So if you eat your fruits and vegetables, expose yourself to adequate sun, get more than adequate sleep, and stay well hydrated, you shouldn’t need to supplement vitamins and minerals, right? Wrong. This article is written especially for people who want to achieve peak performance from Triathlon or Duathlon training, bike workouts or any sport. But it applies equally to anyone of course. Here are 5 powerful reasons that you need to take multi-vitamins, no matter how fit and healthy your lifestyle is.
- Soil nutrient depletion . Modern farming techniques use fertilizers that really deplete the soil of essential nutrients. Agriculture relies on the elements in the soil for absorption of proper amounts of minerals, and when this process is interrupted, the plant doesn’t contain essential minerals and can’t form essential vitamins .
- Your ability to take nutrients from food decreases as you age . So while growing children should absolutely be taking a multivitamin to support healthy tissue and bone growth, older people actually need additional vitamins too . You could just eat more food, but this upsets caloric balance. Many medications also interfere with proper nutrient absorption.
- Commercial harvesting, shipping, long-term food storage, processing, and addition of preservatives reduce the nutritional value of food. So unless you’re eating really fresh plants , it’s a far different species at consumption than it was when harvested . In addition, compounds added to the food during many of these processes, such as MSG, saccharine, nutrasweet, splenda, colorings, and flavors will increase your body’s need for nutrients to deal with these damaging synthetic derivatives.
- Pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals found in the modern food supply are combined with chemicals in water, environmental contamination from elements such as degraded plastic, air pollution from carbon monoxide, lead and mercury. These synergestic elements greatly increase our need for extra vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to handle the free-radicals that form and attack our metabolism and resistive system.
- Exercise increases nutrient needs. Are you an athlete or frequent exerciser? The vast amount of extra oxygen and energy used by active individuals will demand far more nutrients than the RDA. Consuming just the declared RDA can actually restrict your athletic performance.
A good book that tells you exactly which types of multi-vitamins and dietary supplements will give you the most “bang for your buck” from a metabolic and health standpoint is 100 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism, by Ben Greenfield.