6. Questions & Answers

I recently heard that the only way you can meet your recommended daily amounts for vitamins and minerals is to take a good all-around supplement. Are you saying that we don't need pills no matter what we eat?

What you are probably referring to is the recent study by a medical researcher who discovered this startling fact: Up to 80% of the typical American's diet consists almost entirely of products made up of sugar, fat, white flour, and alcohol. The study then stated that since so many calories are consumed in these nutritionally worthless foods, then we would have to take some type of pill to make up the difference if we don't want to increase our calorie intake. The researchers then speculated that if we tried to satisfy all of our nutritional needs from food alone hat we would have to nearly double our calorie intake.
This is pure nonsense. Of course if you eat the typical junk food diet of most Americans, then your diet will most certainly be lacking in essential nutrients. The solution is not to eat more of the selfsame nutritionally worthless foods in order to get enough vitamins or minerals. And
you already know that swallowing a few pills is not the right approach.
Wouldn't it make more sense if these people would eliminate the 80% of their diet that furnishes no nutrition, and instead eat only wholesome, unprocessed foods that are packed with all of our essential nutrients? In this way, they would not have to increase their calorie intake; in fact, they would lower it because they would have eliminated all the high-calorie, low-nutrient foods that make up over half of their diet.

You can argue all you want to, but here's one thing that proves you wrong. When I feel run-down, I take a good overall vitamin and mineral supplement for five to seven days. I feel great and all charged up at the end of the week. Now tell me that supplements are worthless!

Okay—supplements are worthless. Seriously, what you are experiencing is not at all uncommon. We have never said that supplements do not have an effect; we have only said that they cannot supply proper nutrition.
Some people will feel better no matter what kind of pill they swallow. This is called the placebo effect and it has been well-documented. However, supplements can often have an effect that is simply not illusory. They can provide a strong stimulus to the body just as any toxin or foreign agent can. This stimulus that accompanies the supplement is often mistaken for a beneficial effect; instead, it is the body's response to an unnatural and inorganic presence. There are some additional materials at the end of this lesson that examine this false side-effect of taking supplements. Just because you are "stimulated" do not assume that you are being helped.