Our modern diets overemphasise macronutrients (such as fats, proteins and carbohydrates) at the detriment of micronutrients (nutrients your body needs in small amounts — but with an important role to play in the body’s functioning). 

An example of a macronutrient would be the fat found in an olive; micronutrients from the olive would include vitamin e, vitamin k, niacin, as well as a unique combination of phytonutrients that have a role to play in the body’s functioning. 

A well-rounded diet is essential to well-being, and supplements should not be used to replace this. However, because of contemporary food production systems, even well rounded diets can lack the necessary nutrition.

Why do contemporary diets contain less nutrition?

 1. Intensive farming practices deplete the soil of key nutrients that plants and livestock uptake, that we then consume through our diets. Maximum profit is secured at a huge cost to the health of the earth and quality of the food we eat.
2. Most of our foods are grown and produced very far away. Fruits and vegetables are harvested when they are immature, treated with preservatives, artificially ripened and subject to long journeys to reach their country of consumption. This results in inferior nutrition in the foods we eat.
3. Cooking foods at high temperatures (such as roasting or frying) and for long periods of time lowers the nutritional value of your food.
4. Nutritional value reports on foods were often carried out many years ago. They do not take into account new global production and cultivation systems.