I know there are many people including doctors and nutritionists who do not believe in taking nutritional supplements. They believe that taking a balance meal or a healthy diet is enough to provide the body’s nutritional needs.

I believe otherwise and here are the reasons why:

1) Optimal nutrition

Our body is made up of approximately 100 trillion cells. Every cell needs the required amount of nutrients for optimum performance. When cellular nutrition is not optimized, oxidative stress in the cell will win the war and cause degenerative damages leading to chronic diseases.

The level of nutrients needed by the body for optimum health far exceeds the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). For example, the RDA for Vitamin E is 10 IU. According to medical literatures, you do not begin to see any health benefits until taking 100 IU and the health benefits increase further up to 400 IU.

Below is a sample list of the amount of food you need to eat to achieve optimum level of nutrients:

  • Vitamin E (450 IU) – 33 heads of spinach, 80 medium avocados, 80 mangos, 2 lb sunflower seeds, 23 cups of wheat gem
  • Vitamin C (1300 mg) – 17 medium kiwifruit, 16 medium oranges, 160 medium apples, 10.5 cups fresh orange juice
  • Vitamin B6 (27 mg) –  41 medium bananas, 38 medium baked potatoes, 77 cups lentils, 15 lb chicken breast, 18 cups wheat gem.
  • Riboflavin (27 mg) – 22 oz beef liver, 16 cups low fat yoghurt, 9 doz eggs, 64 cups cooked spinach.
  • Thiamin (27 mg) – 135 cups brown rice, 2 lb ham, 3 lb sunflower seeds, 64 cups green peas
  • Folate (1 mg) – 3.8 cups cooked asparagus, 4 cups black beans, 20 medium oranges, and 10 cups Brussels’ sprouts

As you can see, there is no way to achieve the optimal level of nutrients through natural food alone.

2) Quality of food

The current way food is grown and harvested has affected the quality of food. Depletion of minerals and nutrients in the soil, harvesting before the fruits and vegetables are fully grown have caused the nutrients in the food to drop by 60%-70% over the last 10 years.

Pesticides, herbicides and preservatives used in huge quantities to maximize growth rate and facilitate transportation over the world are increasing the toxin load in the natural food.

While organic farming is an option, truly organically farmed foods are limited in range and varieties and high in cost. One simply cannot rely totally on organic produce.

3) Poor diet

Most people eat what they like rather than what is good for health. They do not eat wide enough varieties of fruits and vegetables to gain optimal nutrition.

17% of the American population do not eat vegetables and only 10% of the population meet the USDA guideline of eating minimum 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The modern diet of processed foods, which are high in salt, saturated fat and empty in calories, is causing a rise in obesity and giving rise to an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes.

If you desire to reduce your risk of developing chronic degenerative diseases, you must take supplements with your diets.  The next obvious question should be; is it safe to take these supplements at these optimum levels? Will you get overdose of supplements?

Antioxidants are certainly safe when taken correctly. Nutritional supplements are simply nutrients we get from our foods, only at a higher level than is possible for regular eating.

Only a handful of deaths have been reported in the last several years related to supplements. Compare this to 100,000 deaths a year from prescribed medication as reported in the Journal of American Medical Association.

Start taking antioxidant supplements now to build your body’s natural defense system. What supplements are you taking? Share with me in the comment box below.

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