health food for liver

While getting all your essential nutrients from natural foods is ideal, it may not be practical in today’s society and many people turn to vitamin pills to supplement their diets. Make no mistake about it however, vitamin supplements are big business and not all manufacturers have your best interests at heart.

There are thousands of supplements to choose from and consumers spend billions of dollars each year – many never get even a small fraction of their money’s worth.

How do you choose a vitamin supplement that won’t just go down the toilet?

There are 3 types of vitamin supplement delivery systems. Capsules, Liquid, and tablets. The trick is to pick one that dissolves properly and does not just “pass through” thus wasting your hard earned money.

The liquid would be the best, but unfortunately there are not many choices out on the market. Plus, the can be inconvenient and they taste like cough syrup. But, they are great if you can’t swallow pills and are good for kids as well.

Tablets are the most common form of vitamin supplement. They are made by mixing in an organic or inorganic cement and compressing them into shape. For the pills to dissolve properly, an organic cement should be used but this costs more and as you can imagine, many manufacturers skimp on this stel. There are also coated tablets that resemble little candy-coated M&M’s. These are very commonly found in the one a day cheap drug store vitamins.

Capsules are gelatin containers that dissolve quickly and in most cases the best choice. Because they’re not compressed like the tablets, you will typically have to take two of them to equal one tablet.

One important thing with vitamin supplements is that you want to make sure you absorb as much as possible, otherwise you are just wasting your money. Studies have shown that individual vitamin isolates found in supplements are only about 10% absorbed while vitamins directly from a fresh plant source are 77% to 93% absorbed. Minerals have an even lower absorption rate – 1% to 5%. But, from plants like raw broccoli, the minerals are 63% to 78% absorbable.

The reason for this difference in absorption is that in nature, each vitamin and mineral molecule is attached to a protein molecule. That’s why you must take your vitamin supplements with meals – unless stated otherwise on the label. During digestion, only about 10% of the vitamin and mineral molecules, aided by enzymes, will attach to the protein molecules found in your food allowing them to be absorbed and used by your cells. Without these accompanying proteins, the body will see the vitamin isolates as a foreign substance and filter it out. That’s why you might have noticed bright yellow urine after you take a vitamin – that’s your bodies way of getting rid of chemicals it thinks it can’t use.

When selecting a vitamin supplement, make sure it has adequate amounts of the vitamins and minerals you want. Remember only about 10% of what is in the supplement will be absorbed. Look for the BP (British Pharmacopoeia) or USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) designation on the label. You will find the USP or BP initials next the the vitamin and this designation means the vitamin isolates are of the highest quality and are easily dissolved in the digestion process.

When looking at the minerals section of the label, look for “chelate” or “chelated”. This indicates that the minerals are attached to protein prior to being added to the supplement. This increases absorption by 400% to 800%.

Look for a supplement with a “food base”. This is concentrated plant material to which the vitamins and minerals are added. Supplements with a food base will contain enzymes and nutrients that boost the absorption of the vitamins and minerals. This is probably the best type of vitamin you can buy but the tablets will be larger and you may have to take more of them.

Nutritional supplements can never take the place of food and should not be used as a crutch to supplement a poor diet. The best recipe for health is to eat a nutritious and healthy diet which can be supplement when necessary.

People today do not eat as well as they did even 30 years ago and many of us are starved for essential nutrients and don’t even realize it. With today’s fast paced lifestyles, it’s more convenient to grab a fast food meal or energy bar then to cook up a balanced meal full of the nutrients our bodies need to work their best.

Our diets are woefully lacking in fruits and vegetables which provide us with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber that help your immune systems fight off illness and disease. And when we do eat fruits and vegetables chances are they are full of pesticides and chemicals. No wonder our health on the whole is declining!

Below are several essential nutrients that are probably missing from your diet. Going for the quick fix and replacing them with supplements won’t make up for the synergistic effects of these nutrients found in food and if you want to avoid the harmful effects of pesticides then it’s best to go with organic foods when possible.

Vitamin A
Vitamin A gives us healthy eyes as well as helps to maintain the linings of the intestinal, respiratory, and urinary tracts. It also helps keep our skin healthy. To get more vitamin A in your diet, eat darkly-pigmented foods such as spinach, carrots, winter squash, kale, and sweet potato.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C is needed in order for our body to create collagen, which is basically the glue that holds our skin, bones and blood vessels together. It also aids in making brain chemicals, neutralizing damage from free radicals, and metabolizing cholesterol. Vitamin C has also been shown to help reduce arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. To add this vitamin to your diet, drink add a glass of orange juice or eat an orange every day. Other foods that contain vitamin C are strawberries, kiwifruit, red bell peppers, cantaloupe, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli.

Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps to neutralize free radicals and protect cells from damage. It plays a key role in the immune system and can even help prevent the common cold as well as lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease. Foods high in vitamin E include sunflower kernels, almonds, and sunflower oil especially when used in salad dressings, which helps you get nutrients from the vegetables as well as carry the vitamin E into the bloodstream.

Fiber
Fiber is the part of fruits, vegetables and whole grains that is not digested. Whole grains can lower your heart disease risk by 30 percent. It is recommended that you get 14g of fiber for every 1000 calories you eat. To get more fiber in your diet have a 1/2 cup serving of Fiber One cereal and add more beans to your diet. Switch to whole grain bread and eat lots of fruits and vegetables with your meals.

Calcium
Calcium helps us build and maintain healthy teeth and bones. It prevents bone-thinning osteoporosis and also contributes to healthy blood pressure. Recent studies have shown that calcium can reduce the risk of colon cancer. To get enough calcium, drink three glasses of low-fat or fat-free milk a day, or eat eight ounces of fat-free yogurt along with 2-3 ounces of low-fat cheese evert day.

Magnesium and Potassium
Magnesium works together with calcium and along with potassium it is linked to healthy blood pressure. These two nutrients are also though to help protect against osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. To get more magnesium, add a half-cup of bran and cooked spinach each day. For more potassium, eat sweet potatoes, white potatoes, bananas, and white beans.

Zinc is one of those minerals that you need to hold off the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Most older people and those with dementia and other mental disorders have been found to be deficient in zinc. In most studies zinc has been shown to improve mental capacity in elders.

To get zinc into your blood stream you need to have a specific acid that is excreted by the pancreas. This acid is called “picolinic acid” When food containing zinc or zinc supplements reache the small intestine, duodenum, the pancreas excretes picolinic acid. This acid binds with zinc and moves it across your intestinal wall and into your blood stream.

Picolinic acid is created in the liver and kidneys from the amino acid tryptoph. This amino acid then moves into the pancreas. If you have diabetes or if your pancreas is overworked or weak, you will not be excreting enough picolinic acid and will not be providing enough zinc to your brain. You will need to supplement your diet with zinc.

The type of zinc you need is one that is bound with picolinic acid. This type is called “zinc picolinate.” There are other type of zinc supplements such as zinc citrate and zinc gluconate, but they are not absorb as good as zinc picolinate. If you cannot get zinc picolinate then the next best is zinc gluconate.

The body has many uses for zinc and this can contribute to a deficiency of zinc in your blood and in your brain.

The body uses zinc to help,

with enzyme chemical reactions
antioxidants prevent arteriosclerosis
DNA prevent dementia or Alzheimer’
with cells activity
kidneys maintain acid base balance
with carbon dioxide removal
make pancreatic enzymes
your liver to detoxify alcohols
and the list goes on and on
Here are some of the foods you should add to your diet to get more zinc.

beef, lamb, cheese, yeasts, oysters, Shrimp, herring, sunflower seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sesame Seeds, wheat germ & bran, Mushrooms, Spinach, Squash, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Broccoli ,Chard, Miso, Maple Syrup

Zinc can be toxic in excessive amounts. A safe amount to take is 20 – 25 mg per day. Do not take more than 40 mg per day. Toxic effects are stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea.

Add these foods and zinc picolinate to your diet in an effort to starve off dementia and Alzheimer’s. There are a more special nutrients that you should include in your diet to prevent degradation of your mental thinking. These Nutrients will be discussed in other other articles.