Attitudes are shifting throughout the country from health care, often called sickness care, to wellness care. The shift continues from treating disease and illness to prevention. A healthy diet, moderate exercise, and now more importantly, nutritional supplements, are providing the three keys to improving our health. When these three are combined many of us are experiencing the feeling of wellness, vitality, and can even be accused of ?not acting our age' by participating in sports and outdoor activities.

We have begun to realize that a healthy diet is important. A healthy diet includes the elimination or significant reduction of saturated fats. A saturated fat is a type of fat that is solid at room temperature (imagine that in your body!). It is the biggest dietary source for high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or so-called "bad" cholesterol and often is a major factor in the development of heart disease and other illness.

Even the Mayo Clinic has recognized that in addition to a healthy diet, nutritional supplements can play a vital role in our health by providing additional nutrients our bodies need to regenerate. Our bodies do not make or produce nutrients, we get them from the foods we eat, but much of our foods today come from soils that have been over-planted and over-fertilized. The US has topped the charts with over 85% soil depletion and that was cited in 1992!

While organically grown foods are a step in the right direction, not all organically grown foods are the same. Organically grown food means that the foods are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Many farmers who grow organic foods are committed to the land and being in harmony with nature. Many desire to keep a balance between people, plants, and animals.

Foods that were grown organically but processed afterwards for freezing, canning, or packaging may have been processed. Processing typically uses chemical additives or preservatives. In addition, organic does not mean it is pesticide-free. Some organic foods may have pesticide residue from chemicals sprayed on the crops of nearby farms, from contaminated runoff water, or shifting and blowing soil.

So where do we find a dietary supplement that is nutrient rich? The answer may be in the ocean. While not as popular in the West, Eastern cultures such as those in Japan and China have found considerable nutritional value in sea vegetables. In some areas of Japan, diets consist of 25% or more sea vegetables. What are the results of eating a diet so high in sea vegetables? Within these same regions there are more than 23,000 persons now living past the age of 100. That's more than anywhere else on Earth. Can it be they have found the Fountain of Youth?

Proper diet, the need for nutritional supplements and moderate exercise is beginning to migrate from simple awareness to action. Attitudes are shifting. The shift is from treating disease and illness to prevention.