Most of my first time clients come to me with a big bag of their supplements, pills, and antioxidant formulas. They spend a lot of money on them, and the more they pay for a bottle, the better they assume it is! In my experience, more than 70% of what many bring in, (unless they are from a whole food source), tests very weak on their body. This means the body does not want them, or they are actually causing some harm!
That is why I wanted to talk about vitamins and I trust the information will be useful.
Our diet is 80% of our health and unfortunately more than 70% of the American diet is some form of processed, nutrient deficient foods, (actually they are only by-products of food). This is not nutrition!
Many take a multivitamin to cover their bases, just in case they are not getting all the nutrients from their diet. This could be a good thing, but there is a caveat: Most vitamins are not made from whole food, and can do more harm than good!
Definition of vitamin/nutrient : Any of various fat-soluble or water-soluble organic substances, essential in minute amounts for normal growth and activity of the body, and obtained naturally from plant and animal foods.
Most store bought vitamins are just synthesized, single units separated from the whole. There are no single elements found in nature’s food supply, and the body does not recognize synthetic ingredients separated from whole food. (Vitamins and medications are just chemicals). The body is made to run on whole food.
That is exactly what they imply with 99% of vitamins sold. Most are made by pharmaceuticals from a dead source, like coal tar or petrol-chemicals! They may have been alive thousands of years ago, but they are definitely expired now! The body has to make up for the whole food elements that are missing, to create a functional unit it can use. This forces the body to use its precious reserves, and eventually makes it more deficient!
When it comes to vitamins, more is not better. It is about quality, not quantity! The body needs everything in balance like it is in nature. There is also no way to cram all the nutrients from whole food into one pill, especially if it is 100-200% of the RDA!
Take Vitamin C as one of many examples. Many think that Ascorbic Acid is the same thing as vitamin C. It says ‘Vitamin C’ on the label when we buy it off the shelf. But if you read the back label, it says ascorbic acid, or ascorbate, or other forms of the same single element.
Ascorbic acid is only part of the whole food complex of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is the antioxidant that surrounds the Vitamin C complex to protect the many substances that make up Vitamin C : Rutin, Factor F, enzymes, trace minerals and many other essential components all work synergistically, (can do more together than alone), for the body to function! Even if a many of the whole food elements were present, it would still be no better than that broken watch.
When you take ascorbic acid, (and other synthetic vitamins), your body has to draw from its reserves to make up for what is missing especially when we take the mega-doses that are way out of proportion with nature. It’s like eating a bunch of egg shells and tossing the egg!
This is why any foods that are enriched, are simply adding insult to injury. They process real food, by homogenizing, pasteurizing, sterilizing, milling, canning, cooking or dehydrating. This depletes the nutrients so it lasts longer on the shelf.
Then, chemicals and dyes are added to make it look and taste like real food. Then, they enrich it with these fractionated vitamins, to make it look nutritious. More profits can be made, at the expense of nutrition. Even bugs and bacteria know there are no nutrients left, so they don’t even bother with it!
Consider the fact that most disease is just a long term nutritional deficiency that was never addressed, and it all comes together.
Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, digestion problems, and all the other maladies we have today, were not prevalent 100 years ago. That is because the soil was not depleted, the food was fresh and whole, and there were no chemicals added to the food supply.
So what is the solution? We could all switch to a raw food diet. That would be great, but may be difficult for most. The next best thing would be eating raw organic vegetables with every meal, and avoiding packaged foods. In today’s fast pace environment, many may find that a challenge.
So to start, you could just avoid any packaged foods that are enriched, and eat more organic vegetables, meats, and salads with every meal. You can also start juicing organic vegetables with a little fruit.
Organic produce has been found to have 50-70% more nutrition than conventionally grown produce. (‘Variations in Mineral Content in Vegetable’. Firman E. Baer report, Rutgers University)
To cover your bases, take a whole food supplement. There are not many out there, but just look at the label. If it has a long list of chemicals, (like ascorbic acid, alpha tocoperol, riboflavin, etc.), and they are all 100% of the FDA, or in mega doses, it is not from whole foods. You just can’t fit that much nutrition in a tiny pill! You need to see a list of the whole food, like organic broccoli, kale, berries, carrots etc. It is really that simple.
There are many powdered green drinks made from organic produce. Dr Schultz, Dr Mercola, and Dr. Ben Kim are a few that sell some.
Standard Process is one of the best whole food supplement companies I have found. Only a practitioner can prescribe them as they are medicinal grade, organic whole food! Find a practitioner in your area, and order the basic health pack. The pack includes a whole food multivitamin, trace minerals, and fish oil. That would cover most of what many are deficient in today.
I used to get a cold once or twice a year. Since I started taking whole food supplements, and prescribing them to my clients, I have not been sick, despite everyone around me getting a cold or the flu. My clients also experience the same thing!
It isn’t normal for us to be sick, have cavities, diabetes, cancer, and heart problems!
If we only give our body fake foods, it’s like supplying your carpenter with cardboard to build an entertainment center. He may be able to make it look good, but as soon as you put something on the shelf, it will collapse! That is what is happening to our bodies, and the drug companies, hospitals, and junk food industries are making millions!
We essentially get a new body every 14 months! So it is not too late to give it what it needs. We can help it build better cells, which make up every organ, and create a better immune system which creates better health!!
I know people who have ‘cured’ colon cancer, heart disease and more, just by changing their diet to whole, unprocessed foods and whole food supplements! It may not be not over night, but I would much rather tackle what is causing the problem, instead of just addressing symptoms.
The body is a miraculous, intelligent organism, with the ability to heal any wound, kill any foreign invader, and detoxify itself! But it can’t function correctly if it doesn’t get the genuine replacement parts from whole foods!
A healthy body is the best insurance policy you can have!!
Jill Coleman RN
www.healthrestoration1.com (my web site)
