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Brain Research Shows That Diet and Exercise are Keys to Living Well
(ARA) - An old adage says that aging is a state of mind, but new research is beginning to prove it.
As brain research advances, experts are finding that some of the physical and mental changes normally associated with aging may not...
Don't Blame the Government for America's Obesity
Peter Jennings presented a report on Monday, December 8th regarding obesity in America. The show looked at the roles our government and agriculture play in our eating habits, as well as advertising (especially directed at children). The report...
Health Benefits of Fruits and Their Relationship to the Perfect Diet
Fruits have very little if any protein and fat. Instead, they have carbohydrates, generally fruit sugar or fructose and glucose. As Florida commercials tend to announce, fruits offer us vitamins, C and B to be exact, as well as potassium, fiber and...
Kanhaiya Amla Powder
AMLA (EMBLICA OFFICINALIS) FOR HEALTH AND BEAUTY
AMLA, proudly known as 'Indian Gooseberry' has been the key constituent of many Ayurvedic formulations. And nowadays, it has been accepted by almost all medical branches as a result of...
We Are Not Immune: Women and Heart Attacks
Heart disease is the #1 killer of women in America.
Approximately 1 in 3 women die each year due to heart attack or
stroke. Nearly twice as many women die of heart disease or
stroke, than they do of any form of cancer, including breast
cancer....
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Why should you take Nutritional Supplements?
A busy lifestyle leaves little time for planning meals and cooking. It's far too easy to fill up the diet with empty calories in fast and convenience foods. Packaged and prepared mixes make life easy, but seldom provide all the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. A good multinutrient supplement can help fill in the gaps in your diet when you're too busy to eat balanced meals.
But what if you eat a healthy diet? Do you still need to take vitamin and nutritional supplements? According to most experts on nutrition and the American diet, the answer is, quite honestly, yes.
Over the past ten years, scientists who study medical conditions like diabetes and coronary disease have all noted alarming rises in the incidence of those diseases. It's not just that there are more people being diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease. The profile of those being diagnosed has changed dramatically. For the first time ever, doctors are seeing significant number of children with adult onset diabetes and other conditions that were once thought to exclusively begin in middle age. Nearly every one of those conditions has been linked to diet and nutritional deficiencies. Why is this happening in a society as wealthy and well-fed as ours? The reasons are all wrapped up in our way of life and the changes to society and the environment over the past 100 year some nutriitonists argue.
One hundred years ago, most foods were grown and raised on small farms. Farmers rotated their crops regularly to get the best harvests because they knew that the soil needed replenishing in order for the food to grow healthy and strong. Their livestock was fed a varied diet because the animals were allowed to free range and graze at will. This meant that the meat derived from those animals contained the nutrients from the food that they ate. The vegetables and fruits that appeared on the dinner table had been sliced and cooked in the kitchen, not canned months or even years earlier. There wasn't as much of a need to add vitamins that processing robs from food simply because the foods weren't processed.
Farming has changed in major ways since then. Crops are grown in soil that has been sterilized and robbed of its
natural nutrients by overuse, insecticides, pesticides and chemicals meant to promote large, attractive fruits and vegetables--at the cost of vitamins and minerals. The natural fertilizers that kept soil healthy have been replaced with chemical fertilizers that contain only a few of the needed chemicals, and none of the enzymes that allow the body to process and absorb vitamins and minerals from food. Mass production and processing robs foods of still more nutrients. Cooking and canning and sterlization methods can remove or destroy as much as 90% of the vitamins present in a fresh peach or carrot. Even many foods that appear fresh are likely to have been sprayed with gasses meant to preserve their color and crispness as they travel across country. The end result is vegetables and fruits that contain a fraction of the vitamins and minerals that the same foods contained 100 years ago, much of it unusable by the body as it is.
When you add that to the fact that most Americans eat diets that are high on convenience and low on nutrition, the need to add vitamins and other nutritional supplements becomes very clear.
It's important to remember that taking nutritional supplements is not a substitute for a healthy diet. They are meant to be exactly that--supplements--to fill in the gaps that our lifestyle leaves in our diets. Most doctors recommend, at the very least, a high-quality multi-vitamin supplement daily, but nowadays sophisticated nutraceutical companies are producing products that go far above basic vitamins and minerals. These products may include speciality antioxidants that are much more powerful than vitamins, and other substances beneficial for health that won't be found in any typical multivitamin supplement, such as enzymes for digestive health, herbal extracts, or other natural supplements.
Whatever kind of supplement you decide to take, it's still important to consult with your doctor to let him know of your intent.
About the Author
Dan Ho is chief editor of one of the most popular resources for nutritional, dietary, and herbal supplements on the Internet, http://www.nutritional-supplement-info.com, which discusses their pros and cons, and how to choose a quality supplement.
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