If you haven’t heard of the benefits of Coconut Oil yet, you need to check it out.  Coconut Oil has gotten a bum rap. I’d certainly agree with the dangers of using typical highly-processed coconut oil, just as in using any highly-processed oil. But organic, virgin coconut oil – like organic extra virgin olive oil – is a Good for You-Naturally™ food.

We plan to do a post on VCO in the future. But today wanted to let you know about a give-away! An Herbal Bedfellow is giving away a 32 oz. jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil. Enter today. Deadline Oct. 16th.

There’s a bit more about VCO on our Good for You-Naturally™ Food Resources & Recommendations page – as well as order links.

Continued from yesterday, when we answered the questions, Does everyone need vitamin supplements and why? Today we are answering the question, What type of nutrient supplementation should we get?

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Many take formulated vitamin/mineral supplements. There are a few problems with getting vitamins this way.

• 1) source and quality of nutrients included. Most supplements you find on the shelves are made from synthetic “coal-tar” sources. They are not the same nutrients found in foods but are a man-made imitation of them. With supplements, you generally get what you pay for. Cheap vitamins are cheap and unusable (at least for the most part) by our bodies. I’ve heard too many stories of septic tank cleaners that have found the bottoms of septic tanks lined with these vitamins, that you could even still read the brand mark on. These are name brand vitamins that you find in the stores. Expensive vitamins may be better. They may be derived from a food source. They may be bio-available – actually get into your body, rather than pass through. But even these are not best.

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• 2) new nutrients are being discovered all the time. Man does not know the complete natural make-up of the foods God provided for us. Man discovered vitamin C, began isolating it and providing it as a supplement. Later he discovered bioflavonoids and realized that vitamin C needed to be taken with these to be most effective. God has created within foods a synergism, ability to work together, for our nutrition and benefit.

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• 3) enzymes. Enzymes are the life force God has placed within living things, that are necessary for things to live, that man is entirely unable to produce or replicate. Only God can make enzymes, and only living things contain enzymes. Enzymes are needed for every function of every cell in the body.

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So what type of nutrient supplement can we take that will effectively provide us, in a form usable by our bodies, the right nutrients that we are missing?

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Glad you asked. 🙂 They best way to get extra nutrients – without eating a ton of extra food – is to get them from nutrient dense foods. That is raw, living foods – with the correct synergism of bio-available nutrients and enzymes – in a form that concentrates those nutrients. That is accomplished by raw juicing.

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Juicing takes the nutrients present in foods, such as in a pound of carrots that you’d be hard pressed to eat in one sitting, and concentrates them into 1 glass of carrot juice. By removing the fiber and pulp, you can easily consume that 1 pound of carrots (1 glass of raw carrot juice) and easily process it. (Even when eating the best of foods, a good share of the nutrients they contain are lost through the digestion process.) These raw vegetable and fruit juices are easily and quickly assimilated without going through the whole digestion process of separating the nutrients from the fiber, etc. They are in a sense “pre-digested”. And they are still living, raw foods with all the enzymes and nutrients your body needs in the proportions and synergism God put into them.

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As an aside, in case you were going to ask, But what about the fiber? We need fiber. We don’t get enough fiber in our diets. True, most Americans eat a diet very devoid of fiber since there is none in meat or dairy or processed grains. And many of our diseases are caused by improper elimination. But–we also need to get nutrients to cells.

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We recommend eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and seeds, with some grains and legumes – all foods high in fiber, rather than the fiberless diet most Americans eat. We don’t advocate eating much (if any) non-fiber foods such as meats, dairy and processed grains.

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Your juice should be drank 1/2 hour before consuming foods. It will be assimilated within that time. Then you can eat the fiber-rich foods you also need.

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Some of you may have one more question, What about “juicing” foods in a high-power blender that liquifies them and doesn’t remove the fiber and pulp we need. Those high-power blenders can be great kitchen tools to have, but we do not recommend “juicing”, really liquifying, foods this way. At least not as a vitamin/mineral/nutrient supplement. The nutrients are still bound up in the fiber of the food, and much will still be lost in the body’s processing of it.

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The most effective way to get high quality and sufficient quantity of the nutrients our bodies need is to make and drink fresh, raw vegetable and fruit (true) juices. Our Dr. recommends 1 glass of fruit, and at least 1 glass of vegetable juice each day as the best, most cost effective, and most beneficial nutrient supplement you can take. We hardily agree!

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See our recommendations and more info for juicers and juicing books and powdered raw juices for when you’re on the go.

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Drink your vitamins for health through nutrition,
I am,
Lisa @ Me and My House