Vitamin 'see' Your Way to Success

Briana Vittorini RD, LDN
Apr 25, 2016
2 min read

"When life gives you lemons, you might be needing some Vitamin C" -Unknown

During cold and flu season, all people can talk about it vitamin C this, and vitamin c that. Well, they are not wrong to push the increased intake of this vitamin, however the routes that they suggest most of the time are less than helpful! For example, Emergen-C, Vitmain C throat lozenges, Vitamin C fruit drinks, fruit chews, and the ever common, vitamin C tablet, are just not going to make it onto my shelves!

My first question is why do we need all of these supplements to give us a nutrient that is found in almost every single real food that we put into our bodies. The list of fruits and vegetables that contain not just vitamin C, but high, potent levels of vitamin C are endless! There is absolutely no reason in the world to buy a supplement to gain access to this super-nutrient.

Then my second question is why, why why why, do we always need to add sugar! From the list above, every single vitamin C supplement has some type of added sugar, whether is be High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sucrose, white sugar, Sucralose, Stevia, Aspartame, etc. And yes, artificial sweeteners count as sugar when it comes to supplements [and everything else for that matter]! They may not have calories, but they reek just as much havoc on the body that sugar does.

My third and final question [for this post, anyway] is why the heck would be choose a synthetic, processed, manmade version of this super-nutrient when the percentage of absorption is so low. When you eat plants, the vitamin C found in these foods have almost a 100% absorption percentage! Meaning, all of the Vitamin C in these foods are being absorbed by the body! With no added sugar!! So, now all of my above questions make sense. Don't waste your time and money on vitamin C supplements when you can just head over to the produce section of your local grocery store and find endless amounts of this super-nutrient! Instead of it being attached to added sugars, synthetic compounds and mystery ingredients that may actually attack your immune system, it will be attached to fiber, natural compounds, and low glycemic sugars. Moral of the story, as always, EAT FOOD! : )

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, allergy-free Monday!