What is a Real Food Multivitamin and what to look for?

We hear all the time to get our nutrients from food, right? And many of us try to eat a healthy well balanced diet full of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, high quality protein and good fats. However, that is not always as easy as it sounds

Let’s think back about 20 years. Did the multivitamins available to us at your local health food store contain food or food sourced nutrients? Probably not. Research and technology have allowed a great amount of innovation when it comes to vitamin and mineral supplementation.

The Harvard School of Public Health published an article that outlines the basic history of vitamins and minerals, what these nutrients are and how the development of supplements came about.

This article again endorses a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, quality protein, and good fats to meet your daily nutritional needs, but also acknowledges that we don’t always do that. It was in the 1950’s when vitamin and mineral supplements started to become available in the retail sector.

Vitamins and minerals are considered essential micronutrients. Essential means that we must consume them because our body can’t produce them. The ONE exception being Vitamin D which the body can make by synthesizing UVB rays we get from the sun. These essential micronutrients are found in our food sources – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, etc. which is why there is a great deal of focus on a healthy diet.

Enter “Whole Food Multivitamins”. In the past decade or so we have seen many more options when it comes to multivitamins sourced from food or that contain some nutrients that are specifically from food. Some of these multivitamins are considered what is known as food based, which means part of the product is food and the rest is isolated vitamins.

It’s all found in the Supplement Facts panel.

Let’s focus on the whole food multi, not just food based. Ideally you want to look for organic whole food for the cleanest and chemical free product. When you look at a product’s supplement facts panel you should see the nutrient listed like Vitamin C and your B Vitamins and a notation that would say “from organic food blend”. This means that those nutrients are the ones found in the organic food blend(s). And where do you find out what those foods are?  You guessed it, the supplement facts panel!  Right below the dark black line where the vitamins are listed.

And what should you look for? Food!! And all different kinds of food because providing many different varieties of food provides a wide variety of nutrients.

An excellent option for a whole food multivitamin is the Country Life® Real Food Organics. It is gender specific and when you look at the wide variety of foods, including (but not limited to) fruits like blackberries, blueberries, tart cherries, mango and pomegranate, vegetables like kale, spinach and collard greens, sprouts, greens and mushrooms you can easily see how unique this multivitamin really is!

Not only do you get all those amazing, fermented foods and mushrooms in just 2 tablets per day, there is also some inner fillet aloe vera included in these amazing multivitamins.

Making them more gender specific, the Women’s formula includes additional organic cranberry fruit powder and the Men’s formula includes organic pumpkin seed powder.

Imagine getting many of those great essential nutrients from this wide variety of foods, sprouts and mushrooms every day! It’s a great way to #PowerYourGreatness on your way to your personal healthy body!

Remember, always consult your Health Care Provider before starting a new or changing your diet, exercise or supplement routine.