Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency:
Setting Up
A Health Maintenance Program

There is nothing more important in a health maintenance program than preventing a vitamin and mineral deficiency. The human body is dependent on vitamins and minerals to alleviate, or prevent, many common diseases from our past. Remember the outbreaks of scurvy (lack of Vitamin C), rickets (lack of Vitamin D), or beriberi (lack of thiamine-B1). All of these and many, many more preventable conditions caused physical maiming or death to thousands of people. Each and every one of those suffering could have been spared the agony with just a few simple changes to their everyday diet.

Factors Which Lead To Reduced Nutrients

• By introducing oxygen into a product- especially during juicing- a fresh orange will lose up to 20% of its available vitamin C. If you drink orange juice from a carton, you now lose another 30%. In total, after processing and packaging, a total of 69% of the vitamin C has been lost when compared to just eating the single orange after it is peeled.

• The addition of water and heat during processing destroys many of the fragile nutrients in many canned vegetables and fruits

• Pollutants which are used in farming (pesticides and heavy metals), hydrocarbons which are used in industry (benzene and chloroform), and environmental pollutants (ozone and carbon monoxide) are being used at ever-increasing rates in the food industry.

• Food additives which are used in the manufacture and processing of foods today have led to our immune system can no longer withstand the load. This leads to increases of allergic reactions and intolerances in many people because of the inability of their digestive system to process the foods they eat.

• If you routinely use alcohol in your diet, it has the capability of preventing your digestive system from capturing and releasing the nutrients into your system before they are destroyed.

• If you are a cigarette smoker- every puff you take is depleting your body's stores of Vitamin C. Your body does not have the capability of manufacturing this vitamin. It is totally dependent on the amount it receives from the foods you eat.

• While discontinuing an exercise program is not a recommendation, you must realize continuous heavy exercise accelerates your body's need for riboflavin. After starting a supplement program, you will notice your workouts actually seem to be getting easier. This is because riboflavin will give you more strength and endurance.

Therefore some of the common vitamin and mineral deficiency problems which can be thwarted with just a few simple changes to your daily life are itemized below:

• Vitamin A: always on guard for true health and nutrition

• Vitamin B12: it fights more than just the symptoms of anemia

• Vitamin C: all around miracle vitamin in a daily dose

• Vitamin D: the sunshine vitamin

• Vitamin E: a systemic "wonder drug"

• Calcium Deficiency: more than just strong bones

• Low Iron: be careful to shop around for the right kind- Ferrous Iron occurs naturally in food.

• Low Potassium: it regulates the delicate chemical balance in the human body

• Zinc Deficiency: a natural wonder- it is an excellent immune system booster

As we are constantly reminded, a varied diet of many fruits and vegetables, lean meats and whole grains plus beans (legumes) is our best defense against ever being diagnosed with a vitamin and mineral deficiency. But remember, taking vitamins and supplements can assist in eliminating early symptoms of diabetes if your intake of foods can not match your body's daily requirements.

***Check here for a true life story from a diagnosed cancer victim - now a survivor - who managed to beat the odds by utilizing a vitamin and mineral program as part of her treatment protocol. Cancer and treating vitamin deficiency together have helped her to realize her dream of a cancer-free life.

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