NUTRITION
Does an apple a day really takes the doctor away?
Spiritual Warrior
It’s one of the most recognizable expressions. Besides the fact that it rhymes, which makes it fun to say and easy to recall, does it really have any value? Could an apple really help a person to maintain perfect health?
We received a lot of questions regarding Mind, Body Spirit nutrition. There are a lot of different sources of information, which offer their own perspectives on what is good and healthy for you. A part of our team set themselves on a mission to study all the newest findings and discoveries about nutrition and health. In the next few months you will be able to read their findings and thoughts here. Hope it will clear some things out for you, so you will be able to explore your Body and decide what is good for you.
As one of the basic concept of Nutrition and also ordinary everyday advice, Vitamins represent the backbone of our metabolic system and are definitely unreplacable parts of each diet/lifestyle/foodstyle we have. And that is why we would like to start to explore them.
What are vitamins?
Vitamins are organic chemical compounds and are not synthesized in the body. Therefore they must be acquired from the diet and absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. But not all vitamins are obtained with food. They can also be synthesized endogenously – vitamin K and Biotin by the intestinal microflora, vitamin D is synthesized in the skin with the help of the natural ultraviolet wavelength of sunlight and niacin (B3) from tryptophan which is an essential amino acid.
Despite of this endogenous synthesis, a dietary supply of all vitamins is essential for health.
In our exploration we found a really good short video made by Ginnie Trinh Nguyen describing basic up-to date information about vitamins:
Linda S. Constanzo Ph. D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Why do we need vitamins?
Vitamins are essential for the normal growth and development of a multicellular organism because they act act as coenzymes or cofactors for various metabolic reactions. That means that If there is serious deficiency in one or more of these nutrients this could lead to a deficiency disease. Even minor deficiencies may cause permanent damage in organ systems.
Which vitamins are there?
There are thirteen vitamins necessary for health and are categorized as either fat soluble or water soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. They enter from intestinal lumen, are then extruded into lymph, which delivers them to the bloodstream. The water-soluble vitamins include vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, C, biotin, folic acid, nicotinic acid, and pantothenic acid. In most cases, absorption of the water-soluble vitamins occurs in the small intestine.
As we have seen there are two types of Vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in fat cells for a “harder times”, and water-soluble vitamins are not stored anywhere and need to be replaced daily.
Our advice would be not to over-supplement yourself with vitamins – especially the fat-soluble ones. The most important thing you can do is keeping the right balance – eat enough quality food and supplement if really necessary. Don’t like eating fruits and vegetables? Think again! When start to explore we didn’t eat a lot of vitamins, but somehow they invited themselves into our lives. Now, after a month we are drinking them every day.
What are your thoughts on vitamins? How often do you eat them?
Do you have any advice, comments or ideas you can add to our post?
We would love to hear from You!
We would love to hear some of your experiences, thoughts and opinions.
Write in the comment below!
Spiritual Warrior
Author
I was always curios. The waves of euphoric exploration on the newly-discovered topics carry me deeper into the ocean of knowledge. And then i start to write. As a psychologist and enterpreneur i developed a critical view of the world which offers unlimited possibilities for improvement. Because there is too much "false" teachings and personal growth guides out there, i decided to build my own knowledge base with science proven information and recent discoveries. I invite you to create it with me. Only with helping each other and spreading love through the Universe, we will all grow and raise our frequency of existence.
