Food as Medicine

Veggies veggies veggies 
Meal prepping a rather mass amount of veggies for the week is always a game changer. Following a plant based diet and not being the fanciest of chefs this is the way I build the foundation of my meals for the week. 
Food truly is the strongest medicine we have. Years ago a study was done that concluded those with high serum beta carotene showed the lowest rates of all cause mortality. The interpretation of this data was faulted in the sense that people thought you could just take a supplement of beta carotene and see the same benefits. Thus, a follow up study showed that following those taking supplemental beta carotene showed no benefits. So what did this tell us? 
1) Supplements are just that, supplements. You can’t out supplement a bad diet. 
2) beta carotene in the original studied was merely a marker of a diet rich in fruits and veggies. It was a byproduct of consuming the whole food consistently. 
3) Supplements can be powerful. I believe in using supplements for a therapeutic effect for a defined period of time. However, your body is only going to respond to these supplements if you do the work to establish foundations of health and use them along side dietary and lifestyle interventions.