Nutrition – Don’t Forget the Basics When Using Medications
A dear family member is currently in the hospital. She is being treated in intensive care for mineral, sugar, and fluid imbalances in her system. It is very serious and she may not make it. She has been in the hospital at least three times in the last six months and I’ve wondered about her nutrition.
When I asked if she was taking her supplements her daughter remarked that yes, she had all of her medicines. That was not my question. There is a huge difference between vitamins and minerals, and medicines, and when taking the latter one should continue taking nutritional supplements.
There is a misconstrued belief by some that medicines or pharmaceuticals take the place of vitamin and mineral supplements. This is untrue. They are different, and when taking medicines one should continue to take vitamins and minerals. Where medications can have negative side effects and often should not be taken together, nutritional supplements can be taken safely with each other and with medications. And, with the modern diet of today, they are needed to support the health of our bodies.
A famous naturopathic physician has said that the diet of today is high in energy and lacking in health. This says that we are eating many foods that produce high caloric energy values, yet our bodies continue to suffer from degenerative diseases and conditions including arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, auto-immune deficiencies, among others. For this specific reason my relative and so many others find themselves in the hospital struggling to stay alive while doctors try to manipulate and rebalance the body chemistry. If given the right substances up front this need not happen, but the combination of medicines plus nutrition-poor diet can often cause a mortal struggle.
I admit that I do not know many things about medical treatments, however I do know that medications do NOT take the place of nutrients, and you won’t get balanced absorbable nutrition in hospital food. Nutritional supplementation is imperative, safe, and something that must be remembered!
