Let’s start off with a little reality check. The Recommended Daily Intake is 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables to satisfy our minimum vitamin and mineral needs. How many people can honestly say that they eat 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day? What is a serving?
Based on the national food pyramid guidelines a serving of:
Vegetables and fruits is
• 1 medium piece of fruit
• 1 cup raw leafy greens
• ¾ cup fruit or vegetable juice
• ½ cup raw or cooked non-starchy vegetables, such as asparagus or squash
Multiply this by 5 or 10
How many people can say they eat 3-5 cups of fresh raw leafy vegetables a day? How about 1-2 cups? The reality is that most Americans do not get nearly enough fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. That’s why taking a nutrient dense vitamin such as a whole food multi-vitamin is so important. Remember taking a multi vitamin is not a reason to stop striving to eat right and live a healthy life style it just helps keep you up with the daily nutritional demands for your body.
B12 is the most structurally complex of the eight B vitamins. These vitamins are often utilized for their health benefits – most notably their role in increasing metabolism and bolstering the immune system. Certain B vitamins have even been shown to reduce the risk of anemia by increasing red blood cell count.
Vitamin b-12 deficiency in humans can lead to depression, fatigue, psychosis and other serious symptoms. The vitamin is absorbed through a complicated process that begins in the mouth, but most of it is absorbed in the gut. Elderly people sometimes experience B vitamin deficiencies due to decreased absorption abilities. B12 can be supplemented in pill form if people fail to consume enough milk, eggs and meat to get the vitamin naturally.
Why choose Whole Food Vitamins?
There is continuing debate among the scientific community regarding the use of synthetic vitamins over whole food vitamins with no apparent agreement in sight. As the PhDs of the world continue to sift through the data here is our opinion based on erring on the side of good old fashioned common sense or as we call it uncommon sense.
Until the world of science can agree that Laboratory Synthesized Vitamins are better or as good as real food than we will stick to REAL FOOD. While the scientists continue there debate about Whole Food Vitamins, we asked this question. If a waiter at a restaurant asked you if would you like plastic fruit tonight for desert or fresh picked fruit out of our garden which would you choose? Hm mm let me think about that one. Or do you really need to? It should be a no brain-er.
Obviously laboratory mimicked vitamins are not plastic but we think you get the point. So until the “experts” come to a definitive conclusion I will stick to the real deal, Whole Food Nutrient Rich Supplements.
The word “supplement” has begun to take on a negative connotation in recent years as more and more professional athletes are caught using performance-enhancing drugs. It’s important to understand the difference between anabolic steroids, which have been linked to harmful side effects following excessive use, and mere nutritional supplements. Few diets include the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals, so supplements provide an essential boost.
There are a wide variety of supplements available in health stores across the country. Many of them are closely regulated by the government, and their effects have been studied and proven safe. Most people take some form of vitamin supplement on a regular basis, and the health benefits are indispensable. Be sure you’re aware of the active ingredients in a nutritional supplement before consuming it.