Guest Author - Katie Byrd
A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition revealed a major modern nutritional problem. When compared to fifty years ago, fruits and vegetables today contain smaller amounts of key nutrients such as protein, calcium, iron, vitamin B and vitamin C. In other words, our food today is just not what it used to be.
Why are today’s fruits and vegetables deficient in essential nutrients? Experts agree that large scale industrial farming leads to higher yields per acre but less nutrition for each fruit or vegetable. For example, of the 26 nutrients essential to human beings, only 16 of these are necessary for plant growth. But, artificial fertilizers, used in commercial farming to increase yield, simply overlook the human requirements for the 10 other essential nutrients. As a result, many farmers are unknowingly producing nutritionally depleted food.
So, even with good food (organic broccoli, etc.) and a healthy diet (no Twinkies, etc,), it’s still very difficult to get even “adequate” nutrition, much less “optimum.” Consider vitamin E. The RDA for vitamin E is 30 International Units (IU). Two good sources of vitamin E are peanuts and brown rice. To get the minimum RDA of 30 IU’s of vitamin E from these foods you need to eat 10 oz. of peanuts at 1,050 calories or 2 ½ cups of brown rice for 1,575 calories.
However, you need the Optimum Daily Allowance (ODA) of 200 to 400 IU’s daily to maximize the many important health benefits of vitamin E. How much food would that be? I hope you’re hungry because you’ll have to eat 40 cups of peanuts at 33,600 calories or 130 cups of brown rice at 91,000 calories.
Obviously, there's got to be a better way to get the essential nutrients you need without the high calories. You can eat a moderately low fat diet, rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables and low in refined carbohydrates such as sugar and add high quality natural whole food supplements, including omega 3 fish oil capsules.
This type of supplementation is so important that even the American Medical Association now recommends you do it. And the good health you achieve can give you the energy, well-being and stamina you need to achieve the great wealth you want.
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