Vitamin Supplements to Stay Healthy (part 1)

We are encouraged by the Food Guide Pyramid to eat recommended servings of dairy, poultry, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and complex carbohydrates so we will get all the protein, vitamins, minerals, and food energy we need to live and thrive. One would expect that by eating a healthy diet we would have a very good chance of getting the nutrients we need to stay healthy. But so many factors affect the nutrient value of the food we eat. By the time freshly picked fruit gets transported to the grocery store, on display for you to buy, home to your refrigerator and finally eaten many of the vitamins have already been lost. If you cook your fresh fruit and vegetables even more nutrients are lost.

As shown in the USDA food consumption surveys that although Americans are making improvements in our eating habits most of us do not consume the full five to nine servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day as is recommended. But even if we did eat properly every single day, the nutrient values in our food may not be sufficient to meet our body’s daily requirements to maintain good health. There is no way to get the vitamins and minerals we need other than through the food we eat and any supplements we might take. Vitamins are organic substances that originate mainly in plant tissues and are essential for growth, reproduction and maintaining health. Our bodies can not synthesize vitamins in adequate amounts so we must obtain them through our diet.

Our bodies require certain minerals to stay healthy. Unlike vitamins, minerals are not organic. They do not contain carbon. Minerals are elements that originate in the Earth and can not be made by living organisms. Plants get minerals from the soil and we get those minerals through the plants we eat or the animals we eat that have eaten the plants. Mineral content in soil can vary considerably from place to place. Adding to concerns about the nutrient value of the fresh foods we consume is the nutrition value of the highly processed foods we eat. They allow us to quickly prepare a meal but they deprive us of the natural, whole food nutrients our bodies need.

Scientific and historic studies show that the nutrient content of food decreases with processing.Processing reduces the amount of every known essential vitamin. When brown rice was originally refined and white rice began to be consumed many people died of beriberi because the B-complex vitamins were destroyed. Cooking meat can reduce Vitamin B5 by as much as 50% while processing vegetables can reduce it by up to nearly 80%. Refining, cooking and canning can destroy as much as 95% of foliate. Milling wheat to white flour reduces the natural food complex vitamin and mineral content by as much as 60%.

Besides processing our food we add substances like sodium bicarbonate to foods to preserve them. When it is added to peas and green beans so they will retain their color it destroys the thiamin in them. We have also introduced artificial things into our diets, for example, the artificial fat olestra (Olean). It robs the body of Vitamins A, D, E, K and carotenoid antioxidants. When we irradiate meat and other foods the characteristics of those foods change.

Vitamin In Breastmilk

I am impressed with my new-found information on house-hold familiar Vitamin C. The benefits of C Vitamin include helping us in a large number of metabolic processes, like growth and repair of tissues and organs, utilisation of food and functioning of our immune system, nervous, circulatory and hormonal systems...

C Vitamin is one of the vitamins we all know. I really didn't expect to find such vast amount of information on a simple vitamin like this. So common that many of us could have ignore it's importance! It is found everywhere around us. Just a little awareness, we'll be able to place it in our daily lives.

Vitamin C is known for its antioxidant properties, combating the free radicals that are involved in the ageing process. So it's an essential element to detoxify our 'sinful' food indulgences. Remember the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away!" The vitamin is present in high quantities in foods that also protect us against certain cancers and heart disease. Some people believe it protects against cold, but this has not been scientifically proven, you know?

We require vitamins in our diet to maintain good health. Establishing a habit of eating plenty of foods and fruits that contain high levels of Vitamin C is a healthy way of detoxifying the toxics in our bodies. Best of ALL, we are adopting an ANTI-AGING diet. However, taking it in excess of C Vitamin is excreted and there is evidence that high doses in supplement form can cause some harm in susceptible people. It is not easy for overdosage unless you gobble a whole bottle down. Simply stick to 1-2 tablets a day or take at least 2 fruits a day. Eat lots of vegetables. Do you know they also contain loads of vitamin C and folic acid and calcium?

I really enjoy planning what I eat compared to taking many supplements because we can taste good food and keep ourselves supplemented at the same time. How about you?

What else could be better than nature? God's Creation? I've been breastfeeding my baby for the past 3 months since birth except a little formula milk during her first month due to jaundice in newborn. She's a fully breastfed baby now and growing more and more chubby. It really feels great as a mother to know that I'm giving her the best food with all the necessary nutrients, especially antibodies which cannot be found in formula milk.