The average American diet is simply not as healthy as it should be. By following four keys to good health – an optimal diet, a vitamin/mineral supplementation, avoidance of ingestion or absorption of chemicals and a reasonable level of exercise – we can unlock the door to a more energetic, enjoyable and healthy life.Food and nutrition
We live in an age where much of the nutritional value of our food is lost, due to transporting, processing, and preparing conditions. Foods grown today are not as mineral rich as they once were due to over farmed soil. In addition, chemicals, additives and preservatives impact the wholesomeness of the foods we consume. Did you know that High Fructose Corn Syrup interferes with the absorption of copper (Turnlund, 1999)? By including in our diet a good quality vitamin/mineral supplement and by improving the quality and kinds of foods we eat, we can remedy this condition.
After scouring various books, scientific studies, various nations RDA's and RDI's (Recommended Daily Amounts and Recommended Dietary Intake), medical doctor recommendations, and other health related sources, I have compiled the following daily nutrient table as to the best balance of all (In my opinion).
HOW TO USE THE OPTIMUM DAILY NUTRIENT TABLE
In order to correctly use the nutrient table you must first know your weekly or daily average nutrition intake (assuming you have a generally repeating diet). This will take a short time to record what and how much you eat/drink daily. This can be done in several ways.
You could use a desktop program named Diet Power version 4.4 (a free download that works for 14 days), a free web-based service such as Fitday.com, or by hand. For the desktop and web based solution either use the provided RDA/RDI's levels or adjust your personal goals to match the chart below. A great android phone app is NutritionPal by itterN. While these programs/systems do not cover all the nutrients food contains, they do a good job and are easy to use. For the hand version, take your weekly list, and using the USDA food charts, you can compute your nutrition intake per nutrient. Add each nutrient for the week to obtain your weekly nutrient intake. Divide your weekly intake by 7 to obtain your average daily intake, then subtract your average daily intake from the amount shown on the chart. The result will be the daily amount you are short (minus) of the nutrient.
NOTE: Pay special attention to the values for Vitamins A, D, and E as these could be listed on bottles/charts with different values. Make sure you match mg with mg and IU's with IU's.
As the table was designed on the lowest and best levels you could simply just take supplements in the amounts given and have a low risk of exceeding the upper limits of the nutrient. Some of the nutrient levels are very hard to obtain by food alone.
The values presented are not necessarily the highest dosage. The amounts attempt to prevent inadequacies or excess. Special considerations could require higher (such as a smoker) or lower amounts (high nutrition diets) or different amounts (pregnant or female). The amounts listed should be met either by taking a supplement(s) or through food or preferably by means of both. The table is for Males 18+.
Absorption rates of the vitamins vary from person to person, condition to condition, vitamin form to vitamin form, and are dependent upon many health factors. Many vitamins regardless of dosage can not be absorbed by the body in one dose and must be taken over the course of a day. If you have reason to believe that you currently have a vitamin or mineral deficiency, you should consider seeking medical advice and have a micronutrient test performed. This is a relatively new test for most vitamins and minerals you need.
Change taking your vitamins to before bed instead of the morning, that way your body has access to the nutrients during your body repair cycle. It is also less likely you will forget to take them.
In order to keep the cost of the supplements down and the number of tablets you take. Use a high potency multi-vitamin/mineral tablet (take 2-3) as a base and then add from there. The vitamin/mineral content of each tablet can be manually added to the above programs as a special entry food item.
|
The above dosages should be taken over three or more settings such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner and possibly before bed. This allows a steady supply of nutrients to the body. A pill splitter can cut tablets easily in half. If your body has a vitamin-related deficiency, it could take from a week to several months to correct as your body must first absorb, metabolize and store the required amounts. Your digestive tract can only absorb so much each day regardless of the quantity of the nutrient ingested.
In example, the RDA for Thiamine is for preventing beriberi, the RDA for vitamin C is based on preventing signs and symptoms of scurvy, achieving the urinary threshold for vitamin C excretion, and replacing catabolized vitamin C. Fruit and vegetables are the main sources of vitamin C, but 25% of women and about 33% men eat less than 2.5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily, which provides about 80 mg vitamin C. Vitamin D deficiency is worldwide at an alarming rate and increasing.
The absorption of Vitamin C has a life of about 6 hrs with the greatest blood peaks at about 3 hrs from ingestion. It will also lower Uric Acid within the blood. 8oz orange juice consumed in the morning and before bed (8+ hrs sleep) produces good results. Below is a report you can read on the matter.
Effect of orange juice intake on vitamin C concentrations and biomarkers of antioxidant status in humans:
For additional information on vitamins and nutrition, view the recommended links below.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We would love to hear your comments.