FROM YOUR PLATE TO YOUR “DOCTOR WITHIN” : VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Nature has packed an amazing variety of nutrients into the appealing packages we call food. When you look at an apple, you don’t think about the carbohydrates, fat, protein, fiber, calcium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin A, niacin, vitamin C and other nutrients it contains. You see and taste an apple.
As soon as you bite into the apple, however, you begin to “unwrap” the package. Chewing continues the process, which is completed by the enzymes in your mouth, stomach and intestines. Soon, the package is completely unwrapped. No longer an apple, it is now a collection of the nutrients that go into the making of an apple. It’s the ingredients, not the apple itself, that are absorbed into your body, and many of these ingredients are a big help to our “doctor within.” Others, however, are a mixed blessing, and some are outright harmful. Let’s look at the helpful ones first.
Vitamins and minerals are indispensable tools for your “doctor within,” performing innumerable jobs in every cell of your body. They keep your bones and muscles strong, your skin clear and smooth. They also help fight cellular poisons, prevent unnecessary blood clotting, allow your brain to communicate with the rest of your body, heal wounds, fight bacteria and viruses, promote growth, form red blood cells and dispose of body wastes. You name it, vitamins and minerals are involved.
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