Bridge the Nutritional Gap in Your Diet – Preventable Health Series #1

Happy Friday my friends! I was watching the Today Show the other morning and they made a statement that I have always believed and promoted. They said that the biggest expenses in life are from chronic diseases and these chronic diseases are preventable.

“84% of overall healthcare spending is spent on PREVENTABLE chronic diseases” 

This is why I’m always stressing the importance of preventable health. Obviously, there are some things in life that can not be prevented, but I’m always going to be proactive and try to prevent as much illness and disease as I can. Wouldn’t you rather spend your money now, on preventing disease and living healthy, rather than on medical expenses down the road? I sure do.

Many of you follow me and know that I have a group called 52 Healthy Habits (and if you don’t, feel free to subscribe…it’s free!) which is a fun accountability group where each week I give out 1 simple healthy habit that you can do in your daily life to start living a healthier life. It’s called “52” healthy habits because I started it on January 2nd this year and by the end of the year (52 weeks) the participants will have learned 52 new healthy habits. I’ve also decided I’m going to start a Preventable Health series right here on my blog where I give some great tips and information (some of which has been shared in 52 Healthy Habits) on preventable health habits.

So, this first preventable health tip is all about bridging the nutritional gap in your diet. I have blogged about the importance of nutrition previously and my week 3 healthy habit was all about taking a daily multi-vitamin.

Did you know that even if you eat bunches of kale and bowls full of berries, your body still isn’t getting all the nutrition it needs and craves? That’s why I always tell my clients, friends & family to take a daily multi-vitamin as an “insurance policy” against nutritional deficiencies.

For vitamins to be the most beneficial to your body and prevent illness, you want to make sure that your vitamins have optimal levels of the correct nutrients and you want to make sure that you take them morning AND night. I know…a lot of you say you can’t take them twice a day or you always forget the evening one, etc… Just like other healthy habits, this is a very easy and important healthy habit that you need to train your brain to get in the habit of doing. I literally used to hand my husband his vitamins with his dinner at night because he would always forget…but now that he has gotten used to taking them I don’t have to hand them to him anymore…now he goes into the cabinet to get them himself 🙂 A dear friend of mine has her vitamins right on the counter so they are in sight and ready to grab-n-go every day.

According to Dr. Michael Roizen, MD “you should really take your vitamins (or your multivitamin) twice a day (several vitamins are water soluble and you will urinate them out so quickly that you need them twice a day to have a minimally acceptable level in your blood at all times if you do not eat a lot of fruit and vegetables at both breakfast and dinner. Further, for some such as Calcium, you cannot absorb more than 600 milligrams (mg) at a time, so you need that twice a day and for others such as vitamin C, if you take more than 500 mg at once, that increase your risk of toxicity. So to keep a steady level, to absorb the optimal level, and to minimize the risk of toxicity from too much at once, you want a twice a day multivitamin).”

“1 out of 3 American adults has at least one vitamin or mineral deficiency.”

And according to DSM, “non-users of dietary supplements are 2.5 times more likely to have a nutrient deficiency compared to a full spectrum multivitamin user. Talk about nutritional insurance!”

A full spectrum multi-vitamin is one that has 12+ vitamins and 6-14 minerals in it. The brand I use and recommend is considered a full spectrum multi-vitamin and also has optimum levels of each vitamin and mineral which is more than just the recommended so that the levels are for optimum health.

Even if you are eating super healthy every single day, there are also some other factors that contribute to nutritional deficiencies like: environmental toxins, pesticides, soil and water erosion, exercise, age and genetics, and low calorie diets. Most Americans don’t eat the most nutritious foods (there are more aisles of processed foods in the grocery stores than there are fresh foods), and with convenience and fast foods, the importance of bridging the gap in your diet with a high-quality multi-vitamin is more important now than ever.

On the other hand, just because you take a daily multi-vitamin that doesn’t give you an excuse to eat processed junk foods either. Taking a daily multi-vitamin along with a healthy diet and exercise is the key to preventative health care which will lead to a healthier life. More preventative healthcare tips to come next week!

Stay Healthy my Friends!

XO,

Carrie A Groff

P.S. For those skeptics out there, if you want factual proof here are two clinical studies that have been done on the brand of vitamins I use and recommend: Freiburg Study and Sterling Study.