Many of us may think that all we have to do is eat 3 meals a day and that should supply all the vitamins we need. Unfortunately this is not the case, for it all depends on what we eat, where it came from, how it is prepared, and how much we eat.

If meals are grabbed on the run from the nearest fast food chain, then you can be sure that the main ingredient in your diet is trans fat, combined with fast release carbohydrates, loads of sugar and salt, and protein.

If fast food is consumed on a regular basis, adding vitamins to such a poor diet is not the answer, for vitamins are supplements to be added to an already balanced diet. Unfortunately many who take vitamins assume that although their nutrition may be poor, if they take vitamins all will be well.

Unless nutrition is taught in schools, the average Joe will not be aware of what a well balanced diet is all about. Processed packaged supermarket foods do nothing to maintain health, they may fill your stomach, but that’s all. A supermarket trolley overladen with what many consider to be the essentials of life, may be not only deficient in vitamins, but some of the ingredients in those eye appealing packages may be capable of actually destroying vitamins.

Fruit and vegetables bought from the supermarket may look good, but whether or not they contain the vitamins and minerals needed to maintain health is doubtful. The herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides used in the growing process, and the fertilizer used to speed growth may provide a source of heavy metals, rather than vitamins. To top all of this off, the vegetables are irradiated with gamma rays to destroy the little gremlins which hide amongst the leaves. Irradiation destroys the vitamins as well as the bugs.

The vegetables are taken home to be cooked, and because many vitamins are sensitive to heat, then you can forget those vitamins. Furthermore, if the vegetables are microwaved, then this process alos destroys vitamins.

Ideally it is far better to obtain all the vitamins and minerals you need from fruit and vegetables which have been grown organically and locally. Since this is an uncommon scenario in today’s society, it is often necessary to add supplements to the diet.