Minerals: Essential nutrient 2 of 6
This is post 2 of 6 dedicated to the 6 essential nutrients. In this post we're talking about minerals! Nutrients can be categorized into two groups: macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients include carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. These 5 nutrients plus water are the 6 essential nutrients your body requires for smooth sailing.
What are minerals?
Minerals are a naturally occurring, inorganic, material. Minerals can be divided into two groups: major and trace minerals. Both are dietary requirements.
Some major minerals include:
Calcium
Phosphorus
Potassium
Magnesium
Major minerals have an estimated dietary requirement of 100 milligrams or more per day.
Some trace minerals include:
Iron
Zinc
Iodine
Chromium
Selenium
Trace minerals have an estimated dietary requirement of less than 100 milligrams per day.
If you attended your 11th grade chemistry class, these minerals might remind you of the periodic table of elements, and rightly so. All these minerals can be found on the periodic table. In fact, your body requires a good portion of those elements to operate. About 96% of your body weight is made up of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. These 4 elements come easily to the body and usually don’t require special intake considerations (you’ve probably never seen a supplement that was advertised to have carbon or hydrogen). The remaining 4% of your body weight consists of over 20 different minerals, which are crucial for life functions. Within those are the essential minerals mentioned here.
What do minerals do?
Our bodies are not equipped to synthesize their own minerals. Instead, we rely on getting minerals from water, plants, and other animals. Many of the trace minerals our bodies use are only useful to us because fungi and bacteria processed them somewhere below us in the food chain.
Minerals strengthen teeth and bones, they help clot blood, help oxygen circulate through the body, maintain good blood pressure and maintain a healthy immune system.
What are healthy sources of essential minerals?
Studies about minerals in the human body are still hot and heavy, and different health organizations across the world vary on dosage recommendations, but one thing is universal: To keep your body in tip-top shape, you need to be conscious about consuming a variety of minerals. If your diet includes lots of fruits and vegetables, then you’re likely hitting all of the major targets for mineral intake. However, if you tend to eat a lot of processed foods and shy away from fruits and veggies, then it’s worth your while to re-evaluate your diet. At the very least, you may consider supplementing your meals with multivitamins.
One way to increase your intake of fruits and veggies is with Thrive freeze-dried foods. They quickly rehydrate to be used in any meal and retain almost all (98%) of the nutrients they had at the time of drying. Thrive foods have amazing flavor, and you might even prefer them to your fresh store produce, especially if nutrition is your target. In-store produce is often picked long before the peak ripeness and nutritional content is reached. Thrive foods can give you more minerals for your dollar and taste great too. Comment below if you have a specific mineral dense food that you love.
Sources
Comentarios