If you take a trip around the world, one of the first things you'll notice is how vastly food varies from culture to culture. Each culture's menu is a poem that has been writing itself since the beginning of that society. Over thousands of years, people in different parts of the world have developed specific dietary needs as an adaptation mechanism due to climate, geography, vegetation, animals and other naturally occurring food supplies. Which takes us to the here and now.

Though many of us are American, we all have ancestral diets that are far older than this country. Let's take into account that many of us are several ancestries rolled into one. Our bodies today have many of the same nutritional requirements that our ancestors' bodies did centuries ago, though we most likely eat nothing like our ancestors.

This may explain why there are so many contradictions in the nutrition world. Why the same nutritional protocol that enables one person to lead a healthy, robust life can be a medical disaster for another. Why your co-worker can eat steak virtually every day and not have high cholesterol while just a few ounces a week can send yours through the roof.

The answer is as simple as it is complicated: we are all crafted differently based on our hereditary influences. Because we are all scattered pieces of the world, we are each as biochemically unique as a thumbprint. Our bodies utilize foods and nutrients very differently based on these factors: Hereditary/Genes ... As a result of evolution and socialization, our genetic profiles differ. Depending upon your origin, there will be differences in physical as well as biological characteristics.

Age ... Our bodies require different types and amounts of nutrients as we progress from infant to senior. Long chain omega 3 fatty acids, Calcium and Vitamin D are just a few of the additional nutrients seniors require. Geography ... For instance, if you live in NYC with pollution, noise and stress, you may need more antioxidants, adrenal support nutrients and B vitamins to counteract that lifestyle. If you live in Alaska or the Northern parts of Europe and Asia, you may need more Omega 3 long chain fatty acids and more lutein because of the blinding winter sun and the long periods of darkness, which often causes depression.

Personality Type ... Believe it or not, Type A personalities need more adrenal support nutrients such as tyrosine and vitamin B's more than Type B personalities.

Vocation ... What we do for a living will have an effect on the nutrients our body needs to stay healthy. An office worker may require more vitamin D because of decreased sun light than a person that is outside directing traffic all day. Both will require additional antioxidants due to the poor quality of air they both breathe.

Based on the fast and polluted life we live today, it's highly unlikely that we're getting all the nutrients that we need to satisfy our genetic codes let alone furnish our bodies with all the micro and macro nutrients required for good health. It makes