Why Is Dietary Balance So Important?

My previous post encouraged you to find supportive friends. Ones who wouldn’t coddle or enable you but rather strengthen you when you needed them.

This is very similar to how our physiological system works.

Our God is a God of order and balance.  He wants our bodies to function in perfect harmony; even in what we should eat! No wonder we feel ‘off kilter’ when we don’t consume the right foods! We feel we have no energy and our brain doesn’t seem to function properly.

 “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)

God created everything to work in conjunction for good so we absolutely need physiological balance! It’s  matter of teamwork. Popping one nutrient or vitamin supplement won’t help as much unless they are combined. In other words, it needs supportive nutritional “friends” along the way.

• Iron needs vitamin C to work efficiently.
• Calcium, magnesium, potassium also work in conjunction for better health.
• Vitamins A, E, K need fat to assimilate..

Aim to get most of your nutrients from actual food; fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as fresh as possible. If no Farmer’s Market is available, purchase frozen.  When purchasing,  consider nutrients, not just calories, food groups or fat grams. If I create a banana/orange/milled flaxseed smoothie in the morning, I don’t think of it as a banana smoothie but as a calcium/magnesium/omega 3 shake.  It’s chucked full of nutrients which, while working together, produce a healthier me!

Synergy is a fancy word which simply means that a combination of nutrients will bond together for a more productive purpose. Vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, flavonoids, amino acids all need essential balance for good health.

Here are a few examples to illustrate what I mean by food combining to bring out the symbiotic relationship of nutrients, all working together to produce a stronger element.

B vitamins found in most foods, should be consumed along with vitamin C. So slice a few strawberries on your whole grain cereal or drink a glass of orange juice (with pulp) in the morning. Tomatoes, potatoes, pineapple, peppers, cantaloupe, onions, green peas and leafy greens all contain vitamin C. You can’t go wrong by adding these water-soluble vitamins to any meal!

Vitamin C should combine with iron. Have that high quality sirloin with a baked potato and garden salad with berries, or add 93% ground beef in your tomato pasta sauce for maximum absorption. Vitamin C also builds and restores collagen, keeping skin strong and younger looking!

Zinc found in shrimp, egg yolks, lamb, poultry and fish goes perfectly with some B6; spinach, corn, carrots, walnuts and leafy greens. Calcium; cabbage, broccoli, cheese or copper; mushrooms, garlic, avocado.

Your body must have magnesium to process calcium and it must have vitamin D and K to absorb and regulate calcium in the blood. Calcium also helps process zinc and if someone doesn’t have enough zinc, a body can’t process vitamin A.   So complicated!

And some people just believe this complicated system of ours ‘just happened by chance’, unbelievable!!

Don’t haphazardly pop more vitamins either!  If something’s good, it doesn’t necessarily mean more is better.  There’s a limit on fat soluble vitamin intake, don’t overdose!

Eat to honor God, pursuing a godly balance in your life and strive to become a supportive friend.

“We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.”   (Romans 15:2)