Nutritional Unhealth

Over the past forty years, tens of millions of Americans have become aware of the need for better nutrition. The farming system prevalent in America has resulted in depleted soil and foods deficient in nutrients. Since the Great Depression, the mass marketing of food has resulted in poorer quality food (Pollan, 2008). The typical American diet is comprised primarily of foods rich in fats, sugar and chemical additives, and low in natural vitamins, essential nutrients, important phyto-chemicals, and beneficial trace minerals. Conventional medicine has only recently acknowledged the importance of nutrition in promoting health and preventing degenerative and infectious disease. Everyone now realizes that good nutrition is central to health, well being and longevity. The natural food movement has grown dramatically in the past few decades and the infrastructure that can support highly nutritional diets has developed to a sophisticated level. Nevertheless, the mainstream American diet has generally degenerated. The American diet generally suffers from a lack of truly nutritious foods (Carpenter, 1994).

             The U.S. government has recently released its new dietary recommendations urging consumers to consume up to 13 servings per day of vegetables and fruits (Willett & Skerrett, 2005). This long overdue recommendation affirms what many of us have known for a long time. Still, most Americans will not be able to achieve these standards. Even those of us who eat consciously often find it difficult to eat well all the time, or even most of the time! Education can make a huge difference in our actual vegetable and fruit consumption. We live in extraordinarily complex times. Our lives are complex and our needs are complex. We now know so much about how the body works that it can be mind-boggling. We know that if certain nutrients are missing from our diet, we are going to suffer from the deficiency. Different cells and different tissues and systems require specific biologically active molecules and chemicals in order to achieve optimum performance (Curley, 1990).

          It is possible to "live" or "survive" without some of these substances, but just living or surviving is not the same thing as "thriving." Thriving means living life to its fullest in a healthy, happy, flourishing, satisfying way. Nutritional variety plays a very key role in thriving. We all know about the "minimum daily requirements" for nutrition. These are not about "thriving." Even "average daily requirements" are not about thriving. Thriving requires more and better. Not more in terms of any one nutrient, but more in terms of a variety of nutrients and phyto-chemicals and other life-promoting factors that the body can use for optimum living. And better in terms of the quality and completeness of those nutrients.

          We all need to eat as well as possible to counterbalance the forces of the modern world. Super nutrition can enhance intelligence, intuition, creativity, work performance, athletic performance, sexual performance and even our personality and attitude toward life, work and family. There is nothing in life that is not influenced by our nutrition.

 

References

Carpenter, K. (1994). Protein and Energy: A Study of Changing Ideas in Nutrition. Cambridge University Press.

 

Curley, S. (1990). The Natural Guide to Good Health, Lafayette, Louisiana, Supreme Publishing

 

Pollan, M, (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. New York, USA: Penguin Press.

 

Willett, W., and Skerrett, P. (2005). Eat, Drink, and be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide To Healthy Eating. Free Press Simon & Schuster