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It’s
increasingly difficult to know the correct way to look after our body. We are constantly bombarded with  information
about what is good and bad for us and there seems to be a good deal of
contradiction. Vitamin supplements are available at the drugstore, health food
store and even the local supermarkets and we are constantly bombarded with
commercials on television for a variety of nutritional and herbal supplements.
In fact I recently noticed a book with the word “good sugars” in its title,
more of that later.
First, let look at our nutritional
needs. Our bodies are dependent upon a
high quality source of metabolic fuel to power our nervous system, organs and
cells. These basic nutritional needs
must be met on a daily basis.
We are told by health professionals
that if we eat a balanced percentage of foods from each major food group that
this will provide of all the fundamental nutrients needed for optimal health.
This may have been true in our great
grandparents day but these days our supply of food differs greatly. Older farming techniques are replaced with
the growing of crops in mass quantities. Chemical pesticides and herbicides are
used more often than not. In fact, there
are over sixty in legal use at the present moment. Fast foods are over refined
and processed. Much of the food we eat is prepackaged. The breakfast cereal we eat each morning is
even fortified with minerals and vitamins to make up for what has taken from the
natural grains in the manufacturing process.
The present medical authority has
produced a list known as the RDA. This is the recommended daily allowance of
each type of nutrient and vitamin essential for sustaining health. The problem
with this is that it does not inform how much is necessary to achieve optimal
health. These dosages were supported by
how much we need to prevent a deficiency disease like pellagra, rickets or
scurvy from occurring and have not taken into account the influence of an ever-increasingly
polluted and stressful world.
Research into free radicals and
oxidation shows this plays a large part in aging fast and early cell
death. Also, those antioxidant nutrients
like selenium, vitamin C and vitamin E are necessary to minimize cell damage by
free radicals.
Studies into the use of B vitamins
in pregnancy have shown a lower rate of neurological birth defects in babies
born to women taking folic acid and those individuals whose blood had lower
levels of vitamin B, B12 and folic acid had a higher rate of coronary artery
disease. All this information shows that
our progressive knowledge about nutrition is constantly changing.
Growing numbers of nutritionally
conscious health care professionals are advising us to eat various healing foods
like live sprouts, fresh juice and organic fruits and vegetables. There is always a new book advising a better
way to support our health.
This brings me back to the
beginning of this article “good sugars”.
Well it seems that Glycoscience has discovered another type of
sugar. There are eight of these
essential sugars necessary for optimal health.
They work by enabling our cells to communicate with each other at a
cellular thus allowing the body to naturally heal itself. Doesn’t this make our choices in nutrition
easier? .
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