Beyond nutrients: Whole foods nutrition is best for health

Nutrition is in the news more now than ever before.

We now see nutrition as more than prevention of specific deficiencies ? for example, consuming enough iron to avoid deficiency symptoms like anemia. Nutrition is now a means to prevent everything from heart disease and cancer, to sore joints and fatigue.

New food products, meal replacement bars and shakes, and even multivitamin/mineral supplements seemingly make it easy to get all the nutrition you need in a simple package.

There?s a catch, though. It?s not possible to get everything your body needs from these man-made nutrition products.

Have you heard of phytochemicals? ?Phyto? means plant, so phytochemicals are plant chemicals that have effects on health. Lycopene is a well-known phytochemical found in tomatoes (especially cooked tomatoes) that has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer (and several other types of cancers). There are thousands more phytochemicals and many of them have not been identified yet.

When we routinely rely on heavily processed foods, whether in the form of fast food and convenience foods, or even the ?nutritious? meal replacement bars and shakes, we are doing our bodies a disservice in the long run.

Eating a variety of whole foods is your best nutritional bet. If you?ve heard the phrase ?eat a rainbow? before, you know that foods of different colors contain different nutrients.

Here are just a few examples of foods with phytochemicals and their benefits:

? Apples contain quercetin and catechin, which help stop platelet clumping, lowering your risk for blood clots.

? Oats contain beta-glucan, tocotrienols and avenanthramides. All of these, plus soluble fiber, magnesium and folate, are what help make oats excellent for reducing cholesterol and protecting against heart disease.

? Green leafy vegetables contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which support retinal health and vision.

Phytochemicals have also been shown to reduce the risk of many types of cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth, reduce cholesterol, support joint health, build healthy bones, normalize digestion, enhance immune system function, fight inflammation, neutralize harmful free radicals, and more.

We can?t compete with Mother Nature when it comes to nutrition. So, next time you?re in the grocery store, fill your cart with more whole foods instead of man-made nutritional substitutes. You will reap the rewards.