It is no secret that people today are more sickly than our great-grandparents were in the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. While most people put it down to poor eating habits, which we assume means fast-food only, the problem actually stems from a decline in nutrition of commonly available foods. While the body can make certain vitamins, we need to absorb minerals from external sources and without minerals, we will experience a wide range of health problems.
Take the popular mineral, magnesium for instance. Magnesium is involved in more than three hundred biochemical process in your body. It's easy to see how many health issues you can experience by just being magnesium deficient.
An estimated 80% of Americans are mineral deficient, and the Canadian government recently found that while people are consuming more calories than ever, strong evidence exists to prove that most foods have drastically reduced in nutritional value over the last half-century. Another study in the USA found a decline of between 6-38 percent of nutritional values in certain foods. Read the shocking findings in thisNew York Times article.
In order to get the most from your fruit and vegetables, follow these guidelines -
Cooking Methods: High temperatures can destroy 30% of the nutritients in raw produce. Rather steam, saute or microwave your vegetables to minimize the effect. Some vegetables can increase in nutritional potency when cooked as the head breaks down the cell walls, and increasing the bioavailability of certain antioxidants in vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach and carrots.
Fresh or frozen: Nothing beats the smell and taste of garden-fresh vegetables, but what's in your green grocer, is not quite the same as garden fresh. The time it takes the produce to travel from the farm to the green grocer exposes your fruit and vegetables to light, air and heat, causing it to diminish in nutritional value. In that case, quick-frozen vegetables may actually be more nutritious as fresh counterparts. Be sure to follow the storage and cooking instructions on the pack for best results.
Canned: High temperatures during processing causes much of the nutritional value to diminish. To add insult to injury, many additives and preservatives are added, and in the case of fruits, the syrup contains a lot of sugar and calories.
What does the nutritional decline mean to us, today?
Unless you are using a daily multiple supplement, and eating farm fresh organic vegetables and fruits picked daily, you are probably not getting nearly all the nutrition your body needs to maintain good health, let alone optimum nutrition. Your first step would be to start taking a daily multiple mineral supplement and to start paying closer attention to your food choices.
Lizette is a professional copywriter at ContentCafe Copywriters South Africa with a penchant for all things natural. New to yoga she enjoys smoothies instead of Martinis. She also contributes to the Mineralife Blog where you can find more great health tips.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lizette_Balsdon
