The 5 Pillars of Optimal Health – #2

Pillar #2. Cellular Nutrition

Let’s be clear about one thing:  Nutritional supplements DO NOT replace the nutrients missing from a poor diet.  You MUST have a healthy meal plan FIRST.  That said, some people feel they don’t need to take vitamins or nutritional supplements.  Are they sure?  How do they know?

After 28 years as a Fitness Professional and almost 60 years on this planet, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want adequate health, I want OPTIMAL HEALTH.  CELLULAR NUTRITION is a key component.  From my perspective, it’s all about understanding what’s going on inside our bodies and the war being waged between our cells and a thing called OXIDATIVE STRESS.  Oxidative stress is the damage to our cells through an oxidative process that involves nasties called FREE RADICALS.  Basically, we’re “rusting” from the inside out.  Inflammation triggered by this oxidative stress is the cause of much of chronic human disease including  aging.

These Free Radical molecules are a normal byproduct of regular metabolic function. Even the Neanderthal Man had them.  However, our cells were only made to withstand so much exposure to these destructive forces.  Today, our cells are fighting off the effects of Free Radicals caused by all sorts of things.  Here’s just a few:

High blood sugars (poor nutrition in general), EXCESS stress, (do you remember when we never mentioned this word?) pollution of our environment, prescription medications,  radiation from the sun, EXCESS exercise, smoking and even stuff in your house containing or generating harmful toxins like: your Teflon frying pan, plastic containers, (we only just recently found out about BPA!) body ‘care’ products with harmful preservatives, “mountain fresh” smelling cleaning and laundry products, dry cleaning… oh and let’s not forget the electro-magnetic radiation from gadgets like cellphones,  mp3 players, microwaves, clock radios etc.  Hmmm… one more?  How about Mercury poisoning from those amalgam fillings?

This oxidative mayhem has been implicated in the cause of many diseases.  What sort of disorders are a result out-of-control Oxidative Stress?  A better question would be “What isn’t?” Alzheimer’s, Bipolar Disorder, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease,  Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Macular Degeneration, Parkinson’s Disease are only a few of them.

Simply put, our body’s cells are the fundamental units of life and proper cellular function is the essence of health. We need to keep these cells healthy by supplying all the proper nutrients they require to combat cellular damage caused by poor nutrients in our food, stress, environmental pollution, excessive physical strain and radiation from the sun etc. etc. . And, because the environmental stresses on our cells has increased over the years we require a higher level of nutrition than we can get from our food. Nutritional supplementation with pharmaceutical-grade multi-vitamin/minerals and antioxidants is essential for optimal health.

Our bodies didn’t come with an easy-to-use  manual so we need to educate ourselves.  I urge everyone to do their homework:

Learn what nutrients are necessary for proper cellular function.

Learn where these nutrients come from.

Understand why our food no longer contains the amount of nutrients it used to.

Know that for over 50 years the public has been led to believe that Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) was adequate.  It’s not. (unless you have scurvy)

Learn about Chronic Inflammation and the link to Oxidative Stress

Some things you should check out in your quest for knowledge:

FOODMATTERS – If you haven’t seen this groundbreaking and thought-provoking movie put it on your ‘to-do’ list.

hartridge.usana.com – this link will take you to our USANA Health Sciences website where you can learn more about USANA’s highest quality products.  You can also develop your own nutritonal supplement program.  Click on PRODUCTS and then take the Health Assessment and Advisor.

Nutrisearch Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements – Very informative YouTube series.

Yours in Health & Fitness, Heather