Where Oh Where Did All The Good Minerals Go?

When I was in high school (that was a little while ago, but not like, a whole long time ago), we were supposed to eat five servings of vegetables a day, now, we need to chow down on nine servings (a serving is a half a cup). Seriously nine? I eat more vegetables than the average chick, but I can’t possibly squeeze in that many, I’d be eating all day long! The recommendation isn’t evolving to mess with my meal plans, we have a problem here. Did you know that 100 years ago produce contained 90% more minerals than they do today? What the heck is going on? It’s the same old story:

• Commercial agriculture meets food.
• Commercial agriculture decides to play God and make food “better”.
• Commercial agriculture uses pesticides and unwise crop practices which in turn depletes the soil of all the good nutrients.
• On top of that it totally screws up the plant’s ability to use trace minerals.
• Oh wait, it gets better! After commercial agriculture waters down our vegetable’s nutrient content, food processing comes in to strip whatever was left.

Probiotics for the soil? We mistakenly think all bacteria are bad,but they are very necessary. Modern agricultural processes kill natural microorganisms that make minerals available to plants, naturally. The brilliance of nature is this - The soil supports the growth of bacteria. These bacteria break down organic matter in the soil to feed the plants. Now, bacteria and plants are not friends, so, on the plants live a natural fungi called Mycorrhiza; it grows on their roots and protects the living plants from the bacteria (bacteria and fungi are natural antagonists). Pretty clever huh? But chemicals that kill bacteria and fungi, plus fertilizers that just focus on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, destroy this natural process and gives the plants just a few nutrients to grow with. And that in turn is what we and our children have to grow with…which isn’t much. No wonder we would have to eat 53 peaches today to get the vitami A we used to get from two peaches! Woe is me, what am I to do? Well, we start by eating real food. Forget the processed stuff, go right to the vegetable section and buy organic. If you really want to do it right, find a small local farm or CSA or grow your own. Yep, I know, that’s still not enough, so here we go…you gotta add some vitamins and minerals. I like to go the more natural route and get my minerals in an ionized liquid and my vitamins in the form of superfoods. Superfoods are whole plant-based vitamins and minerals with all the co-factors and enzymes. This makes them extra good for you. Yes they taste a little icky, you’re just going to have to put on your big kid pants and drink it down…it’s that good for you! This is one example of how we really can’t get what we need from our food!