What Vitamins and Minerals are Important to a Healthy Body?

When it comes to achieving optimal health and wellness, your body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals. We discuss a majority of them in our newly released book, Fat-Me Not; however, we’d like to share some of them with you now to help you better understand which ones you want to get in your diet for maximum body function. 
Magnesium
Research has found that people who are deficient in magnesium have a higher risk of developing a critical illness, as well as having higher mortality rates. This proves just how important this mineral is when it comes to enjoying health, wellness, and even life in general.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency include feeling chronically tired as if you simply cannot get enough sleep, and feeling weak or achy. And even if you get enough magnesium in your diet, it is no guarantee that your body is able to use all that you intake.
For instance, drinking a lot of soda or other sugary drinks can stop you from absorbing magnesium, as can consuming alcohol or high levels of starches or proteins. Magnesium rich foods to include in your diet are dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, fish, avocado, and dark chocolate.
 
Chromium
Chromium is a nutrient that has a lot of influence on your blood sugar levels and it also affects your fat levels and nerve function. People who have a long history of steroid use, are under extreme physical stress, or struggle with normal blood sugar function often need more chromium in their diet.
Signs of chromium deficiency are sudden, increased anxiety or suddenly decreasing energy levels. Muscle weakness and fatigue can also be signals that your chromium levels are too low, as are unexplained mood swings.
Foods that can help supply your recommended amounts of chromium include barley, broccoli, and oats. It can also be found in green beans, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and even black pepper, but in very minimal amounts.
 
Vitamin B
Responsible mainly for energy, all of the B vitamins help promote a healthy body. They work to burn excess fat, but they also play a key role in healthy skin, nails, and nerve growth, making them an essential part of a healthy diet.
If you are low in vitamin B, you may experience numbness or tingling in your arms and legs, muscle weakness, and difficulty walking. Mentally, you might notice issues with your memory, irritability, and even depression. In other words, vitamin B is critical for emotional and physical health.
Because there are many different B vitamins, such as B-6, riboflavin, and thiamin, the greater the variety of B-rich foods, the better it is for your health. Foods to consider adding to your diet are dark leafy greens, beans, nuts, lean meats, veggies, whole wheat, fruit, and seafood.
 
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are necessary for healthy cell function. Specifically, they work to limit the effect that stress has on your body, in addition to playing a vital role in cell repair.
If you don’t get enough antioxidants in your diet, you may have a hard time fighting off a cold or infection. Your immune system doesn’t function as good as it could, leaving you susceptible to whatever bug or virus is going around.
Antioxidants come in a number of forms, such as carotenes, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Antioxidant-containing foods include eggs, fruit, veggies, chocolate, coffee, and vegetable oils. They can also be found in various herbs and spices like cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, and oregano.
 
Success Lies in Variety
As you can see, success in putting all of the necessary vitamins and nutrients into your diet lies with eating a variety of healthy foods. Each one supplies different minerals required by your body to function at 100 percent, making a varied diet important to ensuring that you get everything your body needs to flourish.
Of course, you can easily overdo it by eating too much, which is what makes portion control critical to the process. So, be sure to use your SlimPlate portion control plates and bowls to help you lose weight without depriving your body of the nutrients it needs.
To learn more about the various nutrients and how they can help you achieve health and weight loss success, feel free to pick up a copy of our new book, Fat-Me Not. It even makes a great gift to help those you love live healthy lives as well!