Are you starving to death? Finding the right nutritional supplement

Our country has one of the fastest rates of obesidy. Not only among the adults but in our children. Along with this epidemic comes many other concerns. Cancer, diabetes, coronary artery disease, arthritis , gastrointestinal and orthopedic problems, stroke and depression are just a few to name on the ever growing health concern list. The not so funny fact about these national terrorists, is that with them comes a completly malnutritioned country. A country starving to death .

That might sound a little strange that our obese country is malnutritioned and that our children who are subposedly receiving well balanced, nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch in our school caffeterias are actually starving for nutrients. But in our nation it is a reality.

The more processed food becomes part of our " nutrition " the more health concerns we face as a nation. Processing and pateurization of our food destroys most if not all the nutrients. It has been said that you would have to eat almost five times the amount of food your grandparents did just to receive the same nutritional value. This is not just due to processing but also to pollution in the ground, the air and definitely the water.

We are not receiving adequate health when we eat at Mc Donald's or some other fast food restaurant and most people are aware of this fact. Those same individuals beleive however that their "home cooked" meals are providing all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids for healthy digestion and absorption. They think that they are eating a "well balanced" meal two or three times a day. They are getting and giving their children and other family members the right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Most people would think that their children are receiving the right stuff to grow up to be healthy and strong adults.

There are many of us who are happy that we can get our children to eat anything at all, because they are such picky eaters or dislike certain textures due to a number of good reasons. Putting our foot down and forcing our children and ourselves to eat better, to choose a fresh piece of fruit over a processed food snack between meals would be too hard. Back this up with the reasoning that the processed snack has had many vitamins and minerals added to it to make it just as healthy as the fruit.We as consumers believe that the companies responsible for these products have taken care of our nutrition for us. I love the recent commercial out that makes this point so clear, it's for a balanced fully nutritious shake on the market that is for those parents that think that thier child is not eating well enough. Now they can supplement their child's diet with this shake that has all the right stuff. Wrong. What it is really loaded with is lots of additives, artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners and "man-made" vitamins and mineral substitutes. It is true that we need to supplement minerals and vitamins and access those natural fruit and seed extracts from around the world that we can not grow in our own back yard. The key to these supplements are (1) they are extracts from the plant sources and are not man made, chemical base (2) they are more than likely not what you would find at your local drug store in capsule form or something your doctor would tell you about, but a liquid form or powder and you are locating it at your local health food store or through a nutritional company that specializes not in makeup or soap but in nutrition .

Here are a few points to remember when shopping for a supplemental vitamin/mineral for you and your family .
* Only buy liquid form. Why? The absorption rate is much higher with a liquid than a pill form. How much higher? Pill form at it's best will give you about a 20% absorption rate, where some liquid forms can give you over 70%.

*Sugar free may cause cancer! Those fun character shaped vitamins that your child loves from his/her favorite TV show, might be a link to some cancers. It's because of the use of the dyes and sugar substitutes used in vitamins.Big no, no's to look for in many name brand over the counter vitamins are Splenda, Nutra-sweet(aspartame),Acesulfame-K, Red Dye 40, Blue Dye's 1&2, Yellow 5&6, and Saccarine.

*Look for natural anti-oxidants in the nutrtion program you buy.

*What other benefiting things does this program offer you and your family ? Essential fatty acids, immunity boosters such as mangosteen, nanni, ganoderma lucidum extract, aloe vera, green tea, etc.

*Only get natural extracts in liquid form, NO man-made vitamins or minerals. If its not extracted from the whole food, then forget the program you are looking at.

Remember that supplements are not to be the sole provider of good nutrition for your body, rather look at them as an insurance policy that is there to guarantee that you get the proper nutrition your body needs to run at an optimum level, even if you have a poor day of eating. That is why absorption is so important, you simply can not make up the difference with your daily diet if you don't get the right absorption. Today's foods are not what they use to be and we eat to many processed things. Today's lifestyle needs a good supplement to guarantee good nutrition.