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The Whole Story on Whole Foods
Why They're Important for a Healthy Body
By Elizabeth Yarnell
to deliver health. The only way to take advantage of this packaging is by eating the whole food itself rather than a product that is a derivative of it.
Many biochemical researchers, nutritionists and herbalists believe that the body will never achieve maximum nutrition and an ultimate healthy state without whole foods. Vitamin supplements do not replace the nutritional value of whole foods because vitamins only resemble selected parts of a food. They do not contain the complex, interwoven structure of nutrients and other substances found in one bite of whole food. Additionally, whole foods are alive with enzyme activity, while isolated vitamins are not living substances. And even so-called "natural" vitamins are often more than 90 percent synthetic.
Here's an example of the different effect of vitamins versus whole foods: The medical community has long known that a diet full of plant-based foods that are rich in beta-carotene can help protect against cancer. But a recent large-scale study that administered beta-carotene supplements to lung cancer patients actually proved harmful. It seems that beta-carotene is only one of the many substances contained in the whole foods that was providing the protection against cancer. They actually had to stop the study early because it was causing so much harm.
The safest bet for getting the full benefit out of nutrients and other substances in plants is to consume them in their original packaging as designed by Mother Nature.
