Whole Food Nutrients Verses Synthetics

by: Courtney Dwyer
I must start by saying that it is a privilege and an honor to get to be around a wealth of knowledge and insight on health and nutrition as I am at The Fountain of Health. It is also a privilege to get to share that information with you, our Fountain of Health family.

More people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of whole foods and whole food nutrients as part of disease prevention and health. This weekend I had the opportunity to take a class on vitamins and I heard an analogy that gave me an “ah ha!” Sometimes a certain nutrient is promoted so much that it may be thought of as the only component to a healthy immune system. This may be said of ascorbic acid, for instance -- commonly known as vitamin C. Turns out, immune system health is not dependent on only one nutrient. It’s like with a team sport. There’s that one player who is the MVP, who helps the most in getting the team to a victory -- like the star quarterback for your favorite football team. Everyone knows his name; he’s praised for all the great plays and points scored. But let’s see him go out on that field and play the game BY HIMSELF. The quarterback knows it’s impossible for him to do what he does without the rest of the team. That is exactly the way whole food nutrients work! Doesn’t that make so much sense! I could hear myself say “Oh!” when I heard that analogy.

There are so many variables and components of food that make it vital to the body for health. That’s why its food! Scientists may identify the component that seems to play the biggest role in some mechanism in the body, but it’s not just about the one component. Once they isolate it and supplement with just that nutrient, the results aren’t the same! I will always remember my dad saying, “If you’re coming down with something and you want to get more vitamin C into your body to support your immune system, EAT AN ORANGE! Don’t take a synthetic (like EmergenC)! You are way better off eating the orange.” (wise man, my dad)

The bottom line that I learned from this seminar on vitamins is that EVERYTHING EFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE when it comes to your body. The best way to handle health and disease prevention is by eating whole foods. That is ideal. If you can’t eat whole foods all the time, and we all know life happens, then support the body with whole food nutrients. Whole food nutrients aren’t at GNC, the drug store, or sometimes not even in the health food stores. If you look at the back of the supplement bottle and you can’t pronounce most of the ingredients, they’re not whole food nutrients. Keep looking. Your body will appreciate the FOOD! Eat like you’re following the color pallet of a rainbow. (And I don’t mean the colorful boxes of packaged foods.)

There are so many factors in whole foods that we currently aren’t able to identify exactly how they work, but they work together in a beautiful package created by nature. Bring your lunch to work, make your dinner at home, don’t forget breakfast! Support your farmers markets year round. Eat whole food and use whole foods supplements. We carry Standard Process Whole Food Nutrients.