As healthy as some of us may try to be (or even if you're just an average person) it can be pretty hard to get your daily recommended 5 - 10 servings of vegetables. The new U.S. Food Pyramid recommends that I eat 3.5 cups of vegetables each day - which when combined with my protein, vitamin, and caloric goals is a lot of food to juggle. Finally, I don't like my green vegetables quite that much.
Sound familiar? You're not alone if you feel the same way. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2003 fewer than 23% of Americans ate the recommended number of servings (5) of fruits and vegetables each day. Unfortunately, this isn't an improving trend. What can you do to escape the trend?
Natural health enthusiasts often toy with the idea of a perfect food - that magic pill that contains all the nutrients you need to feel good. While that kind of solution may be a way's off, we do have A perfect food: Garden of Life's "Perfect Food".
This green food formula provides the nutritional equivalent of of 5 - 10 servings of vegetables, along with over 100 minerals, more than 90 antioxidant complexes, and 45 nutrient-dense superfoods, plus an assortment of key vitamins. For you purists out there, you'll be happy to know that it contains 100% organic cereal grass juices.
Though I write about healthy eating for a living, even I admit that it can be hard to get my regular daily servings of green vegetables. Life keeps me busy, and sometimes I crave a variety that I can't get if I adhere to an ultra-strict diet.
For me, one of the major benefits of Perfect Food is that I can get all my days vegetables (including their rich nutrients) in one serving. It saves a lot of time, and when you mix it cranberry juice, it tastes GREAT.
What are super green foods and why do I need them?
Super green foods are derived from young cereal grasses such as wheat, barley, rye, oats and alfalfa, as well as spirulina, chlorella, kelp, dulse and other sea vegetables. Perhaps the most nutrient-dense foods on earth, these grasses are richer in nutrients than spinach, broccoli, eggs and chicken in virtually all categories including protein, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, carotenoids, and vitamin E.
Super green foods are the only foods in the vegetable kingdom that enable animals to continually maintain their weight, strength, and optimal health even if consumed alone. They abound in unidentified growth factors, powerful antioxidants, immune boosters, and many other health-enhancing nutrients.
What are the effects of not eating enough vegetables?
Surprisingly, malnutrition can occur even if your body is only deficient in a single vitamin. Malnutrition means you're not getting enough nutrients as a result of an inadequate or unbalanced diet, or because of digestive or absorption difficulties. Symptoms of malnutrition include lack of energy, irritability, a weakened immune system leading to frequent colds or allergies, and mineral depletion that can trigger a variety of health concerns including anemia.
If I'm already taking a vitamin supplement, why do I need Perfect Food?
The whole foods found in Perfect Food provide vitamins and mienrals as nature intended, with all the naturally occurring co-factors and synergistic compounds intact. They contain hundreds, and possibly thousands, of nutrients that cannot be isolated and put into a vitamin and mineral supplement.