THE NEED FOR FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
Is there a need to take food supplements as part of the process of restoring health? Can’t one just leave off the negative foods and eat a more nutritious diet in order to return to health?
Leaving off negative foods and consuming a healthy diet will benefit health in two ways:
- Supplies the body with nutrients that are needed to restore health.
- Eliminates the cost to the body of processing them for a net loss of energy and nutrition. For example, if a single person owned and was making payments on two cars, and then sold one of them, overnight that individual would find more money in their bank account even without receiving a pay raise.
Even though the above is true, food supplements are still a necessary part of the road to health. Why?
By design, the amount of food the body can digest and metabolize in one day is about enough to take care of that day’s needs. In other words, about the best an unhealthy person can expect for eating a healthy diet is to not go further into nutritional debt. That is a big plus, but unfortunately it is not sufficient to pay back past debts.
At Robbins Natural Health, we view food supplements as a means of supplementing a healthy diet and thereby providing the body the resources necessary to pay back nutritional debt, and allowing a return to health.
How Long Are Food Supplements Needed?
As health improvements occur, the use of supplements can be reduced. Owing to dwindling nutrients levels in raw produce on today’s market, there is an ongoing need for supplementation, but this should only require a whole food multivitamin once one is healthy and eating a healthy diet. In some cases, there may be a need for a maintenance intake of essential fatty acids (good fats), and a few other supplements, depending on an individual’s health.
Is There A Need To Eat A Healthy Diet?
On the other side of the spectrum, many people reason that they can continue to eat a poor diet if they take a handful of food supplements every day and return to health. This approach will not work either. Why? The answer is best explained by asking another question: How effective would it be to heat your house in the winter time while leaving all the windows and doors open? Food supplements cannot begin to compensate for the negatives of an unhealthy diet.
Types of Food Supplements
There are three types of food supplements available, which are:
WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
These types of supplements are made by removing the water and fiber from raw foods at a temperature that is not high enough to denature the living quality (enzymes) of the food. Whole food supplements tend to be more expensive than the two other types of supplements (to the right), but they are the most bio-available, i.e., they contain all the components necessary to help the nutrients be absorbed into the blood stream and delivered into the cells of the body. While the nutrient milligram levels on the label average are lower than fractionated and synthetic supplements, there is still more value in them because of their completeness—or bioavailability. Whole Food Supplements will generally state on the label that they are “Whole Food,” and will usually list the foods from which the product was made.
FRACTIONATED SUPPLEMENTS
Like Whole Food Supplements, Fractionated Supplements are produced from raw foods; however, in removing the water and fiber, the least expensive means are used which incorporates high temperatures and thus destroys the living quality of the nutrients. This process removes many of the enzymes and cofactors that are only present in raw foods; therefore, they are called fractionated in that they only contain a portion of the nutrition that was originally in the food from which they came. Fractionated Supplements are the most common type of supplement found in health food stores, online, or sold through network marketing companies (not all, but most). They are identified by their label which will only list nutrients, not the foods from which they were derived. Also, when one takes them, their urine will turn bright yellow and often smell similar to the odor in the opened supplement bottle. Bottom line, even though these products are less expensive, and the milligram levels on the label will be higher than Whole Food Supplements, the nutrients are not very bio-available.
SYNTHETIC SUPPLEMENTS
This type of supplement contains no food components at all; every ingredient is manufactured in a laboratory/factory, mostly from petroleum by-products. Believe it or not, there are studies that demonstrate synthetic supplements not only to have little-to-no value to the body, but in fact can be harmful. How does the FDA allow them to be on the market? Good question! Synthetic Supplements are generally sold in grocery stores and pharmacies.
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