Of the following foods, which are the ones you eat regularly?

Beans
Berries
Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower)
Dark leafy green vegetables
Flaxseed
Garlic
Grapes and grape juice
Green tea
Soy
Tomatoes
Whole grains

If you said “most of them”, good for you.  But if you said “not often” and that, instead, you look for protection in a bottle of supplements, I’d recommend you rethink that approach and turn to food for your health’s sake.  Even though there are particular phytochemicals (plant chemicals) in each of these foods that research has found to be healthful, having them isolated and put in a bottle may not be the answer.  There is so much chemistry going on in the foods we eat and it’s the interaction of those chemicals that give us the health protection.  Taking just one or two of these chemicals out of foods and putting them in a pill may mean you’re missing out on the best part of the foods they’re found in.

Whenever possible, eat your nutrients rather than popping a pill.  There are some instances, such as fish oil pills, that if you’re not a fish eater, might make sense.  That also goes for calcium.  Not that you couldn’t get, say, 1200 mg of calcium by drinking 3 glasses of milk a day, along with eating dark leafy greens.  Yet, most people don’t.  So, in that case, taking a calcium supplement might make sense.

Remember, we eat not to just fill the belly.  We’re fueling a very sophisticated piece of machinery.