What about vitamins?
In my last article I talked about God’s perfect medicine for us – greens and leafy vegetables! We are surrounded by what we need – beautiful multi-colored fruits and vegetables – all put here to share and enjoy. We can maintain our health and heal ourselves by consuming plenty of natural, healing foods. In order to be proactive and keep ourselves healthy, would God take vitamins?
Today’s farming methods result in produce that has less vitamins and minerals than intended – sometimes 30-40% less. So how can we get enough of nature’s medicine and make sure that we don’t ingest chemicals at the same time? It would be great if we could all have access to 100% organic produce all the time, but most of us can’t. Do you think we were meant to take inorganic, fake vitamins and supplements?
A typical person needs about 12 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day in order to get the amount of nutrients needed by the body to function normally and protect against disease. The fruits and vegetables need to be chosen from a variety of colors from deep green to purple, red, yellow, and orange. Even if we eat a healthy diet, we are still eating produce that has much lower nutrient content, and we cannot possibly get what we need as far as vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
Cheap inorganic vitamins are being manufactured quickly and are made available everywhere for mass consumption. However, studies are showing that there is no benefit to taking multi-vitamins and that many are not even digested in the intestines because of the fillers and materials used to manufacture them. Since there is no way we can eat what we need or get the nutrients from what we buy, YES we do need to supplement, but it needs to be done the right way. Everyone needs a whole-food, plant-based concentrated supplement made strictly from fruits and vegetables that are non-GMO and processed at low-heat so the original nutrients are preserved. Look for gluten-free, dairy-free ones. If you have questions about one you find, just ask me! There are also great plant-based shakes and powders that you can use. Make sure your vitamins and minerals don’t have fillers, chemicals, or coloring in them. Otherwise you are defeating your purpose. Be careful and research what you buy. There are several quality affordable products you can find easily. Skip the synthetic pills and go for the most unprocessed, least chemically fortified version you can find.
My recommendation is to stick with whole foods in nature’s package and eat as many fruits and vegetables daily as you can, as many colors as you can. Then supplement on top of that with whole-food, plant-based, pure, organic, non-GMO products. If you have any questions feel free to contact me!
(Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspotin Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is a speaker and also presents workshops on health and nutrition topics. Beth offers in-person and phone consultations – contact her through Facebook or email for more information. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)
