One multivitamin a day, may keep the doctor at bay and get you closer to achieving the goal of optimal health if combined with a healthy diet. Yesterday I watched “That Vitamin Movie.” I found the film absolutely riveting and believe it is a must-see for every human being on this planet right now. Most of us in the health world are already of the mind that we should, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food,” as Hippocrates once said. But the inevitable truth is that in our modern times not only is the Standard American Diet horrifying low in any real nutrition, even those of us living on plant-based organic diets can still fall short of the mark because the nutrient density of food is diminishing over time. It’s also really difficult to juggle work, life, school, babies, and whatever else life throws at us and still manage to create a meal plan for ourselves that gives our body the nutrition it needs. Unless you have a fabulous chef named Francisco on call, (which I dream about all the time), you know exactly what I mean. And our body will not function optimally without vitamins, which serve as coenzymes for major chemical reactions. If we don’t get the micronutrients we need, some reactions in the body simply won’t happen and this will leave us running on empty and susceptible to disease.
The great news is vitamin supplementation can save the day! Do you take a daily multivitamin? After watching the vitamin movie you will realize that taking one after every meal may not be a bad idea. In fact, they gave a cheap multivitamin to prisoners after every meal and it significantly altered the mental state of those who partook. Megadose vitamin therapy, which is basically taking seemingly very high dosages of vitamins that can’t necessarily be found over the counter is something many of us have never thought of doing when we get ill. Why do this? Well, people have cured cancers, chronic fatigue and pain problems, depression and even yeast infections by taking high doses of vitamins. The best part? No one has ever died from taking too much of a vitamin, while millions are dying from taking prescription drugs. Vitamins are not only cheaper than drugs, they can also be more effective. There was more than one account in the film of people with cancer who took megadoses of vitamin C and recovered. There was even a young girl who had an adverse reaction to a vaccine and was having convulsions, who was cured by a doctor in Japan, with high doses of vitamin C.
After one year eating 100% raw, I realized that my health was not optimal because I was not supplementing. That is when I started the practice of incorporating superfoods into my diet daily to ensure my body was getting adequate nutrition. Vitamins are just as essential and even more useful especially if you don’t have time to make a superfood smoothie. In the film it’s recommended that EVERYONE take up to 16,000 mg of vitamin C daily, and also ensure vitamin D levels are met in order to boost immunity. Getting enough vitamin C can also improve athletic performance. In the film they told the story of the Puerto Rican basketball team that beat the American Dream Team at the Olympics after taking intravenous vitamin C therapy. Two separate studies conducted on HIV patients, one of which was at Harvard University medical school showed that HIV patients who took vitamins were half as likely to progress to AIDS as those who did not take any vitamins.
Physical health is not the only facet of wellness that can be affected by taking your vitamins. Niacin or vitamin B3 has been shown to dramatically accelerate recovery from alcohol withdrawal related depression. Taking Niacin can also naturally lower cholesterol without the same dangers and potential side effects as taking prescription drugs. Studies have proven that there is a brain-gut connection; and the healthier your gut is, the easier you will be able to deal with stress and more likely you are able to withstand the unexpected with level emotions. In that same vein, certain micronutrients in the right combinations and doses can help treat depression and even severe mental health problems such as dementia and bipolar disorder. Here’s a great example from the film: an older woman diagnosed with dementia was given high doses of vitamin B12 and recovered completely within a few weeks.
Hopefully you are inspired to start popping some vitamins like I was after absorbing this information. Please watch the film online and spread the word. It may seem like a funny thing we’ve all taken for granted, but vitamins can definitely improve the quality of your health.
-XO Raw Girl