The ABC’s of Vitamins

Vitamins are found in foods and are required for biochemical reactions to occur within the body.  There are 13 different vitamins – four that are fat-soluble (A, D, E and K) and are stored for months in the body; and nine which are water-soluble vitamins (C, and the B-complex vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12 which can be stored for a few weeks in the body.

Keeping yourself healthy requires you have a good balance between foods you eat and ensuring you get the right amount of vitamins your body requires, and exercise.  While you can obtain vitamins from supplements, the best source of nutrition comes from the foods you eat.  The longer your food is off the tree it grows on or out of the ground and sitting in the grocery store – the more the nutritional value of the food decreases.  Fresh foods contain the highest amounts of vitamins and nutrients.

Food scientists have discovered that food simply doesn’t have the nutrients it contained 50 years ago because it travels further and sits on store shelves longer; and also how we prepare it.  Steaming broccoli for as little as one and a half minutes will remove all of the nutrients.
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