It’s a simple concept that we were taught as children and that we’ve started to teach ours, your body needs nutrients to survive and function properly. If we don’t give our body the nutrition it needs, we’ll see the consequences and suffer as a result.
Mike Adams further supports this notion by saying: “Today more than 95% of all chronic disease is as a result of food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies, and lack of physical exercise.”
There are six crucial nutrients that our bodies need that its unable to produce. These include fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. Fats, carbohydrates and protein are macronutrients because we need them in larger quantities. They provide energy and calories to fuel as throughout the day and promote metabolic reactions. For these reactions to take p0lace, we need certain enzymes, and this is where micronutrients come into play.
The Functions Of Micronutrients
- B vitamins take energy from our food
- Vitamin B12 promotes nerve functioning ad red blood cell development
- Vitamin promotes vision, immunity and healthy skin
- Vitamin D forms bone promotes immunity and functions as a hormone
- Vitamin E is an antioxidant that is responsible for protecting the body cells from being damaged
- Vitamin K helps to form blood clots and put calcium into bone
- Calcium assists with bone formation and facilitates muscle contraction
- Iron transports oxygen
- Magnesium assists in forming teeth and bone as well as regulate muscle contraction and nerve transmission
- Potassium also facilitates muscle contraction as well as nerve conduction. It also maintains the electrolyte and fluid balance in the body.
This is not an extensive list; in fact, there are over 30 variants of vitamins and minerals that we should be consuming regularly. The amount that you need to consume of each will be determined by your age, weight and gender. If you have a deficiency of any of these vitamins and minerals, you will need to find a way to supplement them in your diet.
The Most Under-Consumed Nutrients
Some of the most under-consumed nutrients include fibre, calcium, choline, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins D, A, C and E. These essential vitamins as well as minerals are needed for certain processes in the body. Without them, we run the risk of getting heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer and other chronic health conditions.
Taking A Multivitamin
While a multivitamin can help you address some of your deficiencies, it cannot replace a healthy diet. Rather look into changing your diet before reaching for a multivitamin as it will give you all the nutrients your body needs.
You would not fill a petrol car with diesel and expect it to do what it’s supposed to do, so why would you treat your body any different? Just as your car needs petrol, brake fluid and all other kinds of liquids and greases to function, so does your body when it comes to nutrition. While micronutrients may be perceived as less important to macronutrients, this is not the case and this mindset needs to change is we are to address nutritional deficiencies properly.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
If you are enthusiastic just about learning more about nutrition, then you should really be doing our Specialised Nutrition Course. Find out more by following this link.