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SUPPLEMENTSAre Supplements Really Necessary?
Well Hippocrates certainly had it right back in his time but what about now? Hippocrates, by the way, was the first physician to concentrate on preventing disease as well as treating it. He understood that the right type of food (and exercise) were the key to avoiding illness in the first place as well as curing it - smart fellow! Hippocrates knew that eating a natural diet would supply the body with all it needs for normal metabolism and thus good health with no disease. Now let's skip forward to now and consider this in respect of the typical diets of most of the population - including those who think they eat a good diet. What happens if you do not consume enough nutrient dense food on a daily basis to provide you with enough vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, fiber and so on??? Well - science tells us that you'll begin developing marginal nutrient deficiencies that you won't know you have and your organs will start degenerating before their time! Initially you'll experience mild problems which you may not recognize as actual health problems:
Over the longer term, if your dietary intake remains the same, there's a (very) strong chance that you'll end up being like so many others and be facing major disease:
Just to name a few! "The degeneration of our essential organs is why most of us will die from a viral infection, cancer, a stroke, or heart disease! This is why we MUST address the cause of organ degeneration and help prevent us from becoming a victim of these or other preventable illnesses!"(2) "The principles of good nutrition are universal. If we can "nutrient" the human body in a comprehensive way–on a daily basis–with the full spectrum of essential nutrients in the right forms, amounts, and in the proper balance, we can sustain long-term health and effectively avoid degenerative disease. Health, after all, must begin at the cellular level."(3) No doubt you've heard from many different sources that obesity and heart disease are currently the top diseases of the 21st century, and are causing more deaths in more countries than ever before. These are closely followed by diabetes, crohns disease and cancer. All these degenerative disorders stem from nutritional deficiencies caused by poor food choices... ...and are all preventable...
Data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate that at least 40 percent of Americans routinely consume a diet containing only 60 percent of the RDA of each of ten selected nutrients. This means that around half the population (and probably more) suffer from a deficiency of at least one important nutrient.(4) Ok, enough disturbing statistics. I'm sure you get the picture. We know what the problem is so let's start talking about the solution. The Right Food is the solution to good health!That's clear from what's just been written above.So that means that the only real action we have to take is to drastically modify our diets. Consume a lot more fruits and a tonne more (raw) vegetables so as to get the vitamins, minerals, and other micro-nutrients our bodies depend on for optimal functioning and to heal health problems. Right? Not quite! 50 years ago it was that simple but our food supply and lifestyles today are quite different. So we need a little extra nutritional help!
Technological advance along with consumer demand has negatively impacted our current day food supply, particularly for those who want to eat well.Food is now harvested before it is ripe (green harvesting). The soil in certain parts of the USA has become depleted of some essential minerals. Then there are other factors such as pesticides and herbicide residues, chemical additives and preservatives, storage/ distribution/transportation and finally cooking. All of this has weakened the micro-nutrient content of our food by the time it reaches our mouths and this has created a false sense of security when it comes to the amounts of important nutrients we think we are taking in. Research has confirmed what you probably already know - that a number of today's great looking fruits and vegetables are significantly depleted in essential nutrients. Here’s one example Source: Japan standardized Ingredients List You know what this means right? Even if you eat a well-balanced diet with the largest majority of your calories coming from raw vegetables and then fruits, it’s virtually guaranteed that all that good food will still not be supplying you with enough vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants and so on. This serious problem, along with toxins in the foods you do consume, and not to mention the high levels of saturated fat in any vitamin-less/fiber-less processed and junk foods you eat, will create a slow decline into degenerative disease. The statistics absolutely bear this out! The rate of all degenerative disease is rising year by year! With all our technological development and the amount of nutrition information available, why isn't it the other way around. People hear the message but can't or won't chance their dietary habits. I'm sure this comes as no great surprise and we know why. FOOD and LIFESTYLE! Lifestyle factors also create nutrient deficiencies and these require your attention (and action). Smoking tobacco, alcohol, stress, food allergies, prescription medicines, poor digestion and dieting all affect nutrient intakes and stores in the body. Update: (October 2005) I was about to move on with this discussion when I came across an excellent article in the Xtend-Life Natural Products website archives which looks at how our food supply has become nutrient deficient. I've decided to include it here because I think you'll find it interesting and I hope it will make you focused on and attentive to the dreadful state of our food supply. This knowledge is crucial for keeping both yourself and your family out of the sickness industry. Please ask your children to read it as well. After reading this article you'll see the necessity for sophisticated broad spectrum nutritional supplements - not only as a means of topping up deficiencies but as discussed below, as a form of preventative health-care to slow the aging process and promote overall wellness. It was written by Joanna-Roselyn Machin, BSC, Dips (Nutri, Psych), Dips NatMEd, a Health and Nutritional Psychologist and is presented with permission. Sorry, some parts repeat what I've already written above. 
Malnutrition! Are you dying from it and don't know? "Malnutrition" - any nutritional disorder caused by an insufficient, unbalanced or excessive diet, or by the impaired absorption of nutrients by the body." "No! I am not malnourished!" you are probably telling yourself! But are you sure? Surprisingly... even in affluent societies where people are overfed and overweight malnutrition is rampant, but generally undiagnosed! Most people are suffering from this condition and yet are totally unaware of it! The sad reality is that if you live in a modern society it is highly probable unless you have a program that ensures you are getting the right amounts of all necessary vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and trace elements, you will have some degree of malnutrition. This will ultimately lead to a wide range of negative health conditions, the cause of which is generally misdiagnosed and as a result are rarely successfully treated!
"Surely if I eat a reasonable diet I am getting all the essential nutrients I need?" This should be the case... but thanks to the reasons outlined below it is virtually impossible these days to get adequate amounts of essential nutrients from diet alone! Consider the following:
In bygone days people were able to get all their nutrients from nature. Their own farms and communities produced sufficient crop to sustain surrounding villages and towns. Meat was either hunted in the wild or farmed and produced also within local communities. Farmland was treated as a valuable and respected commodity, as without healthy farmland, survival would become harsh and overall health difficult to maintain. In the 1800s and before, crops were fertilized with only organic matter. Over the last century however, as the economy grew and the emphasis changed to mass-production and profits, maintaining a sustainable 'healthy' resource became quite a low priority. Around 1945 plant material was analyzed to discover that nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were the essential elements needed for crops to grow. Note: Modern science has since then clearly proven than in addition to the basic substances referred to above, many other trace minerals and elements are also essential in order to promote healthy and substantial growth. Nonetheless, back in 1945 and acting on 'flawed science' the widespread use of chemical fertilizers began and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were applied consistently to the earth. When farmers began applying these three elements they did get bigger crops. However, with repeated use, problems began. Over time these very chemicals caused millions of micro-organisms to die and the ground to become sterile. With intensive use of the land the soil became stripped of its elements, plants lacked essential nutrients and as such became sick and prone to insect damage and various other plant diseases. To combat these problems, farmers starting adding further chemicals to try and correct nutrient imbalances. On top of this, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides became commonplace in an effort to control or prevent crop diseases brought about by nutrient deficiencies. These additional toxic chemicals depleted the soil nutrients further, killing more micro-organisms. This situation is comparable to the problem of antibiotics killing friendly bacteria in the intestinal tract as well as the harmful bacteria causing infection. These intensive farming methods began a downward spiral, constantly depleting the soils of their natural components. Although 'modern' commercial crops can now be 'manufactured' to look good, due to the soils lacking so many nutrients the finished product does not contain the nutrients they once did... Nutrients so essential for good human health. To make matters worse many of these chemicals used in the production of these crops find their way into our bodies by a multitude of different ways. They cause molecular destruction and lead to the inevitable degenerative diseases we are familiar with today. So, when you eat that healthy salad or slice of multi-grain bread, it is a fact that you are getting less nutrition today than from the identical foods grown in the same soil over fifty years ago. Much of the food we buy today lacks essential nutritional components to sustain our health. As indicated above, fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grain food may look good, but if analyzed show major deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acids, which have largely been replaced by undesirable additives! Also, despite there being some real question marks over the long term safety of some genetically modified foods, they continue to slip quietly into our food chain. It is a misconception that the many chemicals added to preserve our food for long storage or transportation actually work. In actual fact, because of their very nature, they only deteriorate the nutrient content further, although they do help maintain the appearance of the food. Add to this, the environmental pollutants we are subjected to every day, not only from substances that we are in contact with but also within our water (thanks to the dumping of industrial waste) and the very air we breathe, which is causing widespread respiratory disease, and there is little wonder that the health of the worlds population is steadily and surely deteriorating! Don't be one of those people who do not contemplate their health until having some kind of health 'scare'. If you are still young it is likely that you feel invincible, but if you want to maintain healthy joint and circulatory strength throughout adulthood, for example, act now to ensure that you can significantly reduce the likelihood of suffering from a degenerative disease later in life. The inescapable fact is that as we age our immune system's efficiency decreases. Stresses and chemicals of modern living further weaken this system and increase risks of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, arthritis and diabetes. When you further add into this cocktail, over the counter and prescription medicines there is a real recipe for disaster which is currently unfolding in an unprecedented manner. It is well established that these medicines 'steal' essential nutrients from the body. The key if you wish to avoid degenerative disease is to try to balance your body with the nutrients it is lacking. This means avoiding the malady that most of the population live with... After more than 50 years leading medical journals now admit that nutritional supplementation is necessary in spite of some 'authorities' suggesting that it is still possible to obtain all essential nutrients from a standard western diet. Nonetheless, experts conclude that:
Well there you have it. Quality, science-based multi nutrient supplements are a sensible health-care strategy for those who want to take control of their own health. Supplements have become a necessity of the 21st century – in conjunction with a nutrient dense diet they can help prevent and treat disease and maximize health and wellness. Daily use of a high quality broad spectrum supplement will certainly help you become a customer of the emerging wellness industry and not of the established sickness industry But please don't think that the leading supplements are a magic bullet! They help but your diet is the real key to optimal health - and as you know the 'average western diet today is dreadful - so bad that's its killing us!. The health authorities know this all too well! Even the ultra conservative
American Medical Association
who for the last 40 years denied the necessity of supplementation (in the face of substantial scientific evidence) has now recommended in their journal (JAMA) that we take a daily supplement. So what they are saying here is confirming what has been said above - that supplements help prevent chronic disease! Which is way more than the routine 'nutritional insurance for bad diets' which most people associate as the main reason for taking a supplement. The aging 'baby boomers' are the first generation to realize this. They are not willing to get old and they have the financial means to try and achieve their goal by using the industry's best multi ingredient 'wellness' supplements. This explains the increasing trend towards the use of more expensive science-based supplements. There are also 'push' factors influencing this trend. In particular is the 'boomers' fear of chronic illness (especially cancer) and fear of the side effects of synthetic drugs. FACTS TO PONDER:I mentioned at the top of this page about what is likely to happen to you when your diet doesn't consistently provide enough vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, phytonutrients and other raw materials your body needs. Here's another 2 disturbing statistics that exemplify the answer:
If you're serious about your health (and you obviously are because you've read through to the end of this long article), please make some changes to get the basics right. Eat more nutrient dense raw vegetables (dark green veggies have the highest micro-nutrient content per calorie - Cos/Romaine lettuce is the highest) followed by fresh fruits, raw seeds and some raw nuts (watch the calories in nuts). For the reasons outlined above please complement your nutritional program with a market leading multi nutrient nutritional supplement Comparing The Best SupplementsPlease take a look at the 4 best vitamin supplements in the market which have been transparently and fairly compared in easy to read and understand charts.My research has shown these to be the best supplements available today (2007). After the comparisons I have prepared no holds barred reviews of each so you can see which of these supplements is the best of the group and why. This is the supplement that my family and I use Supplements, are they really necessary - Sources
From are supplements necessary back to home page
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