need magnesium, manganese, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin K,
boron, silicon, potassium, and a variety of other nutrients. Just
focusing on calcium won’t allow you to achieve the goal of good bone
health. You need a much broader list of nutrients that can only be pro-
vided by nutrient-rich foods like the World’s Healthiest Foods.
Most people are used to thinking about nutrients in a “this cures
that” type of way. This way of thinking is sometimes encouraged
by the overly simplified positioning of dietary supplements in the
marketplace. Manufacturers often include health claims on their
product labels that present relatively simple cause-effect relationships
between nutrients and health. For example, a supplement manu-
facturer might claim that calcium builds strong bones, or that fiber
maintains bowel regularity, or that vitamin E supports heart health.
While all of these connections between nutrients and health have
science-based validity, consumers might end up concluding that all
they need for a healthy heart is vitamin E, or that nothing more is
needed for building strong bones than calcium. The truth of the
matter is that no single nutrient is a magic bullet that can single-
handedly prevent a disease or protect an entire body system like
blood vessels or bones.
It’s not as if a nutrient waves a magic want and voila...a health
problem is fixed. The reason that nutrients are related to the
prevention of future health problems and the improvement of existing
ones is connected to the role that nutrients play in all of the body’s
underlying structures and metabolic activities. They are the resources
that our body needs to make and maintain healthy cells. They are the
substances that help run our metabolism and allow our body to go
about its moment-by-moment physiologic activities. Without them,
our body cannot do the things it needs to do: for example, our cells
can’t communicate, our muscles can’t contract, and oxygen can’t
be carried in our blood. Those three activities are joined by literally
thousands of other activities that go on every second at a metabolic
level that is invisible to us but absolutely critical to our health.
Nutrients, therefore, are the ingredients in the body’s recipe for
Nutrient-Rich World’s Healthiest Foods Key to Healthy Weight Loss