Supplementing A Less than Perfect Diet

We live in an imperfect world. The truth is that everyone eats a less than perfect diet. Often costing less than food, taking vitamins, and minerals will help everyone improve their nutrition.

You are supposed to eat to live, not live to eat. Taking nutritional supplements increases your level of realism and avoids the traps of dogma and idealism of those who incorporate their perfect diet into their self-identity. The notion that you can get everything that you need to stay healthy out of your perfect diet, is a big lie. It ignores the fact that our diets will never be perfect.

 

Highlights of Poor Diets:

• The Perfect Diet is a Myth.
• The notion that you can get everything that you need to stay healthy out of your diet, is a big lie.
• Taking nutritional supplements will allow you to eat a realistic diet, and still be healthy.

An obsession with your body, driven by the idea that one can be perfect through diet alone, can cause you to neglect other physical, mental and spiritual health factors, to your long-term detriment.

Good health is the goal to work towards, rather than being 100% natural. Nature is NOT benign. Most organic foods contain naturally occurring negatives (mutagens, carcinogens, toxins, pesticides, and other tumor promoters). "99.99% (by weight) of the pesticides in the American diet are chemicals that plants produce to defend themselves."[6]

A realist is not upset when he or she back slides. Making perfectionism a part of your dietary dogma is a very bad idea. Idealists in a constant search of the perfect diet do not have a life. They are neurotic. Realists do NOT have a simplistic, inaccurate view of nature. A realist accepts reality, nature, and life--as they are, without the blinders of dogma or idealism.

The Truth about Vitamins & Supplements

Stephen Barrett, MD., a well-known crusader against health quackery, states: "In general, supplements are useful for individuals who are unable or unwilling to consume an adequate diet." For example, if you are a strict vegetarian, you're at risk of not getting all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy. Vitamin B12 levels among vegans are generally lower than in the general population.[1]

A recent research paper published in JAMA is now on the record for effectively saying that it is "prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements." And, that the elderly should take 2 "ordinary multivitamins" daily. They reviewed the literature back to 1966 on 9 different vitamins. "Suboptimal levels of a vitamin can be defined as those associated with abnormalities of metabolism that can be corrected by supplementations with that vitamin." They found that high serum homocysteine levels can be corrected with Folic acid, Vitamin B-6 and B-12. Methylmalonic acid levels can be lowered with Vitamin B-12. And, that elevated levels of parathyroid hormone can be corrected with Vitamin D. They recommended 800 ug/d of Folic acid for those with a family history of heart disease, and twice the RDA for Vitamins D and B-12 was recommended.[7]

"So, in 27 years there has not been one death from a vitamin. And yet, what have you heard on the television, on the radio, on the Internet, on the newspaper, on the magazine? You constantly hear something along the lines of: Vitamins, well, they may do more harm than good. You better not take them. Just eat a good diet. Well, you can't. And, many people don't. I say can't because very few of us get wholesome, unprocessed, organic food. And, it is expensive. One of the advantages of supplements is that it is cheap." -- Andrew Saul, PhD former Assistant Editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine audio interview, 2011, Red Ice Radio

The total intake of nutrients from your diet is generally closely linked with total caloric intake.

Are you trying to lose weight? On a restricted diet of 1,500 calories, most people will obtain ONLY about 50% of the recommended daily intakes of nutrients.[2] In another study of a varied diet at different energy levels, "results show that at low energy levels, meeting nutrient needs was difficult and that even at higher calorie intakes, contrary to what was expected, certain nutrients were found to be inadequate."[3] Fasting should be viewed as an extreme form of dieting.

Are you happy with your present weight? Many people obtain only about 80% of the recommended daily allowances of nutrients from eating a 2,500 calories a day.[2] The average dietary intake of some vitamins; such as folic acid, pantothenic acid, vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C and B1; is likely to be inadequate from diet alone.[2] "While most vitamins are very well absorbed [from food], most essential minerals are not."[4] Results of the 1982-1991 Total Diet Studies indicated that intakes of calcium, magnesium, iron (females only), zinc and copper were below recommended intakes for some groups of individuals.[5] However, adequate vitamin D supplementation more than doubles the amount of calcium that you can get from a healthy whole food diet.

In conclusion: there are no perfect diets. Nor do real people eat a perfect diet. Taking nutritional supplements increases your level of realism. Anyone interested in natural health should be supplementing their diets with some nutritional supplements.

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Please read our Nutritional Supplements Disclaimer.

References:

1. Bar-Sella P, Rakover Y, Ratner D. Vitamin B12 and folate levels in long-term vegans. Isr J Med Sci. 1990 Jun;26(6):309-12. PMID: 2380031 [Abstract]
2. Mareschi JP, Cousin F, de la Villeon B. [Caloric value of food and coverage of the recommended nutritional intake of vitamins in the adult human. Principle foods containing vitamins] Ann Nutr Metab. 1984;28(1):11-23. French. PMID: 6703646 [Abstract]
3. Padro L, Benacer R, Foix S. Assessment of Dietary Adequacy for an Elderly Population based on a Mediterranean Mode l. J Nutr Health Aging. 2002;6(1):31-3. PMID: 11813078 [Abstract]
4. Turnlund JR. Bioavailability of dietary minerals to humans: the stable isotope approach. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 1991;30(4):387-96. Review. PMID: 1910521 [Abstract]
5. Pennington JA. Intakes of minerals from diets and foods: is there a need for concern? J Nutr. 1996 Sep;126(9 Suppl):2304S-2308S. PMID: 8811790 [Abstract]
6. Ames BN, Profet M, Gold LS. Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Oct;87(19):7777-81. PMID: 2217210
7. Fletcher RH, Fairfield KM. Vitamins for chronic disease prevention in adults: Clinical applications. JAMA. 2002 Jun 19;287(23):3127-9. PMID: 12069676