That’s a unique way of putting it, but yes, I’m saying that no supplement or superfood will compensate for unhealthy habits. However, as long as it’s from a properly raised animal and cooked appropriately, eating bacon isn’t necessarily unhealthy. In fact, saturated fat is essential to good health.

Great point about variety! No one food is perfect, and even fresh and whole acai berries have shortcomings that need to be compensated for through other foods. We also have to consider the valuable nutrients in food that haven’t been discovered yet. Variety is the best way to make sure that we’re not missing out on any of them.

That was a really interesting article!
There seems to be so many people who just want a quick fix- and some who take that quick fix in the form of a acai berry pills!
But like anything, no-one food can cure anything (not that you could call acai berry pills food). Good diets are varied with different fruits and veges (no one dominant food).

Anyway, Great post!

Great FBF!

Michelle

Jude – I appreciate your kind feedback! It’s very fulfilling for me to uncover as much truth as I can and share it with everyone. I’m happy to see my articles being perceived that way.

Don – As usual, I completely agree! I particularly like what you wrote about individuality. It corresponds well with Metabolic Typing. I also like what you said about supplements only being needed until the body regains balance, even though it’s much easier said than done.

Scott – That’s an excellent point to bring up. Fortunately, these fruits depend on the trees and plants that produce them which means they have to be preserved along with the rain forests that they grow in. However, in regard to acai, I found an article stating that sections of rain forest are being leveled to plant more acai trees because of the demand. This is even more reason to not waste money on acai berry products.

If you read some of the main stream media, you will ofter see these list of superfoods or to eat these foods to control diabetes etc… They give the impression to the uninformed that eating the foods off their list will make them healthy. This is parallel to our western medicine tradition of treating symptoms. Acai great magic is it’s antioxidants which help to offset some of our free radical damage. I think you make a great point when you recommend that we first examine our unhealthy habits as a way to control free radicals,

It sad that irresponsible writing and the the great corporate media assault that we are constantly under, have people believing that they can achieve their well being by use of supplements. A vast majority of supplements are junk and not needed with a well balanced diet. With that said I still believe most people should be taking some supplements targeted for their individual needs. Since every body’s biochemical make up is different this means that everyone’s needs will be unique based on their genetics, eating habits, environment and lifestyle. Most supplementation should only be used until the body comes back into balance. Only your doctor on nutritionist can determine this. Some vitamins and minerals need to be in balance with each other for optimum health. Clean up your diet and then get a consultation from a nutritional therapist for supplement advice. Don’t rely on the supplement companies to tell you. Most are crap and just want to sell theri product to you as long as they can.

Thanks for another great post, Vin.

More neds to be done to encourage people to eat healthily and knowledge is key because the companies selling packaged food are selling a product and not necessarily the truth.

Thanks for sharing such a wealth of knowledge with us. Keep on being controversial appropriately. We need more truth and less hype.

Stephen – I agree. If only the much needed common sense information like eating whole foods, getting adequate sleep, etc. would get a little more of that attention!

Kari – A little skepticism is always healthy.

Flax seed oil is actually a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, but it goes rancid easily and doesn’t contain the important EPA and DHA forms of omega-3 fatty acids. Although these fatty acids can be created by the body from the ALA that flax seed oil contains, this conversion doesn’t always happen. Fish and fish oil are often recommended instead because they contain EPA and DHA. grass fed beef and other grass fed meats also contain EPA and DHA, but not nearly as much as fish.

Agave nectar is a completely different story. As a sweetener, it’s often highly processed and contains a significant amount of fructose. As such, it’s advertised as safe for diabetics and effective for weight loss, but it’s not. Instead of being absorbed into the blood, fructose is processed by the liver and is usually stored as fat. It also blocks the liver from processing blood glucose which increases the need for insulin. Not only does this contribute to even more fat storage, but it’s still a risk for diabetics or anyone else with blood sugar problems.

Thanks, too, for submitting this to Fight Back Fridays today.

Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)