The Non-Essential Form of Nutrient

Recently, I am reminded of the importance of nutrients. It’s not enough to count calories people, but now we have to ensure we are getting the right nutrients as well. Yes, those vitamins and minerals dutifully listed on the back of each package. I worry because I think that like calorie counting, people can get carried away with counting and striving for the perfect percentage of nutrients without the calories.

Focusing on more numbers and equations when it comes to food, rather than focus on the food the natural energy and nutrients it offers, is some what bothersome to me. Not it mention that it opens the market up, as essential nutrients are sold in supplemental form because everyone is convinced they must meet their 100% for the day. Ensuring that the essential nutrients are consumed one way or the other, often in supplemental form, seems to lead the idea that those pills, teas, or otherwise can replace food.

I went through a nutrient supplement phase in college as food tends to be more available in large quantities of greasy snacks, so took make up for the lack of healthy food, supplements had to be taken. But once I left school property I was able to shop on my own, spend more time thinking about choosing food, and led to more time preparing food, and finally more time eating the food; rather than every night make the quick decision at the dinning hall for a side of tater tots for that pizza. So I stopped worrying about if I had met the quota for the day, and I just bought more foods that I knew already had the needed nutrients. Vitamin supplement I think can be very helpful in some cases, but taken out of hand in others when one falls into that, more often than not, phase of self-diagnosing oneself with supplements.

So these days, when I read in the paper on the way to work that Mothers lack the essential nutrients, and see the ads telling us to “just take a multivitamin,” I try to keep in mine that I food is often the best way to consume the essential nutrients. I think that often ensure that we meet our daily quota we need, it can be done on a more general scale rather than worry about meeting percentage for the day. These days how can you not get the right nutrients, it’s all over the packaging, not to mention enhanced in certain foods.

It is important to understand which foods have what nutrients and base your diet around that information; to know what foods carry the essential nutrients and to eat that balanced meal in order to consume a substantial amount. I tend to believe that if one pays attention to what your body needs (not to be confused with what your mind thinks it wants), it will give them a better picture of what they should eat rather than a calculated formula. There are foods that are okay to eat a few extra bites, and there are those that you maybe should keep at bay. However, I feel that a lot of knowing which foods to eat is intuitive and without getting bogged down with the details of more numbers. Eating a balanced meal in terms of those old food groups we learned about in school, but even a more basic rule of thumb is to eat different foods, different colors, and different origins.