Vitamins, Minerals and You:
In an ideal world we could satisfy all of our nutritional needs from a sensible diet that contains a variety of fresh vegetables, legumes, cereals, seeds and grains, fruits, fish and, to a lesser degree, meat and dairy products. But the world is far from ideal. Intensive farming techniques used throughout the developed world have destroyed the mineral balance of the topsoil through over-production and the use of phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen-based fertilizers. These greatly increase yield, but displace many other minerals that are vital to our diet.
As just one example of the potential effect of mineral deficiencies, low levels of magnesium; the mineral which suffers most from modern fertilizing techniques, has been linked with a rise in the incidence of cancers, tumors and leukemia. Phosphorus from everyday fertilizer will depress soil levels of magnesium, calcium, manganese, iron and zinc. Potassium depresses iron, manganese and sodium, and nitrate fertilizers depress levels of sulphur molybdenum, chromium, iodine and selenium.
Now Lets Talk About Food. Flour-refining produces bread which will stay fresher longer, but the process of refining removes up to 75% of the natural minerals as well as much of the vitamin content of the unprocessed grain. Refined sugar, which is present in so many food products as both a preservative and a flavoring is nutritionally valueless when compared with the same product in its raw, natural state. Vegetables are blanched immediately before freezing, losing about 25% of their mineral content in the process. When frozen meat is thawed it loses much of its iron content, and frozen fish loses much of its iodine in the same way. Thick skinned vegetables such as peppers and cucumbers are sprayed with chelating agents to improve their appearance. These remove the remaining minerals near the skins surface and replace them with a "healthy looking", but nutritionally-bare shine.
While minerals and vitamins are vitally important to our health, no less important is a regular supply of "complete" protein. Complete proteins contain the eight essential amino acids that the body cannot manufacture itself. Without these amino acids in your diet, the vitamins and minerals that you intake cannot be absorbed or used by the body to manufacture the thousands of chemicals that the body and mind need to function as they should.
Many food manufacturers go to great lengths to replace these lost minerals and vitamins by "enriching" their products, but these minerals are often replaced in forms that the body finds next to impossible to absorb. Enriched... The standard of enrichment for white flour is to replace the twenty-two natural nutrients that are removed with three B vitamins, vitamin D, calcium and iron salts. For one of the main foods of life, that seems to be a pretty flimsy trade. According to Dr. Daniel T. Quigley, author of "The National Malnutrition", "Everyone who has in the past eaten sugar, white flour or canned food has some deficiency disease, the extent of the disease depending on the percentage of such deficient food in the diet". Without some form of "vitamin and mineral supplement" our bodies are simply starving from lack of these minerals, vitamins, and trace metals, even though we enjoy this mythical diet of "3 balanced meals" every day".
While there are specific times during our lives when we need supplementation more than others, there is not a single time when we can rely on processed foods as our only source of nutrition. The full health of a strong immune system, the stamina to withstand emotional and physical stress and protection from cardio-vascular disorders and other degenerative diseases can only be expected when your body is supplied with EVERY nutrient that it needs.
The US Surgeon General , the nations top authority on health-related matters has stated the following: "Your choice of diet can influence your long-term health prospects more than any other action you might take". It is time that we as concerned Americans realize that we must know what supplements our bodies need and how to provide these in the most effective and efficient means. Our future health, quality of life, and possibly our very lives may depend on this knowledge and action!
