was compelled to
practically “sell my soul” to a promising network marketing company
which will remain nameless. Their stuff was better than everybody else’s
stuff, and if you sat still long enough, they could prove it. I was
going to get rich and they had colored graphs to prove that too. In all
fairness, their stuff was good, but outrageously overpriced. (Please, if
you have gone manic about some network marketing company, you will be
wasting your postage sending it to Freedomyou). They had a line of
all-natural vitamin and mineral pills. The pills were huge, the size of
a gorilla’s toe, and they gave you funky breath. But best of all, they
had a patented “Fructose Cellular Delivery System.” Heady stuff for a
young health buff. It was over $100 for a month’s supply of gorilla toe
pills.
a natural vitamin delivery
system
One of the problems with vitamin pills is that lots of your dollars get
flushed away in the form of an attractive and mighty expensive
green-yellow pee. The cells get precious little. I was impressed with
the patented fructose cellular delivery system though, until I began to
study how the nutrients of raw fruits and vegetables are assimilated
into the body. Well, guess what! Sure enough, sugars like fructose in
fruit act as a delivery system for a variety of micronutrients including
vitamins. And they do a much better job of it than the gorilla toe
pills. God already had the patent.
The
vitamins that occur in whole foods are integrally related to a large
diversity of other naturally occurring molecules that assist absorption
and assimilation. When vitamins are isolated and packaged into pills,
they are poorly absorbed and can even cause imbalances in body
chemistry. There is no such thing as an isolate in nature. It is
completely man-made.
You may
have heard of the word “cofactor.” Vitamin C derived naturally from
plants has cofactors in the form of bioflavonoids. They increase the
bioavailability of vitamin C by 30 percent. There are many cofactors,
scores yet to be discovered, that are naturally found in food. They work
hand in hand, helping the human body absorb essential nutrients. They
may not be recognized as essential, but their job of making essential
nutrients more digestible is vital to human health.
The Lagerquist
Pee Test
It amazes me that I can eat a huge bowl of brightly colored fruit and
have crystal-clear pee, but one vitamin pill, and within minutes, well,
isn’t that pretty. The added color means vitamins are being lost. The
Lagerquist Pee Test may never be recognized as a good science, but it
makes sense to me.
Around
30 percent of us take one or more vitamin or mineral supplements every
day. There was an extensive study done on the death rates of 11,000
people, and it was discovered that there was no difference in the
mortality rate between those popping their vitamins and those who did
not. Yet many dietitians do recommend that adults take a good
multivitamin daily.
a wide spectrum of whole foods
So here we are again singing the same old song. The best defense against
vitamin deficiency is to eat a wide spectrum of whole foods. The Western
world has access to a bonanza of the finest fruits, beans, seeds, nuts
and vegetables, shipped from all over the globe, grown in remote soils
from Israel to South America. We of all people should have no problem
ingesting a surplus of every vitamin necessary for vibrant life and
health.
I can
hear some say, yeah, but I have read that all our soils are depleted and
there is almost nothing left in the fruit we eat. I know a lot of
supplements are sold with such a message. Here is what you do. When
shopping for produce, spend a little more money on good quality fruit
and vegetables. Lots of vibrant color, a sweet smell, and great taste
are all indicators of quality produce. Healthy plants produce
nutrient-rich food. And if organic produce is on sale, buy it up. I will
buy organic bananas; after all, they are only 10 cents more. Do this and
you will exceed your vitamin RDA. The problem is not the earth’s soil,
but the lineups at McDonald’s.
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