It’s never too late to change your habits, and if you are not in
the habit of taking a multivitamin supplement regularly, it’s
time you did. Altering your behavior in this one respect will
greatly improve your chances of living a long and healthy life
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Good nutrition is necessary to maintain optimum health, and a
multivitamin supplement will ensure that you receive what your
body needs to help prevent and fight disease and improve your
state of well-being.
What Does Good Nutrition Mean?
We can enjoy good health and heal ourselves of most ills through
good health practices, which include giving our bodies the fuel
needed from the things we eat. Good nutrition means obtaining
the right balance and amounts of water, carbohydrates, proteins
and fats, plus vitamins and minerals. Although there are many
food-sources of these nutrients, here is a review of what you
learned in school as the main sources:
• Complex carbohydrates can be found in fruit, vegetables,
whole grains, peas, and beans. Simple carbohydrates are in
table sugar, fruit, and processed foods like dessert, candy,
and soft drinks.
• Proteins are in abundance in meat and dairy products, as
well in as nuts, seeds, beans, wheat, and rice.
• The fats we need are usually picked up from dairy products,
meats, fish, and oils extracted from various vegetables.
• Vitamins and minerals are most easily obtained from the
vegetables and fruits we eat.
Can Good Nutrition Come From a Well-Balanced Diet?
Medical spokesmen no longer try to reassure us that we can get
everything we need by eating well. We can’t. Food itself is no
longer the same as it once was. Vegetables and fruits are often
grown in soil that has been depleted of nutrients, which means
the foods are also. As well, foods lose many nutrients in the
process of storing, shipping, refining, and even through cooking.
We can’t be sure, therefore, that the food we are eating has the
nutritional value it is supposed to have. Not only that, it
might not be a healthy choice for other reasons:
• Fruits and vegetables can be contaminated with insecticides
that can’t be rinsed or even washed off, and if the skins
are removed, many of the nutrients are removed as well.
• Additives can help preserve food and make it tastier and more
attractive, but we aren’t sure of the long-term effects of
these chemicals on our bodies.
• Some fruit and vegetables are now routinely genetically
altered.
• Sugar, salt, and fat are inexpensive commodities that add
flavor, and, therefore, are used in large quantities in most
commercially prepared foods.
• Animals and fowl are loaded with hormones that are passed on
to us when we eat them.
Food production and processing are not the only culprits that
worry us and make it difficult to obtain the nutrition we need
from the food we eat. We have to share the blame by our own
practices of skipping meals, eating on the run, and choosing
heavily processed, nutrient-poor food:
• We eat too much fat and too much of the most harmful – read
"saturated" – kind, such as meat, eggs, and cheese.
• We eat too much sugar and salt, and not enough fruit and
vegetables.
• Some of us eat too much food for good health; others are
constantly dieting and don’t eat enough.
• We are, for the most part, not active enough to eat the
amount of food needed to maintain good health without a
substantial weight gain.
(These last two points fall into the category of damned if you
do; damned if you don’t.)
Since we can’t rely on our diets to supply us with the necessary
building blocks to maintain good health a dietary supplement is
the answer. Supplements can be in the form of a tablet, a
capsule, a liquid, or in powders that can be mixed in water or
juice, or added to bars, creams, or gels. Supplements are sold
as individual vitamins or minerals, or in combination
multivitamin formulas, which may include mineral additions as
well.
Why Choose a Multivitamin?
Vitamins are required to maintain both physical and mental
health. For instance, a deficiency of vitamin C will cause
scurvy, a deficiency of vitamin D
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rickets, and a deficiency of vitamin A will cause eye problems.
Minerals are needed for healthy bones and teeth, normal cell
function, the composition of body fluids, and for the proper
utilization of vitamins and other nutrients.
In a multivitamin, the whole range of vitamins will be included,
taking into consideration the amounts recommended by the
government’s determination, many years ago, of the minimum
required daily allowance (RDA) for the prevention of serious
deficiencies. Since research conducted in more recent years has
shown us that the prevention of disease is also possible,
multivitamins are now formulated with this feature in mind.
Unless you have symptoms that show you need a particular vitamin
or mineral in larger than normal quantities to correct a specific
problem, a multivitamin supplement is usually a better choice
than taking several different individual vitamins. Nutrients
work together in cooperative action, or synergy, and correcting a
deficiency in one vitamin or mineral may be not only ineffective,
it may also induce a deficiency in another vitamin or mineral.
A multivitamin’s balanced preparation, therefore, is not only
effective, it is safe. A one a day multivitamin
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convenient delivery method for most people. Taking several
tablets or capsules a day to meet your needs can be not only
expensive but also too much of a burden for most people.
What is the Best Multivitamin for You?
Multivitamins are designed for specific purposes, and you will
find formulas that are particularly suited for a child or for an
adult. Women have special needs at various stages in their lives
and a multivitamin for women will be formulated to optimize
prenatal, pre-menopausal, or post-menopausal health. For
example, there are different amounts of calcium and iron needed
by women at different ages, and pregnant women require folic
acid, zinc and manganese to a greater degree than non-pregnant
women. A man may be looking for help with hair loss and waning
libido.
Good health requires good practices like eating a well-balanced
diet, exercising regularly and a maintaining a positive attitude.
A multivitamin supplement can help in all three areas. Start
taking one today.
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