That’s the third point in Consumer Reports’ latest article on the “10 surprising dangers of vitamins and supplements” (September 2012 issue). They purport that getting vitamins at levels higher than the RDA is dangerous. Unfortunately, they don’t provide any evidence…

Now, if we look at the definition of the RDA (recommended daily allowance), as I always tell my students, it was developed to prevent you from dropping dead next week. In other words, it was never designed to promote optimal health. In addition, it will only prevent overt disease in most healthy people. So, from the get-go, some people will get sick if they only get the RDA for certain vitamins and minerals.

Now, granted, some vitamins can be dangerous in excess. Vitamin A comes to mind. Any woman of child-bearing age should not take more than 10,000 IU (max) per day, as it would otherwise increase the risk of birth defects. And if you take synthetic or isolated vitamins, it can upset the body’s balance as well. Indeed, supplementation is just as much a science as it is an art.

What is your experience with vitamins and minerals? Are you feeling better when you take just the RDA? Have you ever taken mega-doses? How did that work? – Please comment and share…

The Three Pillars of Health consist of 1. giving the body what it needs, 2. taking out the “trash”, and 3. stimulate the immune system. When addressing each of these points, your body will be working optimally, in perfect health, and you will feel happy, vibrant, full of energy, ready to achieve your life’s goals and dreams.

The Three Pillars of Health – the first pillar

The first of the Three Pillars of Health is to give the body what it needs. This includes adequate nutrients, such as high quality fats, good quality protein, and a limited amount of complex carbohydrates. Also, deep breathing can help promote optimal health, as we require oxygen to use these nutrients.

Notice that the body’s preferred energy source is fat, in particular, saturated fat. Saturated fat has gotten a bad reputation, but science shows us that saturated fats are healthy and necessary for optimal health. They do NOT cause heart disease. Indeed, in the early 1900′s, people ate a lot of butter and lard, all saturated fats, and there was hardly any heart disease. Nowadays, people eat less saturated fats than ever before, and more vegetable (unsaturated) fats than ever before, and we have more heart disease than ever before.

Also, carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation. Anytime we eat carbohydrates, the body releases insulin, which causes our blood sugar to drop. And especially with the simple carbohydrates such as sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, etc…, our blood sugar tends to drop lower than it was before we had the simple carbohydrate. This, in turn, makes us feel tired and low on energy, leading to additional snacking and likely overeating.

Nutritional supplements – vitamins and minerals – can complement a healthy diet

A question I often get when talking about nutritional supplements is “If I’m eating healthy, why do I need supplements?” That’s a very good question. What has happened over the last 50 years or so, is that our food production has deteriorated to the point that food today has less nutrients than it did then. In particular, minerals such as calcium or magnesium are only in the food if they were in the soil where the food is grown. Unfortunately, with modern agriculture, only 3 minerals are put back (through fertilizers) – nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium. So, over time, the soil becomes depleted.

As an example, a piece of broccoli today contains about 40% less calcium than it did 50 years ago. It’s even worse with some other nutrients, such as chromium, which is almost 10,000 times less concentrated today than half a century ago.

Minerals are part of the first Pillar of Health

All biochemical reactions in our body are controlled by enzymes. These little helper molecules control absolutely everything, from breathing, to moving, to digesting our foods, etc… And most of these enzymes require a mineral to work. Our body can make the enzyme, but not the mineral – the latter has to come from our foods. And when we’re deficient in minerals, our body starts to break down, we don’t have any energy, and we just attribute this to “normal” aging. – Let me tell you, there is nothing “normal” about aging…

The Three Pillars of Health – the second pillar

The second pillar of the Three Pillars of Health is to take out the “trash”. This means removing toxins from the body. We are all exposed to numerous toxins every single day from the foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the cosmetic products we use. And most of these toxins are fat-soluble, and therefore stored by our body. As the amount of toxins stored increases, it causes damage in the body, which our body then needs to repair. And the harder our body has to work at repairing this damage, the less energy is available for us to feel great.

As such, regular detoxification may be beneficial. However, this should be done carefully under the supervision or guidance of a qualified natural health care practitioner, as detoxification done poorly can cause more harm than good.

The Three Pillars of Health – the third pillar

The third of the Three Pillars of Health is to strengthen our immune system. Our immune system protects us from many pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, and cancer cells. To do its awesome job, it requires energy, and the harder it has to work, the less energy is available for the other bodily functions, which allow us to feel good. So, to promote well-being and energy, we can support our immune system so as to make its job easier.

One way to support our immune system is to stop weakening it. Anytime we consume a teaspoon of sugar or other simple carbohydrate, we depress our immune system by up to 4 hours.

Certain nutrients support our immune system, such as coconut oil, and many herbs and spices. Regularly consuming these foods can help build a strong immune system that resists pathogens, and helps prevent cancer as well.

These Three Pillars of Health are the basis for optimal health, energy and well-being. Making small changes to your nutrition, including detoxification, and keeping a strong immune system will help you have the energy you need to feel fantastic every single day, and to have the energy necessary to achieve all your goals and dreams.

Nutritional supplements have become quite a controversial topic, with some people swearing by them, and others saying that they are useless, or even dangerous. It may help to find out who those people are… Indeed, people that say they are helpful are usually those that have been taking nutritional supplements, and have felt an improvement in their health or well-being. On the other hand, people who dismiss nutritional supplements as useless often have little to no experience with them, or have conflicts of interest. A third category of people have taken supplements that were not absorbable, or that were in insufficient quantity to have a positive effect.

I found a great article on Nutritional Supplements on eZineArticles, that discusses some of these issues, and that provides support from the American Medical Association and peer-reviewed journals in favor of nutritional supplementation:

Without science and technology, our lifespan would not have been increased as much as we experience it today. However, they were not be able to secure for us our long-term health. As Dr. Myron Wentz, founder of USANA Health Sciences likes to phrase it: “We are living too short and dying too long.”

Healthy living means:keeping a balanced, healthy diet, avoiding smoking, excessive use of alcohol and toxic chemicals,taking regular exercise and supplementing our diet with high quality nutritional supplements.

The nutrients have to be in a form that the cells of our body can except them and the cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to absorb the nutrients.These are the keys to successful nutrition and two often overlooked facts.

Maintaining your health is much easier than trying to regain it. When you are struggling with your health, you can empower your body to fight and even reverse chronic diseases.

By providing the necessary nutrients at optimal levels, your LDL cholesterol is more resistant to oxidation, your eyes have greater antioxidant protection from sunlight and you provide optimal protection for your lungs. You increase your immune system and antioxidant defence system.

You decrease the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson disease and more.

People who are suffering from a chronic degenerative disease are under greater oxidative stress than normal.In this case, optimizers are important to use in order to support any existing nutritional program.

It’s been scientifically proven that there are substantial health benefits in taking nutritional supplements. The benefits of nutritional supplements are scientifically verified over the past two years. Hundreds of scientific studies have proved that nutritional supplements can significantly reduce the risk of degenerative diseases.

The American Medical Association (AMA) now encourages all adults to supplement daily with a multiple vitamin. Based on a landmark review of 38 years of scientific evidence by Harvard researchers, Dr Robert Fletcher and Dr Kathleen Fairfield, the conservative Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has rewritten its policy guidelines regarding the use of vitamin supplements. In a striking departure from its previous anti-vitamin rhetoric, JAMA (June19,2002) now recommends that, given our nutrient-poor modern diet, supplementation each day with a multiple vitamin is a prudent preventive measure against chronic disease.

The researchers point out that more than 80% of the American population does not consume anywhere near the five to eight servings of fruits and vegetables required each day for optimal health.

Dr Robert Fletcher, co-author of the groundbreaking JAMA studies, states: All of us grew up believing that if we ate a reasonable diet, that would take care of our vitamin needs. But the new evidence, much of it in the last couple of years, is that vitamins also prevent the usual diseases we deal with every day – heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and birth defects.

Most people simply accept the onset of arthritis, heart disease and diabetes as inevitable results of the aging process — the truth is, these conditions are largely preventable. Health is a matter of CHOICE. If we chose to make good nutrition – including supplementation -and an active lifestyle a daily habit, we could add 5 to 15 healthy years to our lives. Apart from the future benefits, eating well and exercising regularly also enable us to enjoy life so much more right now!

Adrian Joele became interested in nutrition and weight management while he was an associate with a nutritional supplement company.

Since 2008 he wrote several articles about nutrition and weight loss.

He has been involved in nutrition and weight management for over 8 years and he likes to share his knowledge with anyone who could benefit from it. He enjoys helping other people solve their problems.

For more information about nutrition & supplementation visit: [http://www.nutrobalance.com]

For information on products and how to become an associate, visit: http://www.newstoreonline.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adrian_Joele

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5022600

What is your experience with Nutritional Supplements? Are you taking any, and if so, how much, for how long, and what kind? Do you feel a health benefit? Please comment and share…

Nutritional supplements are essential for optimal health, but the industry is not well regulated. As such, you can find supplements that help you, and others that your body can’t absorb well, and therefore simply make “expensive poop”.

Dr. Oz is taking a multivitamin, extra vitamin D, and omega-3′s. That’s a great start…

What supplements do you take? Do you feel supplements are helping you have more energy and be healthier? Please comment below to share your opinion or experience.

Let’s continue reviewing that “Consumer Reports” article about the “danger” of vitamins and supplements (September 2012 issue: “10 surprising dangers of vitamins and supplements”). We reviewed the first “danger” here. Their second danger is that “Some supplements are really prescription drugs”. It is unfortunate that some supplement manufacturers seem to “spike” their products with prescription drugs. Now, the danger does not come from the natural ingredients in those supplements – it comes from prescription drugs, because prescription drugs are inherently dangerous.

What are your thoughts? Please comment and share…

Consumer Reports seems to think so… In their latest issue (September 2012), they discuss the “10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins and Supplements”.

Let’s address the first point today: “Supplements are not risk-free”. Now, if you trust the FDA, there have been 115 deaths associated with (notice, they didn’t say, “caused by”) nutritional supplements. Supposing for a moment that these deaths were actually caused by nutritional supplements, this comes to 23 deaths per year. Now, let’s compare that number to the number of people that die every year from properly prescribed and properly taken medications. According to a study published in 1999 (“Death By Medicine”), 108,000 people die annually from medications that they thought would help them. And that doesn’t include the improperly prescribed medications, the improperly filled medications, and the improperly taken medications… So, 23 vs. 108,000, what do you think?

Now, they admit that there are more fatal side effects from prescription medications than from supplements, though they don’t spell it out like I just did, but they claim that “These powerful medications with powerful side effects are actually saving lives when used appropriately. [...] But when healthy consumers use supplements, there’s rarely, if ever, a powerful lifesaving effect.” Now, I don’t deny that certain prescription medications can save lives when used appropriately, though I am concerned with them being used as the almost exclusive option. On the other hand, our bodies need nutrients, and given that our foods are often processed and depleted, extra vitamins and minerals can be helpful. Of course, it also depends in what form the vitamins and/or minerals are, but that’s some info for some other day.

Please comment and share…

Many people use caffeine to get an energy boost, only to crash hard later. It’s like beating an almost dead horse even “deader”. And eventually, it may lead to health problems. But there is a natural – healthy – alternative… Please comment below to let us know your experience.