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Today in the Kitchen: Why take vitamins and supplements?
Isn’t eating well good enough? It would appear that in the industrialized nations, hunger has been solved. Our agricultural systems are advanced, and produce much more food per acre than ever before. Food is available everywhere. As a culture, we overeat and are overweight. Why are we, then, suffering from more degenerative diseases than Third World Countries?
The answers are vast and interesting. A brief overview of the topics includes the fact that modern agriculture uses techniques and materials that destroy the humus in soil, which, along with mineral rock, is where the nutrients are. Monocropping, which is growing the same crop in the same area year after year, does not allow the soil to regenerate. Organic matter is not returned to the soil because it is labor intensive, so chemical fertilizers are used, which upset the natural balance of the soil ecology. The result is that our food does not contain the nutrients that it used to.
While this might seem to apply to vegetables and fruit only, the animals we eat are high on the food chain and consume these crops. Additionally, they are fed hormones to boost growth weight and rates, antibiotics to beat down diseases that breed in unnatural living conditions, and artificial ingredients to increase the volume of feed. The effects of these methods appear in animal products such as eggs and dairy as well as meat. Our oceans and streams are polluted, so the quality of the fish has become dangerous in some cases (mercury poisoning comes to mind).
What’s a soul to do? Many people resort to taking vitamins, minerals and other supplements to ensure that they get the right amount of building blocks to maintain health. These additions to the food diet can be thought of as health insurance. In cases of specific ailments, supplements sometimes can resolve the problem without use of prescription drugs. Is that better, you might ask? Prescription drugs are synthetic substances that have to be processed by our bodies’ filtration systems: the liver and kidneys. If we could correct a situation without taxing those vital organs, wouldn’t that be a good thing?
Which are best?
So, let’s say we want to take a multivitamin with minerals. How to choose? First off, a product that is food-based vs. synthetically manufactured provides a substance that the body recognizes as food and can make use of more readily. In terms of assimilation, a liquid or powder (mixed in juice or water) would be first choice, then a gel cap, and lastly, a solid pill. I often wonder how many of the pills we take end up in the plumbing.
Next, try to find products without artificial colors, preservatives and fillers. Check for expiration dates. One clinical nutritionist recommends these minimum amounts:
1,000 mg calcium
400-600 mg magnesium
400 IU vitamin D
100 IU vitamin E
250 mg vitamin C
200 mcg chromium
200 mcg selenium
5-10 ml manganese
15 ml zinc
400 mcg folic acid
10 mg each B vitamin
Vitamins and minerals need to be balanced in proportion to each other. These are baseline amounts that may be tweaked for specific needs. The B and C vitamins are water soluble, and can be taken in larger doses and excreted by the body.
Beyond the basics: antioxidants are substances made by the body and found in food that protect us from free radicals, molecules that destroy healthy cells and which are being found to be causal factors in every known disease. Dr. Lester Packer, a researcher at U.C. Berkeley for five decades, has published his findings in The Antioxidant Miracle. Here are his recommendations:
In the a.m.:
Vitamin E 100 mg tocotrienols
200 mg mixed tocopherols
CoQ10 30 mg
Lipoic acid 50 mg
Vitamin C 250 mg ester C
B vitamins 400 mcg folic acid
300 mcg biotin
2 mg B6
In the p.m.:
Vitamin E 200 mg natural alpha tocopherol
Lipoic acid 50 mg
Vitamin C 250 mg ester C
Gingko biloba 30 mg
Selenium 200 mcg
If that seems like a lot to deal with, there are multiple antioxidants, and one in particular that follows this recipe pretty closely. Dr. Packer adds some caveats:
1) Smokers and people at risk for cancer/cardiovascular disease: add 20 mg pycnogenol, up the CoQ10 to 50 mg, and the lipoic acid to 100 mg; 2) All of these need to be organic in order to be properly utilized by the body. The artificial vitamins react differently with internal chemistry; 3) Note the different types of vitamin E. It is the main fighter, especially in the brain, which is 60% fat. (Vitamin E is fat soluble.); 4) A multiple B complex vitamin would probably be OK if it supplied close to these amounts.
Some super foods
Superfoods are foods that are high in various nutrients and are therefore considered to be beneficial to health. Often they are high in vitamins (such as C), antioxidants, minerals, fiber and other natural compounds. Examples are green powders from algae that are high energy foods (containing protein, vitamins and minerals) and some fruits (acai and pomegranates are recent discoveries). One of the advantages of these foods is that there are no side effects. They are being marketed to address conditions from high cholesterol, heart disease and cancer, to mood disorders.
Other foods that we don’t think of as health boosters are herbs and probiotics. The former include culinary herbs such as sage, chamomile, lavender, mint, cinnamon, garlic, rose, ginger, and lots more. This is a very interesting field to read up on. Find a good herb book at the library and take a journey through history, learning how these plants were discovered and used before modern medicine, and how they are still useful today.
Probiotics are the “good bacteria” in our guts, that get out of balance by consumption of sugar, alcohol, not enough fiber, hydrogenated fats, fast foods, caffeine, too much salt, artificial substances, and so on. To help re-establish a healthy gut, cutting down on the aforementioned foods is a first step. Then, add more of the good guys by eating fermented foods (yogurt, kefir, naturally fermented sauerkraut, kim chi), or by taking a supplement. Again, I suggest a liquid form. There’s a great blueberry flavored one that I get at the natural food store. It’s no task to take a spoonful of that.
In closing, hydration helps us carry helpful nutrients to the cells and flush toxins from the body. In the summer heat, this is a reminder to drink more. I walk to the sink first thing when I get up and make myself drink a glass of water. It helps me get moving. More on water soon…
Samaya Jones is a Holistic Nutritional Consultant and Natural Foods Personal Chef, who cooks for you and your guests in your home. She writes for health websites, newspapers, and teaches wine education classes. She can be reached at ncsamayaj@gmail.com.
The answers are vast and interesting. A brief overview of the topics includes the fact that modern agriculture uses techniques and materials that destroy the humus in soil, which, along with mineral rock, is where the nutrients are. Monocropping, which is growing the same crop in the same area year after year, does not allow the soil to regenerate. Organic matter is not returned to the soil because it is labor intensive, so chemical fertilizers are used, which upset the natural balance of the soil ecology. The result is that our food does not contain the nutrients that it used to.
While this might seem to apply to vegetables and fruit only, the animals we eat are high on the food chain and consume these crops. Additionally, they are fed hormones to boost growth weight and rates, antibiotics to beat down diseases that breed in unnatural living conditions, and artificial ingredients to increase the volume of feed. The effects of these methods appear in animal products such as eggs and dairy as well as meat. Our oceans and streams are polluted, so the quality of the fish has become dangerous in some cases (mercury poisoning comes to mind).
What’s a soul to do? Many people resort to taking vitamins, minerals and other supplements to ensure that they get the right amount of building blocks to maintain health. These additions to the food diet can be thought of as health insurance. In cases of specific ailments, supplements sometimes can resolve the problem without use of prescription drugs. Is that better, you might ask? Prescription drugs are synthetic substances that have to be processed by our bodies’ filtration systems: the liver and kidneys. If we could correct a situation without taxing those vital organs, wouldn’t that be a good thing?
Which are best?
So, let’s say we want to take a multivitamin with minerals. How to choose? First off, a product that is food-based vs. synthetically manufactured provides a substance that the body recognizes as food and can make use of more readily. In terms of assimilation, a liquid or powder (mixed in juice or water) would be first choice, then a gel cap, and lastly, a solid pill. I often wonder how many of the pills we take end up in the plumbing.
Next, try to find products without artificial colors, preservatives and fillers. Check for expiration dates. One clinical nutritionist recommends these minimum amounts:
1,000 mg calcium
400-600 mg magnesium
400 IU vitamin D
100 IU vitamin E
250 mg vitamin C
200 mcg chromium
200 mcg selenium
5-10 ml manganese
15 ml zinc
400 mcg folic acid
10 mg each B vitamin
Vitamins and minerals need to be balanced in proportion to each other. These are baseline amounts that may be tweaked for specific needs. The B and C vitamins are water soluble, and can be taken in larger doses and excreted by the body.
Beyond the basics: antioxidants are substances made by the body and found in food that protect us from free radicals, molecules that destroy healthy cells and which are being found to be causal factors in every known disease. Dr. Lester Packer, a researcher at U.C. Berkeley for five decades, has published his findings in The Antioxidant Miracle. Here are his recommendations:
In the a.m.:
Vitamin E 100 mg tocotrienols
200 mg mixed tocopherols
CoQ10 30 mg
Lipoic acid 50 mg
Vitamin C 250 mg ester C
B vitamins 400 mcg folic acid
300 mcg biotin
2 mg B6
In the p.m.:
Vitamin E 200 mg natural alpha tocopherol
Lipoic acid 50 mg
Vitamin C 250 mg ester C
Gingko biloba 30 mg
Selenium 200 mcg
If that seems like a lot to deal with, there are multiple antioxidants, and one in particular that follows this recipe pretty closely. Dr. Packer adds some caveats:
1) Smokers and people at risk for cancer/cardiovascular disease: add 20 mg pycnogenol, up the CoQ10 to 50 mg, and the lipoic acid to 100 mg; 2) All of these need to be organic in order to be properly utilized by the body. The artificial vitamins react differently with internal chemistry; 3) Note the different types of vitamin E. It is the main fighter, especially in the brain, which is 60% fat. (Vitamin E is fat soluble.); 4) A multiple B complex vitamin would probably be OK if it supplied close to these amounts.
Some super foods
Superfoods are foods that are high in various nutrients and are therefore considered to be beneficial to health. Often they are high in vitamins (such as C), antioxidants, minerals, fiber and other natural compounds. Examples are green powders from algae that are high energy foods (containing protein, vitamins and minerals) and some fruits (acai and pomegranates are recent discoveries). One of the advantages of these foods is that there are no side effects. They are being marketed to address conditions from high cholesterol, heart disease and cancer, to mood disorders.
Other foods that we don’t think of as health boosters are herbs and probiotics. The former include culinary herbs such as sage, chamomile, lavender, mint, cinnamon, garlic, rose, ginger, and lots more. This is a very interesting field to read up on. Find a good herb book at the library and take a journey through history, learning how these plants were discovered and used before modern medicine, and how they are still useful today.
Probiotics are the “good bacteria” in our guts, that get out of balance by consumption of sugar, alcohol, not enough fiber, hydrogenated fats, fast foods, caffeine, too much salt, artificial substances, and so on. To help re-establish a healthy gut, cutting down on the aforementioned foods is a first step. Then, add more of the good guys by eating fermented foods (yogurt, kefir, naturally fermented sauerkraut, kim chi), or by taking a supplement. Again, I suggest a liquid form. There’s a great blueberry flavored one that I get at the natural food store. It’s no task to take a spoonful of that.
In closing, hydration helps us carry helpful nutrients to the cells and flush toxins from the body. In the summer heat, this is a reminder to drink more. I walk to the sink first thing when I get up and make myself drink a glass of water. It helps me get moving. More on water soon…
Samaya Jones is a Holistic Nutritional Consultant and Natural Foods Personal Chef, who cooks for you and your guests in your home. She writes for health websites, newspapers, and teaches wine education classes. She can be reached at ncsamayaj@gmail.com.
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