Are vitamins and supplements important?


by Diane Hoffmann,Nutritional Consultant

Picking up from my blog of yesterday, I take an excerpt from the webinar/seminar mentioned on Health, Nutrition and Fitness. It’s about supplements.

Some folks think that eating well will provide all the nutrients their body needs. However, there are a lot of reasons why this is not necessarily so.

First of all, most people do NOT each well even though they think they are. I’m always amazed when I give the task of writing down “everything” a client eats for one week, how far they are from the target.

From that list they return to me, I make a complete analysis of the good and bad of their food eating habits and the nutrients they deliver or don’t deliver, accordingly.

In every case, they are far from the ideal health sustainability of their food intake nutrient supply.

My next blog is going to get into this in more details. But right now is the excerpt from the webinar that give an idea of how important vitamins and supplements are in our daily food intake. This webinar is particularly aimed at Seniors, however it goes for anyone at any age.


Nutritional Supplements:




Let’s take a look at nutritional supplements.

Sound nutrition helps our bodies function well. Much of this can limit or reverse damage resulting from previously poor eating habits.

However, seniors in particular often are nutritionally insufficient in the following areas:

*intake of several nutrients including folate, vitamin C, vitamin E… there could be also a deficiency of vitamin B -- which should be taken in a complex form, by the way, unless your physician tells you otherwise. Always check with your doctor or health professional, especially if you are on any type of medication.

*intake of vegetable and meat groups and dietary variety.

Seniors are often at higher risk of being underweight. The few studies undertaken among frail seniors showed that providing nutritional supplementation – especially a liquid supplement – along with dietary follow-up can result in significant improvement in their nutritional status.

I am particularly reminded of an ad that is running on television about “Boost” liquid meal supplement being recommended as a supplement for seniors. I like the taste and texture of this drink but I find it far too sweet. So we need to be careful about the sugar contents of anything that we see available and advertised – especially if one has diabetes or is sugar intolerant. Always check with a health professional or your local health food store for healthy choices.

As I said earlier, I will write my next blog on further details of this topic and expand on more of the role of vitamins and supplements in our diets.

Diane


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