Have you switched to whole grain bread, low-fat dairy products, and leaner sources of proteins? Maybe you’ve incorporated more fruits, vegetables, or fish into your diet as part of a healthier eating plan. Is the driving force behind your change in diet the notion that the better you eat, the more energy you’ll have? Have you found that you look and feel better now than when you relied on junk food for most of your calories? Do you feel healthier than you did before?
Many people answer “yes” to each of these questions. For them, taking steps toward more nutritionally sound eating have paid off in many ways. But for others, a change in diet leaves something to be desired (besides the fried food and chocolate). Some individuals find a “healthier” diet leaves them feeling drained, easily fatigued, weak, and even sickly.
Why Isn’t Eating Healthy Enough? If you feel worse than you did before switching to a healthier eating plan, nutritional vitamin supplements may provide the added boost that will keep your body running at full steam. How and why supplements are necessary is a scientific matter – the science of nutrition, to be exact. Nutritionists are experts on the relationship of food substances to living organisms.
Metabolism is the sum of all the millions of chemical reactions that take place within every living organism as it functions. It means much more than the popular definition: “how fast the body burns up calories.” Among other life sustaining activities, metabolism entails tissue generation and repair, thought formation, digestion, breathing, and moving.
Vitamins and minerals play a crucial role in metabolic functioning and subsequently, the overall health of individuals. A diet rich in nutritional foods provides many of the substances needed for healthy metabolic functioning, but nutritional vitamin supplements guarantee you make the most of them.
At least 17 vitamins are required for our bodies to metabolize the nutrients essential for health. These vitamins as well as other substances required for metabolic functioning cannot be synthesized by our bodies in sufficient quantities. A healthy diet and nutritional vitamin supplements are the only source of these all important ingredients in the nutritional equation.
What Supplements Should I Take? A daily nutritional vitamin supplement will promote optimum health and vitality for nearly everyone. Follow these simple guidelines when choosing a multi-vitamin:
- Choose multi-version vitamin and mineral supplements that provide no more than 150% of the RDI of each nutrient to avoid uncomfortable side effects.
- There is little difference between how natural and synthetic vitamins work within the body, although synthetic versions are often less expensive. (The exception is Vitamin E; however the amount of synthetic Vitamin E is generally adjusted by manufacturers to provide equivalent effectiveness to the natural version which is more biologically active).
- Do not avoid vitamins which contain starch and sugar, provided you are not restricted from consuming them due to a health condition. These ingredients can help the body absorb nutritional vitamin supplements more readily.
- Store brands are generally just as effective as name brands and provide a price break.
- Always check expiration dates. Take only fresh nutritional vitamin supplements for optimum benefits.
Keep eating healthy and taking a nutritional vitamin supplement daily and always consume enough calories throughout the day to support your activity level! Consult with your doctor or a nutritionist if you continually suffer from frequent bouts of illness, fatigue, or weakness to rule out the possibility of illness.