There’s a lot of ‘noise’ out there in the nutrition world.
In fact, sometimes it’s hard to keep everything straight.
What should you eat? What shouldn’t you eat? Which vitamins are important, and which ones can you do without? Which vegetables are best for you, and which ones aren’t so good?
These are just a few of the questions that you may be wondering about as you try to piece together the healthiest diet and vitamin combo in your day-to-day routine.
So in today’s post, we’re going to talk about 7 vitamins and minerals that absolutely every diet should include.
And if you don’t get enough of these vitamins in your food, then you may want to consider supplementing with them, just to make sure that you get enough!
1. Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 helps to keep the body’s nerve and blood cells healthy. It also helps to make DNA. You can find it in fish, eggs, meat, and poultry.
2. Folate
Folate aids in fetal development, growing your nails, fighting inflammation, and keeping depression at bay. You can find it in dark leafy greens, beans, citrus fruits, and avocados.
3. Iron
Iron helps the brain to function. It also increases your energy levels, and helps your red blood cells. Red meats tend to give you quite a bit of it. You can also find it in shellfish, spinach, liver, and some legumes.
4. Zinc
Zinc helps to support the immune system. It also helps the body to use carbohydrates, fat, and protein. You can find zinc in foods like oysters, grass-fed beef, spinach, sardines, brown rice, and wheat germ.
5. Calcium
Over 40% of Americans don’t get enough calcium, which definitely isn’t a good thing! Calcium helps to keep your bones and teeth strong. You can find it in fortified cereals, milk, cheese, salty fish, broccoli, kale, nuts, and some types of beans.
6. Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential nutrient in the human body. We literally need it to survive. It’s important for bone health, energy production, our nervous system, and all kinds of other things. You can get it from foods like spinach, soybeans, brown rice, tofu, nuts, pumpkin, and artichoke.
7. Vitamin D
Vitamin D helps your body to absorb calcium. It also helps to prevent you from getting sick, and helps to protect you from bone and hair loss. You can get vitamin D by spending time in the sunlight—but you can also get it in fatty fish, egg yolks, and cereal.
Conclusion
If you don’t tend to get enough of these vitamins and minerals in your food, then you may want to start supplementing with them.
You can do this with a multivitamin, but taking specific vitamins for each one is a lot more efficient and beneficial.
Of course, at the end of the day, being proactive about your health is incredibly important.
So make sure that you get the nutrients your body needs to help you stay on track with your health and wellness.