The proper amount of vitamins are hard to get in the food that you eat yet you need to be careful what vitamins you take. You’ve been hearing about vitamins since you were a kid. This article will give you some food for thought or some vitamins for thought..
Long before scientists discovered the vitamin codes it was understood that eating certain foods would help you stay healthy and the foods could also help you prevent diseases. For instance Citrus fruits would ward off scurvy, which is a terrible disease that has symptoms of hemorrhaging. And it was discovered that eating unpolished rice instead of polished rice would prevent beriberi. Beriberi would give the victim paralysis and anemia. Scientist didn’t really understand the relationship between these foods and the diseases they prevented until l906 when a British biochemist proved that in addition to proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and water foods also contained what he call accessory factors or substances that the body needed to convert food to chemical form to the body could use it. But scientist still couldn’t understand the chemical makeup so the couldn’t give them proper names they just called them all vitamins and kept them separate by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new substance they discovered.
Now vitamins are divided into two different types. The water soluble kind like the B-complex vitamin and vitamin C and the fat -soluble kind like A.D.E. and K. Our bodies can’t store the water-soluble vitamins so if you eat more then your RDA, or the Recommended Dietary Allowance most of these vitamins will pass right out of your body. Fat-soluble vitamins are more easily stored in you liver and body fat.
Vitamin A is important for your eyes good health and it helps keep the immune system healthy and it is necessary for proper organ function. You can find Vitamin A in animal fat, dairy products and green leafy vegetables. Vitamin B is found in meat, cereal, grain and dairy products and you need B for healthy skin and cell processes. Vitamin C is in Fresh Fruit and vegetables and it helps your body heal wounds and build tissues. Vitamin D is produced by your skin when you are exposed to sunlight it is found in eggs, and fish your body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin E is found in green leafy vegetables and is good for many things. Vitamin K is not made by the body but by organisms that live in your intestinal tract, it is also found in yogurt, eggs and leafy vegetables.
To maximize the amount of vitamins you get in your vegetables it is good to wash them but don’t soak them and it is best to eat fresh vegetables within a week of buying them to get the most vitamins out of them. If you have the choice between canned and frozen vegetables always pick the frozen since they have more vitamins in them. When it comes for food fresh is always best but it is hard to always get fresh vegetables.
