Eat Fruits and Vegetables For A Longer, Healthier Life
Did you know that diet and nutritional deficiencies are the major cause of most health conditions? The top 3 leading causes of death in this country – heart disease, cancer and stroke – are mostly preventable with diet and nutrition alone! This is why many people are seeking alternative healthcare today.
It is important that you eat properly. Although you may be taking some sort of nutritional supplementation, it is in no way a replacement for food. Human beings require food. We can’t manufacture our own food. It would be wonderful if we could, however, we are required to actually eat and process foods to get the appropriate nutrients necessary for life.
We have all been instructed to follow a good diet or told to eat right, but we are never told exactly what that is. That could be interpreted differently for each individual person. It could mean don’t eat fried foods for one person and for another it could mean to eat a vegetarian type diet. Let’s take a look at nutrition. You are what to eat!
Nutrition is the science of the relationship of foods and nutrients to health and disease. It is a very complex science involving over 40 different nutrients. Nutrition is vitally important for every age group. It is essential for resistance to disease and the ability of the body to heal and repair. Optimal nutrition is also needed for normal development, reproduction and for growth.
Nutrients fall into six groups: carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, and water.
Let’s talk about vitamins. Vitamins are essential for growth, protection and the regulation of energy within the body. They must be supplied by diet. A deficiency in a particular vitamin can ultimately result in the expression of symptoms. Vitamins perform specific roles within the body and can be further divided into two groups, fat-soluble and water-soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat-soluble vitamin A was the first vitamin identified. The body more readily absorbs this group when consumed with fat or oils. These vitamins are stored in the body and need not necessarily be consumed daily. The water-soluble group consists of the B vitamins, which encompass the entire B complex including B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, folic acid, pantothenic acid and biotin as well as vitamin C.
As vitally important as it is for you to consume appropriate foods, it may also be necessary for you to likewise commit to taking some form of vitamin supplementation. The food that we eat today does not have the same vitamin and mineral content that it did years ago. There is a steady and rapid depletion of the soil upon which crops are grown creating deficiency of vitamins and minerals. As a matter fact to get the same amount of iron that was in one cup of spinach in 1945 you would have to eat 65 cups today! Also many crops cannot even absorb trace minerals from the soil due to chemical fertilizers. Another problem today is the genetic modification of foods. Genetically altered foods may contain genes from other plants or animals; they may even contain chemicals such as pesticides.
There is a company that has isolated the gene in fish that protects them from cold and has integrated that gene into a tomato. Many of you are aware of the recalled taco shells several years ago because they were contaminated with the genetically altered corn named ‘Starlink’ which was modified to produce its own pesticides. Over 70% of the corn crop has been genetically engineered. This corn is devoid of vitamin B12 and other compounds. Needless to say supplementation should be included in your daily diets, but from a natural source.
