Biggest Nutritional Mistake People Make (#4)

#4  Believing Vitamins Can Improve Disastrous Nutrition

The vitamin market is completely saturated.  According to statistics, 50% of us take some sort of vitamin, supplement or combination thereof.  If you are not part of that statistic, I'm certain you have at least ventured near the pharmacy where they have rows and rows stuffed with everything from a daily vitamin to a vitamin that gets your teens to do their own laundry!  Ok just a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Just in case you wondered; vitamin companies are not in the business to make certain you look and feel younger - but they are certainly in the business of making money and making you believe their product will do just that.

 Whenever I pass through the vitamin aisle, there is always a few poor saps with a glazed-over look, trying to find which vitamin out of the 137,923.5 vitamin varieties will help them feel better, lose weight, get rid of joint pain, eliminate wrinkles, improve heart health, decrease fat deposits, smile more, be a better wife/husband/teen/human being - ahem.

Then I glance into their shopping cart and see lots of colorful packaging from things like potato chips, packs and packs of diet sodas, Twinkies, candy bars, bakery items (need I continue??).  I don't see much, if any, color from fruits and/or vegetables  - a vitamin POWERHOUSE!  Eating these real food items means better mineral absorption than trying to make up for lousy eating habits by downing a handful of vitamins.

Vitamins/supplements have their place and can be incredibly beneficial, but in order for that to work, that place needs to be secondary to a nutritionally sound eating habit.  You can't expect to be popping a daily vitamin over a plate of nachos or a 1/2lb hot fudge sundae and expect to get any health benefit.

Salud!