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Thoughts
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Written by Theresa
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Tuesday, 28 October 2008 19:00 |
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In my private nutrition practice I get the question all the time…aren’t vitamins just expensive pee? I mean, why can’t we get all we need from food like the cavemen, they didn’t have magic pills, did they?
I’ll keep it simple…here are Five reasons:
1. We don’t eat the way the cavemen did! They ate nuts and seeds and loads of greens and fruit in season plus the occasional kill that was itself grazing upon the perfect food and was therefore more nutritious.
2. We don’t move the way the caveman did, sedentary like never before, we simply cannot consume the number of calories it would take to get the number of nutrients we need. If we did eat enough food, we would go over the number of calories that we burn in a day.
3. Even if we could fix the above two, our food is nowhere near as nourishing as it once was. Sadly, so, so sadly, our soil is depleted. Our air and water don’t have what they need either to grow the food with all it needs and all we need from it.
4. Stress is a factor that consumes nutrients. Who have you met that can honestly say “I feel no stress” Even if, they are saintly patient, they are likely breathing air that needs more filtering than our ancestors would have. Just getting out of bed in the morning and tuning out all the ringing phones, whining kids, buzzing blackberries, honking cars and flashing lights is stressful.
5. There are some nutrients, like fish oil, that have proven health benefits and eating the right amount of the actual fish could cause more harm than good. A fish oil supplement is the best solution.
Armed with this info I vote “yes” to vitamins. What kind and how much is an individual assessment that happens in my office and countless others, with careful consideration of the vitamins than can have toxic effects. Your body will take what it needs and yes, pee out most of the rest. I’m happy to pay for my pee.
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