Why Supplements are Necessary

There's been much controversy surrounding the question of whether or not you need to take supplements. Some claim that vitamin supplements are a waste of your money, you can get all the nutrients you need from your diet. They also claim that most people are not, nutritionally deficient, thanks to all the fortified foods on the market. Despite claims to the contrary, you simply cannot achieve optimum nutrition through diet alone. Even the healthiest, most balanced diet supplies the essential nutrients in amounts far below what are necessary to prevent life-shortening degenerative diseases.

Without optimum nutrition, you cannot achieve optimum health. And without supplements, you cannot achieve optimum nutrition. It's just that simple.

In a perfect world, no one would need supplements. The stress of our modern life, the poor quality of our food supply, and the high load of toxins on our brains and bodies, most of us need a basic daily supply of the raw materials for our bodies to run as they were intended to. The foods we eat no longer contain the nutrients that are required for optimal health. Crops are raised in soil where nutrients have been depleted. Plants are sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals which further diminishes their nutrient levels (not to mention the toxic exposure you receive from such chemicals). Animals are cooped up in pens instead of roaming free eating the nutrient-rich wild grasses they once consumed.

To complicate this further, all of us are exposed to hazardous toxins and chemicals that poison our bodies, we live with too much stress, we don’t sleep enough, we don’t exercise enough, and we are inflamed, therefore, making the nutritional demands on our bodies even greater. Those with chronic illnesses and disease are in even worse shape.

We must acknowledge that there is a problem with our food supply—it just simply does not supply us with the same nutrition as it did in generations past.

Supplements are to humans as fertilizer is to plants. Give a plant adequate amounts of sunlight and water, and it will survive; add in some nutrient-rich fertilizer and the plant will thrive. If you want to fight disease and achieve maximum your life span, you can't do it with diet alone. The extra nutritional boost that supplements can provide is necessary.

Vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, phytochemicals, and more enrich the body to fortify cellular protection and speed the repair and regeneration of damaged cells. Supplementation not only protects against deficiency but also bridges the gap between average nutrition, and optimum nutrition. This can extend the life span by decades.

Diet is not the sole force behind nutrient deficiencies. Other factors include the following:

· Alcohol consumption (depletes B vitamins, vitamin C, most minerals, and antioxidants)

· Allergies and infections (deplete vitamins A and C and zinc, among other nutrients)

· Exposure to air pollutants and other toxins (depletes antioxidants)

· Smoking (depletes antioxidants)

· Stress (depletes all nutrients, especially B vitamins and vitamin C)

· Medications deplete a multitude of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Chronic nutrient deficiencies lead to serious health problems.

Initially, the body hints of a nutrient deficiency with minor symptoms: fatigue, weakness, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, depression, poor concentration, memory loss, aches and pains, recurrent infections, allergies, circulatory problems, and just not feeling good. These are vague symptoms that send patients to doctors.

If doctors do prescribe treatment, they usually skip over nutritional supplements in favor of medications such as anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and the like. These medications not only mask the symptoms but also deplete nutrient stores even more. This in turn accelerates the degenerative process, which often leads to disease and aging.

Just as poor nutrition can precipitate disease, optimum nutrition can help prevent it.

It is important to find safe, high-quality, and effective nutritional supplements. Not all brands are not created equally.