Supplements--Who Needs 'Em?!   by Debi Kunes

Thomas Edison said, "Let foods be your medicine and medicine be your food." He knew what many have since forgotten--that foods were created to benefit us in more ways than just pleasurable eating and taste sensations. They were also fashioned to give us sound health. How many of you really do know that fact deep down but have ignored it and chosen the nutritionally deficient foods and junk foods? I know that I have many times. Those of us stay-at-home moms and dads find ourselves going for the mid-morning snack which is usually just carbohydrate loaded. There then are the ones of us staying up late nightly and finding it difficult to pass the hours away in front of a television or other hobby without having that bag of chips or cookies handy! We are probably all guilty of these choices. And it's not only the snacks, it's also the rest of our diets that are filled with too much fat, sugar, and carbohydrates and are lacking fruits, whole grains, vegetables, and protein, all in a proper balance.

Purchasing good food for your family can be difficult because the price of the junk food or boxed food is always a better deal than that fruit and other nutritional foods, especially organically grown ones. So poor choices are made here as well, even though they seem economically justified.

Looking back to my childhood, there seemed to be a better eating trend. Mom always made sure there was a "green" or "yellow" vegetable at supper, a daily balanced meal. Snacks, other than fruit or crackers, were kept to a minimum, and there was no soda pop in the house other than "Dad's," which we kids were not allowed to have! He made popcorn for us once in a while or a Chef Boyardee pizza, which we loved. Hi-C or Kool-Aid were available sometimes, but mostly juice, milk or water were allowed. How many kids and adults today have two or more cans of soda daily?

I resolved to eliminate sugar from my children's diet when they were little. I had a battle on my hands because of what is so readily available to them. Go to a friends house, candy there; go the doctor's office, suckers there; go to kids' club, cookies and Kool-Aid there. There were a lot of polite no thank-you's. But there was success as I stuck to my guns about it, and allowed treats on occasion. We found a co-op in which we could buy real licorice and delicious cookies made from rice syrup. Carob chips replaced chocolate chips. Honey replaced sugar in baking. Many different ways to make it work as the finances allowed and as I was consistent.

They are teenagers now and have sugar more included in their diet, but the principles of what they did when they were younger have stuck with them, and they back off the sugar on their own with no prompting from me. They have a sense that they feel "yucky" if they've eaten poorly that day and resolve to eat better the next.

When I began looking into eating better, I read the book Foods that Heal by Maureen Salaman. Cases and studies about how specific illnesses and diseases are improved by the nutrients in various foods. Much great information is in her book. Still, you find that by the time we cook the foods, we've depleted so many of the vitamins and nutrients from them. Eating raw foods is surely the only way to have every nutrient available to you. But don't forget the fact that the minerals in the earth are so depleted from over worked soil that, therefore, grown foods are lacking in their nutritional value.

So I ask again, "Supplements--Who Needs 'Em?" I'd say every single one of us! No matter if you even eat the perfectly balanced diet, you can't be receiving the full benefit unless you've organically grown these foods yourself, letting the soil rest in proper time! That's why so many of us take that multi-vitamin and other additional vitamins and supplements. That's why the health and nutrition industry is a 70 billion dollar industry today. We are looking to put in our bodies the nutrients that we never gained from the way we grew or cooked our foods.

But let's remember that the word supplement means "something added." It doesn't mean that it "replaces." We don't take vitamins and supplements in place of eating the best we can. We take that quality supplement to add to and make up for the deficiencies in our diet.

Excellent nutritional supplements will round out your diet and make it more balanced. But as sound choices need to be made in our foods, so also do good choices of supplements need to be made. Investigate the one you are thinking of taking. A superior supplement has the values of what your foods are missing. See what it will add to your health. See if the cost is worth what it claims and ultimately what it will do for you. And will it do more for you than maybe any other choice will?

Many supplements will eliminate your need for prescription drugs. And the added benefit is that they won't have the side effects that drugs do. Again, investigate and look at the scientific research that's available on it. Look at all the other findings on it. Look at people's testimonies. I'm sure you will be amazed as you begin to find what supplements have done and continue to do for people. And probably at the risk of sounding like something you've heard many times before, be sure to drink plenty of good water! You just can't drink anything else that will replenish your body and help to flush toxins like the first-ever drink available will.

Consistency. That's what you want in your diet and supplements. Be consistent in eating well and taking your supplements and you can enjoy those other taste sensations we enjoy.

Moderation. That's also what you want as far as eating the other foods, a.k.a. "junk foods." We want to enjoy them, and let's do it, but not to the excess, but with self-control. I made the mistake of thinking that since I was taking an excellent supplement, I could eat without restraint around the holidays. And I did. I ate cookies for breakfast, more for lunch and some other goodies thrown in throughout the day. I got the flu a few days after Christmas and then a cold and cough, all of which I am not prone to get. As a matter of fact, I rarely do get sick! What a shock to me, but it was my own fault since I neglected to care about what I ate for weeks. After all, I was taking an excellent supplement! I will say, though, that each illness was shortened in duration and strength. But moderation, folks. We don't want to put ourselves at risk of all the different viruses out there looking to prey on us.

May we remember that it is the foods that are our medicine. Only now we are using a form of them that wasn't available to people in Edison's time. We have the benefit of supplements. So make wise choices in both your foods and your supplements! You will find better health, prevention, and a way to age more gracefully as you eat well and take quality nutritional supplements.

About the Author

About the Author: Debi Kunes is a homemaker and mother of three. She has been home schooling for twelve years and operates a home-based business. Find out more about how to have good health at www.mangosteen-xangojuice.com.