More than half of all Americans suffer from one or more chronic diseases and each year millions of people die from these conditions. Dramatic improvements have been made in lowering the rates of mortality. However, the rate of disease keeps increasing. One argument is that this trend is due to people living to older ages, however this is most likely not the whole story. The problem is not merely that people are living longer. The real issue is that many people are unaware that in many instances good health is a choice, not a chance. Everyday, we get to choose what we eat and drink. Every bite or sip you take is either an act of assisted suicide or an act of nourishment.
Only a few generations ago, people ate food from local farms and their own backyards. It was during this time when chronic diseases were rare. As our country’s population increased, the demand for food increased as well, which led to the over farming of our soil. Additionally, farming technology has also evolved to increase the production of food even further. This farming technology includes pesticides, fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms. Both the over farming of the land and modern farming technologies has caused the nutrient composition in the soil to decline, ultimately causing our food to have decreased nutrient levels as well.
Food grown in nutrient deficient soil lacks the nutrients needed to keep people healthy, which helps to explain why people are less healthy today than before modern farming practices were adopted. Furthermore, nutrient-rich soil in our country is eroding faster than the rate at which it is being replenished. This is not a new problem in our country. U.S. Senate Document 74-264 written in 1936 stated, “The alarming fact is that foods – fruits, vegetables and grains – now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contains enough of certain needed nutrients, are starving us – no matter how much we eat of them.” Today, the fruits and vegetables we buy from the supermarket are 5-40% lower in minerals than those harvested 50 years ago. Furthermore, since the animals we consume are fed from the same fields we are, we can only assume that the nutritional value of their feed, and ultimately their meat that we consume is lower in nutrients too.
Once we understand that the soil in our country is nutritionally deficient, and therefore the fruits, vegetables, and animal products that we consume are deficient as well, it is easier to see why the rates of disease and obesity have skyrocketed. Today, almost 40% of the U.S. population is considered obese. We are well-fed as far as quantity of food is concerned, but we are starving for nutrients as U.S. Senate Document 74-264 states. People keep eating to fill their physiological hunger for nutrients, which cannot be satisfied by consuming foods grown in nutritionally deficient soil. Furthermore, many of our sicknesses are a result of our own nutrient insufficiencies. Without the proper nutrients, our bodies cannot function optimally, leaving us more susceptible to disease. This leads us to the importance of nutritional supplements.
It is always better to try and get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat, but nowadays, it is very difficult to consume those nutrients in the proper quantities from only food. Therefore, every single person who eats food produced on American soil should be taking nutritional supplements. More importantly, every person should be taking supplements that are specific to their gender, lifestyle habits, age, and health status and supplements from a reputable company.
Just remember, your body has the potential to create for you what is needed in the right dosage and at the right time provided you supply it with the proper nutrients to do so. When you eat well, take wholefood nutritional supplements, and get regular chiropractic adjustments, you are making payments on your health insurance premium because what you do today will affect your health tomorrow. For these reasons, chiropractors and other natural healthcare physicians offer patients specific nutritional protocols for their health needs.