If you go into a health food store, or even a normal grocery store, you’re likely to find at least one aisle full of various vitamins and supplements. While these products may be helpful, they’re expensive, they can be a hassle, and they’re just not always the best way to get all the nutrients you need.
So, besides the hassle of taking a lot of pills every day, what’s so bad about supplements? While there’s nothing wrong with supplements, except that, they were designed to supplement a good diet, 
not replace it.
The best delivery system for vitamins and nutrients is the natural one. Supplements may not be digested or absorbed all the way, which means you don’t get all the benefits you’re supposed to. The only reason you should be taking supplements is if you can’t get the nutrients through your food, but unless you have some sort of medical disorder, or take certain prescribed medications, you can. You can get most of what you need from fruit and vegetable juices.
The important part of getting appropriate amounts of nutrients from juice is that you choose the right variety of juices. Different juices contain different vitamins in varying concentrations. Here’s a list of the vitamins and minerals contained in popular fruit juices.
- Orange: Vitamin C, Most B vitamins, potassium, foliate, and thiamine.
- Grape: Potassium, manganese, is rich in antioxidants.
- Pink Grapefruit: Vitamins C and A.
If you really want to stay healthy without supplements, you’re going to have to break down and start drinking vegetable juices. You may have avoided them in the past because you don’t like the taste, but these juices are great for you and don’t have the high sugar content that fruit juices do. If you just can’t take the taste of vegetable juices, try masking the flavor by adding some fruit. There are also a couple of companies out there that market bottled vegetable juices that are actually quite good.
Here are some of the power veggies that contain the most vitamins and minerals
- Spinach: Thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), foliate, vitamin C, Vitamin K, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc
- Beets: Calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, choline, beta-carotene, and vitamin C. Be sure to mix this one with another juice.
- Broccoli: Thiamine, vitamin C, beta carotene, calcium, sulfur, and potassium. It’s also high in fiber and protein.
If you want the most potential from your juices, you have to make sure they’re 100% percent juice without preservatives and additives. You can do this by checking labels, or by simply making your own juice. If you make your own juice, throw whole fruits and veggies in the juicer. The juicer will take out the solids and you’ll get a juice with greater nutritional value.
You may also want to invest in a good quality juicer. It can be a great investment and you may not need to bother with supplements or vitamins again.
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