The Reality of the Daily Diet
The greatest health challenge we face today is finding a way to increase levels of nutrients in our diet and broaden the variety of food we can eat each day-without increasing our calorie intake!” The ultimate goal is to provide an abundance and a wide variety of nutrients-that is, nutrient density and nutrient diversity. Diets without both can compromise vitality now and health later.
Nutrient Density
Ideally, our foods would be low in calories but high in nutrients. In reality, however, we get too may calories and too few nutrients. When we eat a food such as French fries, for example, we remove the nutrient-rich potato peel, and leaving an almost pure-starch mass which is cut, and salted. Salted. Such processed food are nutrient-poor and calorie-rich, and they rarely provide the nutrient density of their whole-food parents.
Nutrient Diversity
The idea of getting a variety of nutrients is not new, but it has grown in importance. While one generation of Americans grew up thinking that diversity was “three square meals,” the next generation was told to eat from the ‘Four Basic Food Groups.” Then you have Rheo H. Blair from Los Angeles who was a nutritionist for movie stars in the 1950s the 1960s and also you had the late, great bodybuilding “guru” Vince Gironda take on dieting. So we come round full circle and now we have what Larry Scott is teaching me on dieting, to encourage dietary diversity. Likewise, the Japanese government recommends eating 30 different foods each day for optimal health.
Unfortunately, many of us engage in a practice called “channel eating,” where we eat the same rather small number of foods over and over (for example, eating the same breakfast cereal every day). This practice erodes diversity. It may also reduce the availability of certain nutrients, impacting the nutrient density of the diet as well.
People miss out on many important nutrients because their eating habits are exactly that-habits. For example, big portions of the population never get the antioxidant protection of berries they never eat berries. The closest some people get to eating berry is a little jam now and then. But berries are one of the richest sources of healthful plant nutrients called flavonoids which research has shown may play a role in preventing heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other disease. The same argument could be made for other beneficial nutrients which people miss out when they consume only a narrow range of food.
We Know Better, Yet We Still Make Poor Dietary Choices
“Do as I say, not as I do” could be the world’s dietary anthem. People everywhere know they should consume healthy food. Yet, people everywhere often make poor food choices-despite the fact that they know better.
But despite growing nutritional awareness, diets have not improved. A 1991 study that compared eating trends of Americans over three decades revealed that fewer then 25% of people surveyed ate a healthful diet. And as more countries join the ranks of developed nations, where processed, fatty, salty, or sugary foods are commonplace, unhealthy dietary choices are likely to prevail.
Reality Check: What Should Eat Versus What We Actually Do Eat
Keep in mind that Americans are not in one with their poor eating habits: A similar pattern-too few plant and dairy foods, too few good red meats, fish, and chicken, and too many fats and sweets.
» Only 9% of Americans eat the minimum recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.
» On any given day, almost half of the U.S. population consumes no fruit!
» On any given day, almost a quarter of U.S. population eat no vegetables!
» On any given day, 70% of the U.S. population consumes no vitamin C-rich fruit.
» We tend to overestimate the amount of good food we eat and underestimate the bad.
Food is abundant and available in the U.S.A. so food scarcity is not the problem! Nonetheless, studies show that virtually most of us eat well enough to get the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of many critical vitamins and mineral! The RDA is the amount of vitamin or mineral necessary to prevent the appearance of deficiency symptoms in healthy people. Some people think it’s okay not to consume RDA amounts of nutrients every day as long as they get all the nutrients they need over several days. Studies show that not only do the vast majority of us fail to get the RDA every day, but we don’t get it over several days, either.
Supplements: “Nutritional Insurance” When the Diet is Poor
Nutrient density and nutrient diversity are two sides of the same coin. Research indicates that the reality of the diet is that you cannot get all the nutrients you need for optimal health and vitality from foods alone. The next step will likely be government recommendations to consume both healthy foods and supplements. Don’t wait for new government recommendations to take charge of your health today! Begin making better food choices.
The harder you train, the more support you need!
Achieving your athletic potential requires the right balance of training and nutrition. If you neglect your body’s nutritional needs, you will suffer from impaired performance and lowered immune function. The stress of endurance training increases your body’s need for many nutrients. So, make sure you’re eating a well-balanced healthy diet and consider taking a daily dose of New Ionic Revive Multi-Vitamin-Mineral to support your health and wellbeing this year.
As an athlete, you train hard to be as fast and strong as possible. You can take pride in the fact that all this hard work pays off, making you far fitter and stronger than the average Joe. However, there is a fine line between training well and over-training. One of the most common signs that an athlete is over-training and pushing his or her body too hard is lowered immune function and recurrent infections. If your immune system is struggling to defend you, you tend to suffer from lots of colds and ‘flus, which can obviously have a major impact on your performance and training. If this sounds like you, perhaps you need to give your immune system some support. By supplementing with the right nutrients and herbs, you can continue to train hard and boost your athletic performance, without affecting your immune resistance this year.
New Ionic Revive Multi-Vitamin-Mineral is the best supplement and well worth considering this year – especially if you do get sick. This powerful blend of immune-stimulating herbs and nutrients is formulated to prevent, and help manage, colds and flu’s.
The Wrap…
If you don’t want your performance hampered by recurrent coughs, colds and ‘flus, add some extra nutritional and herbal support into your supplement regime today!
We press on. We never let go. We never quit.
God’s Might… Jesse
