We all want to be healthy and live long, vibrant lives, but how do we maximize our chances of achieving optimal well-being? One of the primary ways is by eating a nutritious, well-balanced diet with a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, good fats, and proteins while avoiding processed foods and empty calories.
Sounds easy enough, right? Not so much. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1 in 10 American adults meet the federal recommendations for fruit or vegetable consumption. An astonishing 90% of Americans don’t eat the 1.5 - 2 cups of fruits and 2 - 3 cups of veggies per day that are advised to keep us healthy.
Health Building Blocks
The nutrients in the foods we eat build our health foundation in many ways. They fuel our bodies, support all of our body’s systems and processes, protect our cells from damage, and assist in disease prevention. The most well-known category of nutrients are vitamins — organic compounds that the body needs but cannot synthesize enough of (or any) on its own. In other words, in order to thrive, we must get our vitamins from our food or dietary supplements.
There are four fat-soluble vitamins — A, D, E, and K — as well as nine water-soluble vitamins — eight B vitamins and vitamin C. Other nutrients are minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Each of them are essential for your body to function properly, and the fact is that even if you eat a healthful diet, it can be difficult for you to get all of them from food alone.
Nutrition Gaps
Certain groups of people are more prone to nutrient insufficiencies than others. People with food intolerances or allergies, for example, may have trouble getting certain nutrients. Vegetarians and vegans are often deficient in some B vitamins, which are found mainly in animal products. In addition, ongoing stress, certain prescription drugs, smoking, alcohol, and various health conditions can affect the body's natural ability to absorb nutrients. Add to that our fast-paced, modern lifestyle and grab-and-go eating habits, and you can see why we may not be getting all of the nutrition that we need. Over time, deficiencies of one or more nutrients may lead to serious health issues, or at the very least, not let us feel our best.
Nutrient Synergy
Another piece in the health-building puzzle is that nutrients work together and synergize each other’s effectiveness. For example, calcium is essential for bone and tooth health, muscle contraction, transmitting messages through the nervous system, and the release of hormones. Vitamin D3 controls the absorption of calcium into the blood, and vitamin K2 controls where that calcium ends up — including laying calcium into bone, and keeping it out of soft tissue like the arteries and kidneys. So even if you have enough of one of these nutrients, without all three working together, you won’t get the full benefit.
A similar dynamic happens with vitamin B12 and folate. Folate, which is one of the eight B vitamins, depends on B12 to be absorbed, stored, and metabolized. This is important since vitamin B12 occurs naturally in meat, eggs, milk, and other foods of animal origin, while natural sources of folate include leafy greens, beans, and legumes. So, if a vegan isn’t getting enough B12 from their diet, they won’t be able to absorb folate and could become deficient in both of these essential nutrients.
Dietary Supplements
In an ideal world, we should get all of the nutrition we need from our diets, but practically, this may not be possible. The reality is that most people eat differently every day. One day they might hit a home run and eat a well-balanced diet, the next day it’ll be pizza and donuts. That’s where a multivitamin, or other dietary supplement, comes in. As their name suggests, supplements assist in covering all of our bases when diet alone can’t cut it.
But when choosing supplements, there are important things to consider. Namely, how they’re made. Nutrients are only useful if they can be absorbed by our bodies. Most multivitamins and supplements that you find on store shelves are made with 100% synthetic nutrients. At PURE SYNERGY® we create food-form vitamins and minerals made with organic vegetables and fruits. This creates vitamins that are naturally bound in a synergy of beneficial cofactors and whole-food compounds. Because they are in a similar form to food, our bodies are able to recognize, absorb, and utilize them as such.
So if you want to feed and strengthen all of the cells in your body, and ensure that your body can actually absorb and use them, give your body PURE SYNERGY® Vitamins.
