While growing their own food was quite common years ago, most people these days prefer buying their vegetables and fruits. And why not, it saves so much time an effort on their part. However, while doing this what you do end up with deficiencies of key vitamins and minerals.
This is one of the major reasons why quite a few people have started to grow their own foods in their own backyards. Food bought from the supermarket has its own disadvantages. First and foremost, you just don't know where the food has been grown. Add to that the harmful chemicals that are used on farms these days and you end up eating something that may be more harmful rather than beneficial.
You will also need to consider soil depletion. Soil needs to be rich in some key nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, copper, potassium, and zinc. If the soil is low in these nutrients, the resultant food will also be low in these minerals and the vitamins that you do consume will not get absorbed appropriately.
You also cannot ignore the problems that occur when food is stored. Once it is harvested, the vegetables are transported and then sold at your nearest supermarket. Even after you buy it, you keep these vegetables in your refrigerator for a few days. These surely results in a loss of freshness in the foods and it also decreases its nutrients. For example, potatoes lose 50% of their vitamin C content within two months of being harvested. The more days it is stored, the the more loss of vitamin is seen.
If you want to increase your vitamin Bs and Cs, then you should grow your own food. You can grow many of the health foods sold in the market these days such as barley grass. Barley grass juice increases your mental alertness and improves your energy. If you grow it yourself and juice it soon after harvesting, you will be consuming more vitamins than in store-bought foods.
You could even grow your own chlorella or spirulina which are rich sources of vitamin C, rather than take vitamin C supplements. However, with these algae you need to be more careful since these may very well grow into something that is not fit for consumption. For example, if the water in which you grow your algae is polluted with heavy metals, it may not be good for human consumption. This is why it may be better to stick to consuming these vitamin-rich foods in the form of supplements.
This is one of the major reasons why quite a few people have started to grow their own foods in their own backyards. Food bought from the supermarket has its own disadvantages. First and foremost, you just don't know where the food has been grown. Add to that the harmful chemicals that are used on farms these days and you end up eating something that may be more harmful rather than beneficial.
You will also need to consider soil depletion. Soil needs to be rich in some key nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, copper, potassium, and zinc. If the soil is low in these nutrients, the resultant food will also be low in these minerals and the vitamins that you do consume will not get absorbed appropriately.
You also cannot ignore the problems that occur when food is stored. Once it is harvested, the vegetables are transported and then sold at your nearest supermarket. Even after you buy it, you keep these vegetables in your refrigerator for a few days. These surely results in a loss of freshness in the foods and it also decreases its nutrients. For example, potatoes lose 50% of their vitamin C content within two months of being harvested. The more days it is stored, the the more loss of vitamin is seen.
If you want to increase your vitamin Bs and Cs, then you should grow your own food. You can grow many of the health foods sold in the market these days such as barley grass. Barley grass juice increases your mental alertness and improves your energy. If you grow it yourself and juice it soon after harvesting, you will be consuming more vitamins than in store-bought foods.
You could even grow your own chlorella or spirulina which are rich sources of vitamin C, rather than take vitamin C supplements. However, with these algae you need to be more careful since these may very well grow into something that is not fit for consumption. For example, if the water in which you grow your algae is polluted with heavy metals, it may not be good for human consumption. This is why it may be better to stick to consuming these vitamin-rich foods in the form of supplements.
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If you think you are deficient in vitamins such as niacin and vitamin C, supplements may help. However, you should also consider freshly grown food right from your own organic garden.
