Hope you are having a wonderful day. Have you ever wondered just exactly where do vitamins/minerals come from? Well here is what I have learned so far.
Vitamins are natural substances found in living things such as plants and are not produced in the body. Therefore they must be obtained from the foods we eat or through supplements.
Minerals are also found in plants which they get from the soil and the soil get them from the water, etc. For vitamins to be able to do their job in our body they need certain minerals. So, we must obtain our minerals from our foods we eat or through supplements.
Antioxidants and an important specific vitamin that the body uses to protect the body's cells from damage caused by the effects of Free Radicals. Free Radicals are produced in the body daily and can be increased due to stress, smoking, sunlight, exercise etc. and are the leading cause of sickness and degenerative disease as well as premature aging. More on this topic later.
How we get the vitamins and minerals into our bodies seems quite simple, we just eat. They come from our plants, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, fish, meat, spices, sun etc.. However, the average American diet doesn't get the vitamins and minerals necessary for our bodies to work at their optimal levels leaving us with vitamin and mineral deficiencies that are the leading cause of over 70 degenerative diseases.
We can do something about this however by simply taking supplements that have been taken from plants, fruits, vegetables, etc. and created in a laboratory and put together in the rite formula with the rite combination of minerals allowing them to be used and absorbed by the body therefore eliminating vitamin deficiencies. Thereby preventing and/or even eliminating or reversing degenerative diseases.
So why don't we all take supplements? Because there are effective, ineffective and hazardous supplements out there. The nutritional supplements industry is only required to follow food quality standards and literally has no true guidelines or watchdog making sure what is on the label is truly in the bottle. That is just one of the primary reasons people don't supplement or the consumer is uninformed and misdirected by misleading marketing and advertising or they believe the cheapest vitamin and mineral supplements out there are just as effective as the more expensive ones. Well I am sure you have heard the old saying, "You get what you pay for" and this rings true for quality supplements you can trust that are safe and effective. What good is a vitamin supplement that doesn't dissolve or get absorbed into the body and is simply pooped out? I think you know the answer to that question. So, don't waste your money, time and health on low grade, fly by night supplements. What I have found is the biggest reason for not supplementing is the old "I can't afford it." I can understand this to a point but what I can't understand is that with a small amount of re-directional spending, i.e. avoiding the Late or McDonalds for lunch and buying all the junk food that is in people's cabinets you could afford your supplements twice over. The truth is you choose not to afford your supplements therefore you are choosing degenerative diseases instead. Remember, the cost of a heart stint is well over $200,000 while the cost of diabetes amputation will also run in the tens of thousands. Or, perhaps the monthly $400 or more for prescription medication is a better choice. I don't think so. Not only do we need re-directional spending what's needed is re-direction thinking. The old "it will never happen to me" just doesn't apply. It's time to think how to truly implement preventative measures from degenerative disease and proper vitamin and mineral supplementation is the first step. More on choosing the rite nutritional supplements later.
So, why should I care about getting the rite vitamins and minerals and what do they do for my body anyway and where to they go in my body? To tell you the truth I didn't want to know this either but if you don't educate yourself on these things it's simply too easy to rely on marketing and scupulouse companies telling you what you need. With that said you need to know that after eating the vitamins and minerals they go to your stomach and then will travel to your intestines where they will go through the bodies complex process of distributing them to the parts of the body that need them the most.
But what happens if your body needs more vitamins and minerals than your body has to offer? Your body will determine which part of the body needs it the most and if necessary will take the nutrient from the less important part of the body and reallocate it to the more important part of the body. This is the old "rob Peter to pay Paul" routine. This is what causes deficiencies and can begin the process of degenerative disease. Such as Osteoporosis, if your body doesn't have enough calcium it needs it will steal it from your bones thereby thinning of the bone tissue and loss of bone density over time. You of course do not know this is happening until you begin to have some kind of symptoms. You see by the time you get most symptoms the damage has been occurring for years. Such is the case with pre-diabetes; you are usually pre-diabetic for up to eight years before it is usually diagnosed and detectable.
We have to look at vitamins and nutrients, not a independent vitamins and minerals but as a co-operative network working together. If you are missing one nutrient it will throw off the entire network of nutrients in your body.
"A deficiency of a vitamin or mineral will cause a body part to malfunction and eventually break down - and, like dominos, other body parts will follow."
James F Balch, MD
Prescription for Nutritional Healing
Everything we do uses vitamins and minerals that the cell's in our body need 24/7, 365 days a year. Just thinking uses vitamins and minerals as well as exercise, stress, eating and breathing, etc. The use of certain diuretics (substances that increase the discharge of urine) such as drugs, alcohol, coffee, tea and sodas, to name a few, washes the vitamins and minerals rite out of the body creating deficiencies, which can create major health problems.
Certain medication actually inhibits the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals or accelerate the loss of them. Tobacco and alcohol are two substances that can have these same effects.
"Insufficient vitamin intake is apparently a cause of chronic diseases... Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements."
- American Medical Association
Vitamin and mineral supplementation is necessary for the following reasons:
- Crop nutrient losses - Our soils have been depleted from decades of agriculture overworking and depleting the soil of minerals.
- Poor digestion - Over eating or eating to quickly can cause stress to your digestion system. Indigestion hampers the body's ability to absorb vitamins and minerals.
- Over-cooking - Destroys food nutrients
- Microwave Cooking - Microwave cooking has been show in studies to alter the nutritional structure of food.
- Food Storage - Freezing and lengthy storage deplete the nutritional value of most foods.
- Food Selection - A small pallet of food groups or too limited range of foods eaten will result in nutrient deficiencies.
- Food omission - Sometimes due to food allergies or crash dieting where complete food groups are eliminated or poorly administered vegetarian diets will inadvertently omit very important sources of nutrients.
- Environmental factors - The increased use of herbicides and pesticides used on crops, leaves them with low nutritional value.
- Antibiotics - Antibiotics inhibit the absorption of essential nutrients and can greatly reduce the amount of good bacteria in the GI tract which is essential for healthy digestion and sound immune function.
- Poor lifestyle habits - Alcohol consumption, smoking of tobacco and caffeine can also inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals.
- Stress - Increases oxidative stress, be it emotional or physical stress and increases the bodies requirements of vitamins and minerals.
- Out of balance - Having out of balance levels of each vitamin and mineral has an adverse effect on the others, so keeping them in balance is crucial because it effects the performance of the all the others. They work in a co-operative network.
- Nutrient variance - Fruits and vegetables are not all created equal. One tomato can have 10 times more nutrients than another depending on many factors such as pesticides, herbicides, soil depletion, etc.
Build up Your Immune System
A person doesn't catch cancer or heart disease or even diabetes or even a cold. These ailments are created due to deficiencies based on what you do or don't eat.
Increase Your Energy Level
Your level of vitamins and minerals has a direct effect on the release of energy from digested foods. Keep your vitamin and minerals at optimal levels and get strong, lasting energy.
Enhance Your Appearance
Every aspect of your appearance is a direct result of proper vitamin and mineral levels. Everything from your hair strength, thickness, color, shine and length to your finger nail strength, length and texture as well as your skin elasticity and skin tone and clearness. Some people look 50 years old at 30. While others look 30 at 50 years of age.
Expand Your Intelligence
Vitamins and Minerals have a direct impact on your brain function and memory function. Both require the proper levels of vitamins and minerals.
Based on this information, I would say it's time to order your vitamins and minerals today. The vitamins and minerals I take myself after much research on the company and referring to the "Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements" by Lyle MacWilliam, BSc, MSc, FP, which compares over 1,500 companies in the United States and Canada and making sure the company meets the guidelines they recommend for choosing a safe and trust worthy company to trust my health to, I started taking Usana Health Sciences Nutritional Supplements.
You may be asking what vitamins should I take? Everyone, and I do mean everyone should be taking at least the minimum recommended daily vitamins and minerals, Usana's Essentials. The perfect combination of vitamins, mega antioxidants and chelated minerals to ensure proper absorption and balance your body needs daily. You will also want to take BiOmega fish oil for your Omega 3 fatty acids. The American diet is currently highly deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids and over consuming Omega 6 fatty acids causing and epidemic of chronic inflammation. This is also a leading cause of heart disease and is why fish oil is recommended for prevention of heart disease.
Visit www.jackiebennett.usana.com and place your order today!
I truly hope this information was helpful to you in making the decision to start you
supplementation today. Don't wait any longer, put your health first!
Best Regards and God Bless,
Jackie Bennett
Please note, however, that certain medications or health conditions may affect your supplementation needs. If you are currently taking medications or seeing a doctor for a specific health condition, please consult your physician, pharmacist, or health care specialist to determine which products are most appropriate for you.
