| The Compelling Reasons to Supplement Your Diet 1) The U.S. topsoil is substandard and depleted of nutrients due to the following reasons: According to Dr. Harold Willis in his book called, Agriculture, The Rest of the Story. Dr. Willis was with the USDA for 20 years. There are more farming problems today than in the past due to the following destructive farming practices: a. Predominant use of inorganic salt fertilizers used for crop nutrients especially phosphates from left over explosives and ammunitions from World War II. b. Discontinuation of using animal fertilizers that replenish the trace minerals back into the soil. c. The is not one single source in scientific literature that states that the topsoil in America is as good today as it was 50 years ago. d. Soil tilling practices� not tilling the crop residuals back into the soil�most of the crops today are completely utilized. e. Destruction of the normal microorganisms due to synthetic chemicals for weed and pest control which effects healthy humus formation in the topsoil and also alters the Ph of the topsoil affecting the availability of nutrients. f. Burning techniques used on crop residuals instead of plowing the organic residuals back into the earth. g. The excessive use of antibiotics and growth stimulants on farm animals. Consider this, if livestock animals are requiring more antibiotics do you think the animals are healthier today than they were in the past? This problem may be related to the animal confinement techniques that raise many species in cattleyards, pens and cages instead of being outside in the sunlight and eating in the fields. h. Recycling and refeeding animal manure back to animals is currently being done. i. The constant introduction of hybrid crops for feeding to animals has to be considered. j. Importation of meat from foreign countries and the lack of sanitary processing is demonstrated by the increasing incidences of E.Coli and Salmonella outbreaks found in processing plants. Improper inspection of foreign meat? 2) The lack of nutrients found in the modern diet is a result of the following: a. To prevent spoilage fruits and vegetables have to be picked before they are ripe. A good example would be tomatoes, oranges and bananas. When fruits and vegetables are picked before they�re ripe, the powerful antioxidants that are contained in the skin and the pulp are not allowed to express themselves completely. It�s the ripening on the vine and the branch that allows this process to occur. b. Most produce and perishable items have to be shipped and stored for months. Various methods that prevent the oxidation or rotting of food now include radiation. When you eat your apple today, think about when those apples were picked? c. The idea that you can eat 5 to 7 fruits and vegetables a day may sound like a great idea, but unless the fruits and vegetables are FRESH, you are not getting the protection from the antioxidants that you think you are getting. Make every attempt to consume of at least 5 to 7 servings a day. It�s been reported that only 4% of the American public eat 5 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Even if you are eating proper nutrients many people have digestive problems that prohibit the absorption of the nutrients from the gut into the blood stream. d. In today�s society the population base is no longer rural and the food that your are eating is no longer grown locally like it was fifty or one hundred years ago. One hundred years ago people died from infectious diseases, today they are plagued with chronic degenerative diseases that modern medicine has little effect on. Today there are so many people that have been ill for so long that they don�t know what it is like to feel good. Today diabetes is an epidemic and how are they attempting to solve the problem, with a more efficient method of administering insulin? Doesn�t it make more sense to focus on the diet and prevent it? Diabetes is not an infection? Type II diabetes is not an insulin problem. 3) Food processing destroys nutrients: a. A good example would be processed white flour. Processed wheat or (bleached flour) loses the following minerals Calcium loss 60% Magnesium loss 85% Cobalt loss 88% Molybenum loss 48% b. Over cooking of food destroys minerals and enzymes. Temperatures over 120 degrees destroy minerals and enzymes. Did our early ancestors charbroil all of the meat they ate? Did they steam their vegetables? Did the Eskimos and the Japanese, whom many of the studies done on cardiovascular disease, eat their fish deep fat fried in transfatty acids to a crisp or did they eat it raw? Microwaving also destroys many of the minerals. c. Prescription drugs will affect the absorption of vitamins and minerals. The difference between a vitamin and mineral vs. a prescription drug is that vitamins and minerals are tolerated over a very wide dosage range. Vitamins and minerals are involved in a wide variety of activities in the body and they are constantly being used up. Vitamins and minerals have to be used for a long period of time with high dosages ( iron is a good example) before adverse side-effects take place. Minerals are ESSENTIAL, the body does not make them. They have to be obtained from the food you eat. The difference between a vitamin and mineral vs. a prescription drug is that vitamins and minerals are tolerated over a very wide dosage range. Vitamins and minerals are involved in a wide variety of activities in the body and they are constantly being used up. Vitamins and minerals have to be used for a long period of time with high dosages ( iron is a good example) before adverse side-effects take place. Minerals are ESSENTIAL, the body does not make them. They have to be obtained from the food you eat. Prescription medications do not have biochemical roles in the body the way vitamins and minerals do. Drugs are foreign to the body, when their job is done they are usually eliminated. Comparative causes of death between drugs and vitamins and minerals. Adverse drug reactions from properly prescribed medication, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association; April 15, 1998 is 106,000 to 140,000 deaths per year. Deaths resulting from overdose or reactions to vitamins and minerals are few if any. Yes, there is a concern about massive dosages of vitamins and minerals and the pharmaceutical companies would love to have them regulated and controlled. If the FDA was so concerned about the safety of the public, then why don�t they regulate the sale of Ibuprofen, Advil, Nuprin and the rest of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory over-the-counter drugs that have been proven to cause liver disease, kidney disease and destruction of cartilage when over utilized? Money�Money! |
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