Vitamin C for Your Diet and Training

Vitamin C-Everyone's Favorite Vitamin

There are a multitude of vitamins and supplements on the shelves in grocery, cycling, running and health stores. They are available in many brands and varieties. There are probably almost as many varieties as there are reasons for people taking them.

Many of these vitamins have not even been heard of by many people. However, even those that aren't vitamin-savvy have heard of Vitamin C.

Vitamin C is and always has been one of the most popular vitamins mainly because it is linked with citrus fruits, and everyone loves citrus fruits.

In addition to the many health benefits we get from eating citrus fruits, the need for vitamins and the C in particular has resulting in the sale of many citrus fruits.

This is particularly true with oranges and orange juice. When people get sick with a cold, the first thing they reach for is usually orange juice.

Orange Juice For Colds

For many years, we've heard of people heading to the fridge for a glass of orange juice at the first sign of a cold.

Recent studies have shown that orange juice is not the best thing for good health. The reason is that the orange juice we buy in the store is processed.

It's processed to allow it to stay on the shelves longer without spoiling. However, during the actual processing, many of the vitamin benefits are diminished.

It addition to this, sugar is added to most of the brands of orange juice you see on the shelf.

Not only is sugar not good for us, but it also increases insulin levels and contributes to fat storage. So unless you are squeezing the oranges yourself to get your orange juice for the Vitamin C, don't count on orange juice helping your cold too much.

Sugar Content in Fruit

We've all heard how citrus fruits are high in Vitamin C, a vitamin that is necessary for our bodies to be healthy. What we don't hear, however, is the high sugar content that's in citrus fruits.

Although the sugar found in citrus fruits is natural sugar, which is better than refined sugars, it's still sugar just the same.

Natural as well as refined sugar will increase your insulin level, which can be dangerous of diabetics. Natural sugars will also retain excess fat, which will result in a weight gain.

Excessive fruit intake may lead to bloating caused from water retention, so go sparingly on fruit, in spite of the benefits.

Although fruits are a great source of Vitamin C, they should be taken in moderation like all foods.

Vitamin C In the Food We Eat

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for our body in that it helps to make our body function properly.

Many sources of it can be found, both naturally and artificially.

The most common sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and others.

In fact, we've probably all grown up hearing that we should eat plenty of oranges or drink plenty of orange juice to get our required Vitamin C.

Artificial sources of Vitamin C come from supplements and multivitamins that many of us take daily.

In fact, Vitamin C is the widely taken nutritional supplement.

This supplement is also available in many forms including drink or liquid mixes, tablets, crystallized capsules and plain crystals.

It's very easy to get Vitamin C in foods we eat, as there are many foods rich in vitamins and minerals that we consume on a daily basis. In addition to the Vitamin C we get in these foods, we also get many other nutritional complements.

When we eat foods rich on vitamins, they are easily broken because the Vitamin C is metabolically compatible to our bodies.

It's nothing new to our bodies to consume Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables as we've been doing it since the beginning of time.

Food Sources of Vitamin C

There are many excellent sources of Vitamin C in addition to the various obvious, oranges and other citrus fruits.

Some other foods that are rich in this vitamin are broccoli, mangoes and papayas.

In just one-half of a papaya, you'll get 95 mg of Vitamin C, which is quite a bit for one serving. You can also get the same amount of vitamins with these fruits if you squeeze them into juice, provided you don't heat them.

Alternatives to Vitamin C Supplements

A small potato will give you at least 25 mg of Vitamin C to go towards your daily requirement. Tomatoes and red or yellow peppers also will give you Vitamin C.

These are just a few of the many foods you can eat as alternatives to supplementary pills of Vitamin C or instead of citrus fruits. Although many people eat fruit and vegetables regularly, they may still not be getting enough Vitamin C daily.

If this is the case, you can also choose to take a multivitamin to get your recommended daily allowance. Multivitamins come in a variety of brands and flavors. It is also easier to get a child to take one multivitamin than a bunch of individual one.

Although, for children, it is easier to just have fruit readily available to them. They will enjoy that much more as well, not to mention the other vitamins and mineral supplements they will get in the process.

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