Americans spend over $5.8 billion every year on supplements according to CNN.com Reports. We feel the need to gobble up vitamin and mineral supplements because we do not want to get old before our time. Many of us also experience low levels of energy and will do anything we can to get that energy back.

Many studies have shown that the average American diet is lacking in trace minerals due to poor farming techniques in this country. Senate Document 264 states our soils have been so depleted of nutrients for many years. Senate Document 264 states "You'd think, wouldn't you, that a carrot is a carrot - that one is about as good as another as far as nourishment is concerned? But it isn't; one carrot may look and taste like another and yet be lacking in the particular mineral element which our system requires and which carrots are supposed to contain." It is obvious to many that we need supplements because our diets do not take care of nutritional needs. So, we take supplements. The big question is "Are we getting all the nutrients the label states?" Most scientist and nutritionists will tell you that the body only absorbs about 10% of the elemental minerals from pills and capsules. The percentage is slightly higher for liquid supplements.

Why is it that we only absorb about 10% of the supplements we ingest? There are several reasons. One reason is that vitamin supplement companies use the cheapest grade synthetic nutrients they can find, much of which is not readily available to the body. This is the case with many of the more popular supplements like Calcium, Vitamin C and E. Another explanation is that digested nutrients from our food are absorbed in the cavity of the upper portion of the small intestine. This is where most nutrients cross the mucosa into the blood and are passed on to other parts of the body. However, if your colon is clogged it will not perform in the manner it should. Because our modern diets consist more and more of highly processed foods and at the same time we are eating less and less raw fruits and vegetables our colons are becoming clogged. Clogged with toxic waste and hardened fecal matter. The hardened fecal matter disrupts the peristaltic digestive action of the intestine. It also interferes with the ability of the body to absorb valuable nutrients. Making it worse is that our bodies use up even more energy on trying to eliminate the toxic sludge that sticks to our intestinal walls. Imagine a piece of meat left in a plastic bag in your garbage for several days. The same is true with your intestines. It begins to putrefy and rot. Symptoms of a clogged colon are headaches, lack of mental focus, low energy levels, weight gain, cravings for salt and sugar, unexplained aches and pains in muscles, and bad breath.

It takes years of poor dietary habits to clog your colon and disrupt your digestion abilities. That is why many ailments don't appear until we are in our early forties. We many times mask those signs with unhealthy actions like swallowing numerous antacid pills. If we continue those poor eating habits a few years later disease sets in. Quality of life goes way down.

So, how do you allow your body to absorb more of those valuable supplements you are taking? I suggest three simple things you can do to counteract the Typical American Diet problems. One: Add more raw fruit and vegetables to your diet daily. Instead of snacking on candy bars and chips eat apples, bananas and carrots. Visit a salad bar more often. Two: Simply add powdered fiber or fiber capsules to your evening routine. The extra fiber will help eliminate the built up gunk in your intestines. Three: Do a good colon cleanse once every three or four months. A good colon cleanse will begin to eat away at the layers of toxic waste you have accumulated. It is important to do these colon cleanse on a regular basis because, again, you are just chipping away at years of accumulated fecal matter. The good news is that you can change your diet patterns to the better in a short amount of time.