Nutrition’s Best Friend is the Multivitamin

It’s estimated that over 80% of Americans do not consume the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day necessary for good health. For many people, this doesn’t come as a big surprise. It can be hard to fit in that many servings of fruits and veggies during the course of a busy day. Even forewarned with nutrition knowledge and having the best dietary intentions, it’s pretty hard to eat right while on the go. The good news is that we no longer have to struggle to maintain our health through food alone thanks to nutritional science and the multivitamin.

People today prepare meals at home far less frequently than past generations. Two working parents often add up to a lot of take-out food and restaurants aren’t often following health-conscious preparation. Many restaurants in the United States also provide portions that are too large and are made with excessive amounts of sodium and saturated fats. Today’s jobs frequently call for hectic schedules which cause irregular or even skipped meals. Stress is also an unwelcome companion of many employees which causes them to snack on nutritionally-empty foods and adopt poor overall eating habits. When working late, it is simply easier to find a vending machine than a carrot.

Even if someone is in the 20% group of diet champions, it’s still a good idea to take a multivitamin supplement. Even the most diligently consumed fruits and vegetables may not contain the highest levels of certain vitamins (such as D and E). People not taking vitamins are also likely not getting enough protection against diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiac disease. The Journal of the American Medical Association acknowledges that even the healthiest of pregnant women don’t take in enough folate through diet alone to help prevent birth defects. Another consideration for adding a multivitamin is the adverse affects current processing, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers have on our foods. As with all things, not all multivitamins are the same. It’s important to look for vitamins and minerals that are combined in a similar way to what’s found in nature to optimize their synergy. You want their components to be supremely balanced and find vitamins that are backed by reputable clinical studies and contain all 23 of the recommended vitamins and minerals at proven levels for the best possible health benefits.

Dieting for a Healthy Mind and Body

The word diet can cause so many negative feelings: guilt, deprivation, starvation, and even desperation. People who had previously enjoyed a healthy self-esteem reported feeling immediately depressed and anxious the day they start a diet. They crave certain foods more once put on a forbidden list and want to consume calories when asked to count them. Consider the common “last meal” approach to dieting as proof of how much dread is associated with the process. People planning to start a diet typically overindulged on their favorite foods the day before, as if they never expect to eat them again. If the intention behind a decision to diet is so positive then why does the process make people feel so bad? It may be because the focus is on outer appearance instead of inner health.

The primary motivator to lose weight should be to achieve a greater state of wellness. If someone is overweight, they are at higher risk for many serious ailments like heart disease and diabetes. Even if a patient has already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, studies have shown that people who lose weight are two times more able to successfully control their disease. The American Institute for Cancer tells us that losing weight can also help prevent certain cancers like colon, breast, prostate and uterine cancers. Patients who lose weight will have more energy and put less stress on their joints. There are many physical ailments that can’t be controlled but thankfully, weight is one that we can. People need to should say to themselves, “I am starting a diet, not because I don’t look good, but to be healthier.” Rather than looking for immediate results on a scale, dieters need to make better food choices and increase their physical activity. They should adopt a manageable and reasonable eating plan which they can maintain throughout their life - not an extreme fix. Crash diets often confuse the metabolism and people end up gaining back the weight they lost, plus additional pounds. People who focus on improving their physical and mental condition will experience an improved state of peace, health, wellness, and weight.

Antioxidants - Believe the Hype

If you want to help your body fight off cancer, consume lots of brightly colored fruits and vegetables. If you're interesting in preventing chronic heart disease, go grab a whole grain bagel. If you are looking to reduce your chances of developing diabetes, consider making a slow-cooked tomato sauce (even better, pour it over whole wheat pasta). Do you love dark chocolate and enjoy a glass of red wine? Go ahead and indulge yourself – they will actually improve your health. All of these amazing foods will help your body achieve a state of greater wellness, thanks to power of antioxidants.

Antioxidants are amazing nutrients in certain foods that can slow or stop oxidative damage to our body's cells. You can compare oxidative cell damage in the body to the formation of rust on a car. When iron is exposed to oxygen and water it corrodes. The free-radical theory of aging tells us that, as we age, cells are damaged by free radicals over time. If you've occasionally flipped through health magazines you may have seen the phrase, "fights free-radicals." However, many people don't know what a free-radical is and why it's worth fighting. The website www.wisegeek.com gives us the following definition, "Free radicals are organic molecules responsible for aging, tissue damage, and possibly some diseases. These molecules are very unstable, therefore they look to bond with other molecules, destroying their vigor and perpetuating the detrimental process." Free-radicals can destroy cells and cause significant damage to your health. They've been linked to diabetes, macular degeneration, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and aging prematurely. Ingesting foods with antioxidants and taking supplements will enable you to protect yourself and build your immune system, all while stimulating your palate. Antioxidants are found in fruits like grapes, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, lime, cranberries, tomatoes and peaches. They are in dark, leafy vegetables and also green peppers, carrots, squash and broccoli. Antioxidants are in nuts, seeds, whole grains and soy. You can even find them in dark chocolate. A list of the top twenty vegetables, fruits and nuts with antioxidants can be read at: http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/supplements/a/antioxidants.htm. When it comes to your health, antioxidants are one trend you really should follow.