Why Supplements?

Adequate volume of  all nutrients are essential for good health. All nutrients are important for cell replacements, tissue repairs, production of energy and enzymes, as well as chemical functions. We get all our nutrients form what we ingest. While in the past people bought fresh foods, dairy products, and meats directly from the farm. Today people rarely have time to plan well-balanced meals, or to track down local foods to use in their meal preparation. For the sake of convenience we tend to buy our foods in grocery stores or restaurants. And unlike our ancestors, we eat convenience foods of all types – even entire meals that are readily available in packages, cans, jars, “boil-in-bag” pouches, freezer trays, and microwave-ready containers.

In choosing convenience natural values are sacrificed. From the harvest to the tabletop, our food may be shipped, stored, processed, refined, prepared, packaged, frozen, and cooked. Other factors affecting our food quality are farming practice, transportation, processing, canning freezing, refining and cooking. In rice eating nations, 60 - 80% of calories come from rice. This means that 20 - 40% of calories from the other foods consumed, must supply all the missing vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients. In many countries, the nutrient content of rice largely determines the quality of health of people who must subsist on it. White rice is not a nutrient-divers food – 2% of a polished rice granule is of  nutritional value while 92% is solely carbohydrates. 

To completely satisfy nutritional needs requires eating volumes of all types of food beyond our stomach capacity, That is not possible, thus the increasing nutritional shortfall creating a gap that need to be filled if our goal is to maintain good health. Therefore, some people will argue that there is a need for supplements. This suggestion leads us to some critical thought provoking questions.

         

The Need For Supplements

• What is the dominant reasons for supplements?
• Do age, sex, physical condition, and activity levels have any direct bearing on the body's nutrient needs?
• What greater nutritional needs do people with greater preference for high protein meals have?
• What greater nutritional needs do vegetarians have?
• What greater nutritional needs we have as we grow older?
• What greater nutritional needs do physically active people, and those exposed to pollution on a daily basis, who consume foods laden with fats or chemical additives, or who are under mental stress have?

Many scientists believe that these differences may play a large role in explaining why some people complain of feeling tired and sluggish while others remain vital and active, why some complain of experiencing chronic pains, while others of the same age group are basically pain free.

• What medical treatments create a greater demand for supplementation and why?
• Why is it critical that nutrient shortfalls are compensated for?
• How does the shortfall of one nutrient affects benefiting from others you have excess of?

Supplements are also important for younger adults. Habitually supplementing the diet in early years makes healthcare easier during later years.

• Why is this statement crucial to observe?
• Why are supplements an essential part of the diet of those with keen interest in maintaining good health now and in later years?
• What is the main factor affecting our diet's ability to provide adequate and stable nutrition, and what fact requires keen consideration?
• What can be learnt about our diet from Brazil nuts examples?
• How are the examples of selenium in Brazil nuts comparable to nutrient values in all other foods?
• What factors do affect absorbability of some nutrients?
• What are factors to keep in mind to maximize nutrient absorbability?
• Why is it important to take measures to improve nutrient absorbability?
• What are the difference between the absorbability of plant sourced minerals as against animal sourced minerals?

All these questions are answered in the books, Nutrition That Keeps You Alive and Caring Your Bones Today for the Future (These small digital books are for everyone). These books aim at showing you how to maintain, manage or acquire good health and strong bones with physical activity and the four primary nutrients in your daily regime. They also explain why you need supplements and what to take into consideration when making your selections. 

Nutrition That Keeps You Alive was not written specifically for people with high cholesterol, but for everyone who are interested in achieving and maintaining good health. However, people with high, uncontrolled cholesterol level who bought the first edition found it easy to normalize their cholesterol level by following the suggestions outlined. One lady reported a significant reduction within one week. Eight years later, during our latest interaction, she divulged that her cholesterol stabilized within a year from following the suggestions in this book, and it had not escalated since.

Goals of Nutritional Supplements

Supplements impact your quality of life as they go a long way towards filling nutritional gaps created by suboptimal diets. Supplementation has two goals:

1. Providing essential nutrients in amounts sufficient to prevent or correct deficiency symptoms

2. Providing nutrients in amounts necessary for supporting optimal health.

In other words, supplements can give your body what it needs to survive and thrive.

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