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Achieve Health
Better Eating
The Looming Vitamin Crisis
You and I are facing a critical vitamin and mineral
shortage. This health crisis has been growing at an
alarming rate since the early 1900's. Of particular
concern are folks on weight loss diets - especially low
carb diets.
As a partial result, nutritionally driven chronic
diseases have reached epidemic proportions. About 95% of
people over 40 will suffer from one or more of these
chronic diseases by the time they reach retirement.
Diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes,
dementia, vision loss - to name a few. That's 95 people
out of every 100.
For decades the medical community poo-poo'd the
nutrition "fanatics" when they mentioned the importance
of vitamins and minerals as a basis of our vital health.
Then, a real shocker.
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In the June 19, 2002 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association they announced: "Suboptimal
intake of vitamins should be seen as a risk factor for
chronic disease, especially in the elderly."
This tells us that today our food contains much less
nutrition and yet our needs for vitamins and minerals
are much greater than ever before in human
history.
You'll discover, in this article, how this can be
possible. And some simple steps you must take to protect
yourself and your loved ones.
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Plants are the sole source of all vitamins and minerals
for every living creature.
Even animals that eat nothing but meat - the vitamins
came from somewhere down the food-chain - from an animal
or fish that eats plants.
Plants create body-ready vitamins and minerals from
nutrients in the soil. The richer the soil, the more
vitamins and minerals are packed into the plants. On the
other hand, vegetables grown in poor soil will have far
lower levels of vitamins and minerals.
And the soils are becoming sand - depleting at a very
rapid rate. Commercial farming really started to
expand as the ability to transport the produce to new
markets increased - trains, then trucks. This was a boon
for consumers. Now they didn't have to grow their own
vegetables. And they could enjoy produce that was either
out-of-season or wasn't able to grow in their area.
As commercial growers keep using the same fields year
after year, the soils keep losing their rich nutrients.
And, as soils deplete, so does the vitamin and mineral
content of the vegetables grown in that soil.
Chemical companies have come to their aid by providing
chemicals that will force the plants to grow in poor
soil.
A couple of problems with this.
The vegetables look great but contain far less vitamins
and minerals they once did. They also absorb some of
these chemicals. Now our body needs even more vitamins
to deactivate these toxins.
The vegetables we consume today give us far less
nutrients than 100 years ago - yet create the need for
more. A double whammy.
Genetic engineers have created vegetables that are more
disease resistant, that grow faster, are more visually
attractive, and are easier to harvest. For example: a
new tomato was developed for growers primarily to take a
5-mile-per-hour impact from the faster picking machines.
Tough skin tomatoes - you've probably had some. Nothing
is being done to increase the nutrient levels of the
plants - or to enrich the soil.
Some vegetables and most fruits you buy in the store are
picked before they're ripe, and often chemically treated
so they ripen on the way to the grocer's shelf. This
gives the produce a lot longer shelf life - less waste.
As you probably know, produce picked at it's ripe peak
contain maximum nutrients - but spoil quickly. Vine
ripened, fresh produce can be quite unprofitable for the
grower and grocer.
On top of all this, consider the higher levels of air
and water pollution, lower oxygen levels in the air we
breath, and our fast paced, fast food societies of
today. You can easily see that our wonderfully created
bodies are being taxed to the max - and need more
protection than ever before.
What Do We Do Today?
1. Make fresh, whole fruits, vegetables, and grains a
larger part of your daily diet. These are the
absolute best quality vitamins and minerals you can buy.
Eat them raw, uncooked as much as possible. If
necessary, cook slowly at low heat to keep the nutrients
at the highest possible levels. Simply put - the less
processing the better. Most people do not eat even the
minimum recommended amounts, yet we all need much more
than that today.
2. Look for organically grown produce at your grocery
store or health food store. Generally this produce
will contain the much higher levels of nutrients - as
they did a century ago - without the chemicals. They
cost more but you get a LOT MORE nutrients and much more
succulent flavor than commercially grown produce.
3. Grow some of your own produce - in a yard
garden, patio pots, or inside the home in window pots.
It's fun, very easy, decorative, puts oxygen in the air
and the taste and nutrition is just tons better than
store-bought.
4. No matter how perfect our diet, we all need to
invest in a good vitamin supplement today. Even
nutrition experts, who eat an "ideal" diet, take vitamin
supplements. A good vitamin will require you to take 3
large tablets or six medium size tablets or capsules per
day minimum. Anything less is a waste of money.
You'll find good quality vitamin supplements at most
reputable vitamin or health food stores. Best bet - buy
online for the best price and selection of high quality
vitamin supplements.
Financially speaking, this is a critical part of our
retirement program. If we don't have good health at
retirement, nothing else will matter. Vitamin
supplements are, by far, the cheapest health insurance
and wisest retirement plan we can invest in.
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