I’ve heard most of them…. “Why do I need to supplement my diet with vitamins?” “It’s just expensive urine.”  ”If I eat an apple a day I should be good right?”  ”I all ready eat healthy, I don’t need vitamins” “We’re all gonna’ die anyway…” etc., etc.

A friend once sent me a joke through email that said, “Asians eat more vegetables and fish than Americans, drink less alcohol and suffer fewer heart attacks.” Then it when on to say “The French eat more fat, drink much more alcohol and smoke ten times more than Americans and suffer fewer heart attacks. So the point of the story is, eat and do what you like, it’s speaking English that is killing you.”

I laughed at the time but realized it’s no joke. Just why is it that we, the people of the United States, seem to have such poor health when we are supposed to be the richest nation on earth?  As holistic Dr.Mark Hyman says, “unless you are eating chemical and pesticide free food in fertile soil from an organic farm, drinking pure chemical free water, getting the basic daily nutrient and fiber requirements, eat meat and dairy that is free of antibiotics and hormones and getting 8 hours of sleep a night, then you don’t need vitamins.”  Does anybody fit this category?

It’s really not an option anymore.  People today need to supplement, and unfortunately most don’t understand true supplement benefits. We need to because of the circumstances we live with. Let’s go back in history for a little bit around the time of the Great Depression. After the horrible droughts, the “Dust Bowl” and then the economy crash when farmers couldn’t sell their land and ended up leaving the property, the art of Agriculture was then abandoned for “Agribusiness.”  Practices of harvesting to produce the highest quality food was then abandoned to produce the highest quantity. Land is reused over and over again with out giving it time to replenish by crop rotation. Before food has a chance to ripen and get the most amount of nutrients from the soil, it is picked too early so that it can be shipped off far away because no one has their own garden anymore…and not to mention the number of toxic chemicals and pesticides we use to save crops from insects. Unfortunately they’re not so great for human beings either. This has been a perpetual problem since then.

In this country, organic food has become a luxury when it should be the norm. Other countries, such as New Zealand, and countries within Europe have banned Genetically Modified food because of it’s dangerous effects on humans and animal life. I’m not trying to bash my homeland, but the reason we even have GM food has to do with corrupt politics. But back to organic food….

For those who say “I eat organic, so I’m ok” …unfortunately what is considered “organic” maybe not completely true. For some organic farms, they will use pesticides and chemicals in the water they use for the crops but as long as it is not sprayed directly onto the produce, it is considered “organic.” If you are on a completely organic diet and are still experiencing deficiencies and problems then your diet is incomplete and supplementation should help.

Also if you’re wanting to find a local organic farm, go to www.localharvest.org to find organic farms near you. And don’t be shy to ask about their means of planting, growing, and harvesting methods. To join the movement against Genetically Modified food, partner with the “Non-GMO Project” http://www.nongmoproject.org

The problem with our American diets is that our land is exhausted of nutrients.  That is not to say that other counties have never suffered famine.  The Great Potato Famine starved Ireland, and several who survived ended up coming to the U.S. To say it simply, we just are not getting the amount of nutrients to our bodies that we are supposed to get. We all need the same basic nutrients and we need alot of it!  Now in the last post I told you how I was making all the right decisions as far as diet but was still deficient.  It’s because it was incomplete.  I needed to supplement.

This however is not our only problem.  In the U.S. we consume more sugar, the wrong kind of fats, empty calorie foods than any other nation. We have extremely addicting preservatives such as high fructose corn syrup, refined, processed sugar, extra added caffeine and hydrogenated oils that produce free radicals that damage the cells in our bodies.  We put more and more demands on our bodies for work, our families, etc, which requires more nutrition, yet we get less and less.  It takes one deficiency to throw your body out of whack.  Most Americans have at least two or more.

I don’t say this to scare anybody, but you are probably already aware of the problem and would like to know what to do about it.  If you are like me, you are probably trying to do what I did back in 2005. Eat the best you know how.  So what are we all supposed to do?

1. Eat the best you know how-you know, eat your fruits and vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts, fresh meat and fish.  Don’t eat junk food. Dr. Hyman says, “there’s no such thing as junk food. There is food and then there is junk.” Remember this-when you go into the grocery store, shop the perimeter of the store. That’s where the produce, deli and bakery are-fresh, non-packaged food. If you are worried about pesticides on your produce, wash them good.

2. Don’t smoke or drink excessive alcohol.

3. Try to restrict medications. I know that sometimes we have medical emergencies that require immediate attention but if you are having a problem, research ways on how to treat it naturally.

4. Exercise-human beings are meant to move. We’ll talk more about this later.

5. Supplement your diet. You want to get your nutrition from an extremely strict board of scientists that adhere to quality and true science (not fads). Please don’t go buy the cheapest brand you can find at the grocery store.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned some of the excuses people give and probably the number one excuse I hear is that “I can’t afford it.”  Now that is a very understandable excuse and I have been in that situation myself. But maybe there are ways of redirecting your spending that you could try so that you can afford the nutritional support you need. Look at what you’re spending now. Do you go get chips, candy, snacks or a $1.25 Coke everyday at the vending machine at work?  Are you one of those people that must have Starbucks every morning?

Most Americans will spend, on average, about $200 a month on things they really don’t need. Most nutritional programs cost about $5 a day. You couldn’t walk out of Starbucks for less. Your health is so worth it!

If you really want to feel better then make your health a priority and see what changes you can make that will in the end be for the best.  You deserve it and you’ll be happy about the decision you made.

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