Supplements

Do you know what phytochemicals are? You don’t really need to know the scientific side of it, you need to know that they should be a part of your daily diet. The best sources of phytochemicals are found in fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts.

Even though they can be found in a variety of foods, many people don’t eat nearly enough of them. In the past, there were promotions for people to eat their daily amount of vegetables and fruit, but people still don’t eat the correct amount. Everyone should be eating five servings of fruits and vegetables, but the average person only eats about three and a half. Just over half of those servings come from potatoes, lettuce, and canned tomatoes.

So, you may be eating your daily amounts of vegetables and fruit, but you are most likely NOT getting phytonutrients you need. You will also not be getting the essential vitamins that will help your body function well, even if you get a good variety of fruits and vegetables.

Think about this; a banana is picked before it ripens because it needs to be shipped across the country to grocery stores. Many other fruits and vegetables are picked this way so they can get to our stores before they spoil. When produce is picked like this it will not have a large amount of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

A lot of phytochemicals and nutrients don’t show up until the end of the ripening process on the vine or tree to which the fruits and vegetables grow. This is when fruit gets softer and farmers can’t allow this to happen. If they did, it would come to our markets and last about a day or already be spoiled.

The food ripens off the vine while it sits on the truck or in the store. What we can do to help solve this problem is to pick the produce when it is mature or ripe and then flash freeze them. If something is flash frozen, it becomes powdered and keeps all the nutrients it has. They get put into tablets and are sold as a supplement. This will help people get the right nutrients they need.