We all know that vitamins are essential for our normal health and development. They are vital to life and everybody needs them. It’s also no secret that vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements are part of a very lucrative, billion dollar industry. In fact, it is reported by some sources that Americans spend almost $2 billion on various vitamin and mineral supplements annually.
We keep hearing compelling arguments trying to convince us to take vitamins, minerals and other supplements:
“Vitamins, supplements, herbs and other natural remedies can cure you as well as or better than many prescription drugs…without the negative side effects.”
“If everyone took a few supplements every day, they could significantly lower their risk of a multitude of serious diseases.”
However does that mean we have to run to the nearest Vitamin Shoppe or order them online from Vitamins Direct or some other cheap vitamins supplier?
Whenever you feel an urge to buy the latest and greatest multi vitamin suplement, consider this:
- How do you know which vitamins to take? How can you be sure you are selecting the right nutritional supplements to take? Having the proper balance of vitamins and minerals is essential for health. Excess of isolated vitamins or minerals can have similar symptoms as vitamn and mineral deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals can work in synergy or can block the absorbtion or effect of each other. Supplement manufacturers spend millions trying to persuade us that their products are the best on the market. What can you believe and to whom can you go to for advice? Your doctor? Most medical schools do not provide sufficient education in nutrition.
- How do you know how much to take? In large doses, some vitamins have documented side effects that tend to be more severe with a larger dosage. The likelihood of consuming too much of any vitamin from food is remote, but overdosing from vitamin supplementation does occur. At high enough dosages some vitamins cause side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
When side effects emerge, recovery is often accomplished by reducing the dosage. The concentrations of vitamins an individual can tolerate vary widely, and appear to be related to age and state of health. In the United States, overdose exposure to all formulations of vitamins was reported by 62,562 individuals in 2004 (nearly 80% of these exposures were in children under the age of 6), leading to 53 “major” life-threatening outcomes and 3 deaths;a small number in comparison to the 19,250 people who died of unintentional poisoning of all kinds in the U.S. in the same year (2004). Source: Wikipedia.
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, are told to use extreme caution when adding supplements to your diet for a reason.
- Buyer Beware. In choosing nutritional supplements it is truly a caveat emptor—and let the buyer beware. Remember that vitamins, minerals and other supplements aren’t regulated in the same way as prescription drugs. You need to read the ingredients listed as being contained in any product and investigate possible benefits as well as potential side effects than can occur. Because of the lack of regulations in the vitamin industry and there are many unscrupulous sellers that may try to get your money.
- How do you know which brand to trust? Some vitamins and supplements can be hazardous to your health. Many vitamins, including some of the highly advertised name brands, are processed at high temperatures, contain petroleum derived chemical solvents, such as ethyl cellulose and are coated with methylene chloride, a carcinogenic material. Even though the majority of people will have no serious side effects from ingesting small amounts of toxins found in some vitamin supplements, the long term consequences of continuous, daily intakes are potentially dangerous, and a small percentage people of displays sensitivity to these chemicals. Allergic reactions may include fatigue, memory loss, depression and insomnia.
- How natural are “natural” vitamins and supplements? Some of the “natural” vitamins are also produced under less than optimal conditions. The potency, dosage – and sometimes even the ingredients – are often difficult to determine from the label. Natural does not always mean a seal of approval.
How to get the optimal nutrition with all the Vitamins and Minerals that your body needs?
We are often been told that we can get all the vitamins and minerals we need if we eat a normal “balanced” diet. The problem is that 90% of adults don’t consume the recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables (which are pathetically low, by the way). For example in a study done in U. S. Department of Agriculture of 50,000 persons, not one person was getting the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of the 10 essential vitamins. And in many cases even the RDA is insufficient for optimum health.
The logical conclusions seems to recommend that all of us take our daily vitamin and mineral supplements, right?
WRONG!!!
It’s true, our bodies do need vitamins and minerals for optimum health. It’s also true that most of us do not consume enough vegetables and fruits to supply the needed amount.
However, the solution is not to take more pills, but to drastically improve your diet, and this can be done only by adding LOADS of FRESH, RAW FRUITS, VEGETABLES and LEAFY GREENS to your diet EVERY DAY!
All of us know the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away“.
I’m going to be brutally honest here, but one apple isn’t going to do you any good if other things that you eat are highly processed, high-fat “Standard American diet” cr@p!
So save yourself some money and time and do something radical, something that is truly going to have a tremendous positive result on your health and well-being.
I know it’s not easy to do. But there are two simple ways that can help you get more vitamins and minerals into your diet in their NATURAL, WHOLE state. These are fresh vegetable juices and green smoothies.
Get yourself a good juice extractor and smoothie maker (you’ll be saving lots of money by not buying the supplements), read my green juice recipe and how to make a green smoothie, and start drinking TODAY and EVERY DAY.
I guarantee you that you will be getting enough of the vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients that our modern science has identified as necessary for optimum health (including the ones listed below), in perfect doses and proportions, plus many substances we have no idea that exist.
If you need advice buying a juicer, read about ”Buying a Juice Extractor: Which Juicer Machine Should You Buy?” and explanation of juicer types Centrifugal, Masticating, Triturating, and Wheatgrass Juicers overview. If you are looking for an affordable compact juicer, then you may want to look at Breville Juice Fountain Compact Juicer or a more expensive, bigger model, Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite. You may also want learn How to Juice With a Blender?.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is great to read and i think fruits and vegetables are the best way to get vitamins.Some wonderful points given over here.It will be beneficial for the readers of this blog.
I originally ran across this post when I was searching for cancer facts for an article I am writing. I was not aware, truthfully, that there were such a great number of health issues out there that people are dealing with! Thank you very much for the solid information.