Eat Your Vitamins!

Published on: January 6, 2005

Although the temptation to take supplements to fulfill dietary needs is very strong, doctors and nutritionists emphasize that the word is supplement, to add to, not to replace foods in your diet. In fact, only fruits and vegetables can give you phytochemicals and nutrients in the combination that nature intended. They simply are not found in supplements, pills, liquid nutrients or any other “gimmick.”

According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report, “nutrients are most beneficial to health when…consumed in their natural form and in combination with each other…These foods ---fruits, vegetables (including legumes) and whole grains---contain not only well known vitamins and minerals found in vitamin pills, but also hundreds of naturally occurring substances including carotenoids, flavonoids, and isoflavones, and protease inhibitors that may protect against cancer, heart disease, and other chronic health conditions.

With these new 2005 RDA recommendations, Americans have received the clearest, most specific recommendations ever in the percentages of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals they need for good health.

In particular, the RDA recommends serious attention to the amount of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and Magnesium in the diet.

VITAMIN C

Despite the image of Americans drinking a glass of orange juice with breakfast each day, more than 50% of us do not get nearly enough Vitamin C each day.

Vitamin C is critical for health because it does so many good things for our body, including strengthening blood vessels, maintaining healthy gums, helping to absorb iron, and its powerful antioxidants protect cells from damage from pollution, smoking, or exposure to other carcinogens.

Adding Vitamin C to your diet is as delicious as it is easy. Although oranges and orange juice are the obvious, consider adding one-third cup of sliced red bell pepper, or ¾ cup green pepper or 1 cup cooked broccoli or 1 cup of strawberries to your daily meals.

Other prime sources for Vitamin C are such fruits as papayas and mangoes, pineapple, grapefruit and tangerines, kiwi, cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. Other vegetables high in Vitamin C are okra, winter and summer squash, cabbage, dark leafy greens, cauliflower, peas, sweet potatoes, and asparagus.

VITAMIN A

Well-known for its efficacy for eye health, Vitamin A is also important in maintaining heath bones, teeth, and hair, and is critical for gene expression, healthy cells, immune function, and body growth.

Vitamin A is in a surprising number of vegetables and some fruits. One sweet potato has more than twice the Vitamin A as a cup of sliced carrots, and you’ll find this helpful vitamin in dark leafy greens like spinach, butternut, pumpkin and winter squash, Chinese cabbage, red bell peppers, and in cantaloupe.

So, ADD one cup of cooked greens or carrots, a sweet potato or a cup of butternut squash to your daily diet plain, in salads, soups, or along with other vegetables, and you’ll be “seeing” improved health in no time.

BONE UP ON MAGNESIUM

Again, more than half of Americans lack essential minerals, especially magnesium. It is critical for the development and maintenance of strong bones and for activating the enzymes necessary to release energy in our bodies.

Recommendations can be met with eating 1½ cups cooked spinach AND 1 cup cooked beans. Beans are a primary source of this mineral, so stock up on white, black, lima, navy, great northern, pinto or kidney beans. Add beet or spinach greens, black-eyed peas and soybeans and you’re on your way to stepping lightly and effortlessly with improved bone health.

BE COLORFUL

Think you can’t get all the nutrients on one plate? Think color…instead of white potatoes, bread, and the “beige” of fried foods, think of your food as a box of crayolas, and add yellow orange, red, blue-purple, and green. Each color is not only pretty, but also healthful, delicious, and filling. You’ll find “colorful eating” in beans, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, plus those healthful vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytochemicals.

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