Have you ever thought about how your body is functioning continuously without stopping for a minute? What is your effort in letting bodily functions keep on happening? What goes wrong when they malfunction? Well, if you give this a moment and think, your bodies depend on the food you eat to function in the best possible way. Nutrients, present in your food give you the energy to perform day to day tasks with your body, act as an elementary unit for your body.
Out of basic 7 nutrients which are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber, water, vitamins and minerals, the latter two are required in a very small amount, but aid in upholding your bones, perform in the recovery of wounds and damages and strengthen your immune system. Besides the food you eat, you can get all of these advantages in the form supplements as well just like spirulina.
Keeping in mind the need to incorporate these in our diet, here is the list of ways you can increase your intake of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy:
Fruits and Veggies are Your Best Friends
Fruits and veggies are the best blessings that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Make these your buddies if you want to get a maximum of micronutrients. Note these fruits and vegetables below what you can get from what:
- Vitamin A – Green leafy vegetables like kale, collard and spinach, carrots, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, mango, winter squash, black-eyed peas, broccoli, and sweet red pepper
- Vitamin B – Orange, Banana, Avocado, Turnip greens, and Romaine lettuce
- Vitamin C – Papaya, Orange, Strawberries, Grapefruit, Lemon, Cauliflower, Kiwifruit, Brussel sprouts, pineapples, tomato, and potato.
- Vitamin E – Avocado, Kiwifruit, and Turnip greens (raw), Mammy Spate, Blackberries, Cranberries (dried), Olives (pickled), Apricots and Mango.
- Vitamin K – Green leafy vegetables like kale, collard and spinach, Turnip greens, Romaine lettuce, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Parsley and Cabbage.
- Calcium – Okra, Collards, Soybeans, Spinach and Kale.
- Potassium – Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Figs, Dates, Kiwi, Mango, Cantaloupe, Pomegranate, Papaya, Oranges, Artichoke, Brussel sprouts, Okra, Carrots, Tomato, Potato, Pumpkin, and Spinach.
- Phosphorus – Squash and Pumpkin seeds
- Sodium– Carrots, Chard, Celery, Beets, and Spinach.
- Magnesium – Legumes and Avocado
Fruits and vegetables contain fibers that escalate your bowel movements, soften your stool making it easier to pass and saving you from constipation. This fiber can also harden your stool if you are passing loose stools. Try to consume fresh fruits and veggies instead of refrigerated once. You can also try home growing a few of these.
Something Fishy Can Be Dealt by Fish
You can sense something is fishy when you are always tired, paranoid and numb. Fish and other kinds of seafood can deal with what’s fishy. You eat fish at least twice a week and you’ll see the results coming in. Known to be the healthiest food you can find on planet Earth, fish is low-fat protein providing omega – 3 fatty acids crucial for circulation, vitamin D for bones and riboflavin (vitamin B2) to maintain energy supply of the body. It contains numerous minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine, and zinc, all of which are highly significant for your body functions.
Fatty species like trout, tuna, mackerel, salmon, and sardines are quite the tasty ones’ for you to enjoy along with filling your body with omega-3 fatty acid they contain to reduce chances of heart attacks, stroke, and other diseases. If you are planning to be pregnant, are pregnant or breastfeeding, salmon and trout should come to see you every week for better health of yours and your baby. Have you started forgetting things and feel like aging? Fish got you covered here too because it can give you more gray matter in your brain which is your memory center. Fish can keep your kids away from getting asthma, give you strong vision even in old age, and makes sure you don’t get autoimmune diseases.
Time to Get Tanned
The other name of Vitamin D is Sunshine Vitamin because you can get this by simply going out and getting yourself exposed to sunlight. An exposure of 20 minutes will dilate your arteries by producing nitric oxide which will lower your blood pressure and will assist in making Vitamin D for your body. Vitamin D is vital for your bones and immunity.
Steam and Eat
Too much cooking can leave you with no vitamins and minerals. If you want nutrient-rich veggies, wash them properly, peel if required and eat raw just as in salads. You can dress them with herbs and olive oil to not to upset your taste buds. Steaming them is also one of the good choices because that would not take too much of your time and will also keep the nutrition of veggies intact.
Smoothies Are Your Treats
If you don’t want your digestive system to work too hard all the time and also want to treat yourself with some yogurt drinks, smoothies are here because juices are digested by your body with more ease. Here you also get a chance to eat those green leaves and seeds which you don’t like as they are. Simply chop your fruits and veggies, add yogurt or milk and blend. This way you preserve all the vitamins and minerals and get the benefits of fruits, seeds, and leaves altogether.
Low Fat Is Your Pick
Food with high salt and fat content is a big NO! They are a pleasure for the tongue but extremely harmful for your body. Try taking in proteins with less fat, low salt. You can opt for tofu, chicken, duck, rabbit, Tempe, nuts and fish of course. These foods contain a wide range of amino acids which serve as building blocks for a healthy body. You can still eat pasta and tacos but with these less fatty proteins. Along with this, also focus on your sodium intake because you just can’t afford to have excess sodium and get your blood pressures higher.
Fizzy Drinks Are Your Enemies
You have to stay away from fizzy drinks because they are problem creators. They suck out all the calcium from the bones, lowering their density, increasing risk of fractures, osteoporosis and broken bones. The same goes for artificial sweeteners and refined sugars. These sugars increase the risk of diabetes if taken frequently. They also contribute to lowering your immunity and promoting the loss of magnesium and calcium from bones resulting in chances of fractures and other bone diseases.
Conclusion
To put it briefly, you are the person who can decide best for yourself. Better dietary changes, supplementation, and alteration of a bit of your habits can prove to be of great help in improving your health and nutrition. Supplements are also the option you can choose when you need enough vitamins or minerals. They can be helpful to cover for the deficiencies that aren’t being fulfilled by your diet. But supplements are not the replacement of your diet so do make sure that you keep on focusing on your diet while taking supplements.
