Health & Nutrition

Health and nutrition conditions in the US and other nations thought to be doing well aren't nearly as good as you might expect. There are many people who believe they are eating a nutritious healthy diet that are actually undernourished or they are malnourished.

First of all, there is a huge difference between what your body needs nutritionally and what you think you're getting from your diet. It is no longer possible for us to get the nutrients our bodies need for good health just by eating a simple diet the way the nutritional pyramid says we should. Our foods do not have the amounts of nutrients that they used to. It's no longer a simple matter of eating your fruits and veggies to live a life of health and well-being.

Health and nutrition go hand in hand; you can not have one without the other. If you want to get serious about your health you need to learn what your body really needs in the way of nutrition and how to get it.

How do I eat a healthy nutritious diet?

Maybe one hundred years ago you could have bought your veggies at the local market and been getting what you needed nutritionally from your diet. In today's modern society it no longer works that way. Through overuse and the lack of crop rotation the lands that our foods come from have been stripped of the vitamins and minerals necessary to grow healthy crops. This is from a study done all the way back in the 1930s. Do you think our lands have magically replenished themselves with the vital nutrients we need for our survival over the past 3/4 of a century or so? Me either.

My food looks healthy.

Back during World War I or World War II (I can't remember which) we had a lot of extra nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium on our hands from all of our weapon making efforts. Well, our government, being the good citizens of the environment they are, started burying it in the ground. Then, they began to notice that at some of these dump sites the plants were much greener and healthier looking than the surrounding foliage. To make a long story short, this eventually lead to the discovery that given the proper levels of these chemicals, unhealthy crops could be made to look healthy and nourishing even though they are not healthy plants.

Our foods no longer contain the vital nutrients in the levels our bodies need for living a healthy lifestyle; they just look pretty. If the fruits and vegetables that you are eating are not healthy they can not provide the nutrients necessary for your health and well-being, period.

How do I get the nutrition I need?

This is actually quite a controversial subject. You will find people who will tell you all kinds of crazy stuff; I'm going to give you the straight poop.

First of all, you need to eat fresh, raw fruit and veggies every day. Even though they don't have the nutrient levels they used to they still have a lot of nutritional value. All you hear about are vitamins and minerals, but they are only part of the story. You also need food enzymes, which you get from raw foods, and if you're a meat eater, like myself, then you also need to explore the benefits of probiotics.

Secondly, the FDA has officially proclaimed that EVERYONE who wants to be healthy should be taking a daily supplement in addition to your normal diet. What the FDA doesn't tell you, however, is that not all supplements are created equal and that some are actually extremely harmful. It's not all of the new herbal supplements and such I'm talking about either. Believe it or not, your one a day multivitamin could be harmful to your health. There are two types of vitamin supplements on the market, natural whole food vitamins which are healthy and nutritious, and synthetic vitamins that are cheap, cause vitamin deficiencies and could actually bring on different diseases and conditions.

Don't be fooled by all the marketing hype. Centrum, One a Day Vitamins and many of the other supplements that will have a familiar ring to your ear are not good for you; in fact, it's quite the opposite. Just about every name brand vitamin on the shelves at your pharmacy and local convenience store contain harmful synthetic vitamins. They have no nutritional value despite what the label says. They have no biological activity in your body. And, last but not least, they have no benefits to your health.

Our bodies are priceless and yet most of us abuse our bodies as though they have the ability to handle major abuse year after year without paying any price. It's often many years later when we discover all that abuse comes at a major cost. Let's educate ourselves and others about nutrition and our body so we can all live longer and healthier lives.