6 most important nutrients for our body

 Our body consists of many elements and nutrients that together make our body healthy and workable for our everyday tasks. Our diet must consist of such foods which can help to keep our health bar up and help us to do our work and live a better and happy life without and tension of diseases.

The food we eat is made up of protein, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals. The enzymes in our body break these elements from the food we eat and distribute them throughout our body for the daily functions we perform

We all know that the food we eat is divided and stored in our body for use everyday. But minerals and vitamins are discharged from our body daily. So we need to take them everyday in any form so as to avoid deficiency of these essential nutrients. In pregnant women these nutrients are needed more than average requirement of our body.

These minerals and vitamins help in making up our skin, muscles, in working of enzymes, eye sight, and working of our brain. During pregnancy these minerals and vitamins are required more so as to provide fetus a healthy growth and defects free birth which is a major concern in today's fast world.

In this article you will find some very important minerals and vitamins that are essential for our body and the things they are found in naturally.

1) Iron

Iron is the most essential element of our body. It is the most abundantly found element throughout our body. It is required for many vital functions such as enzymes and hormonal functions of our body. It is also very important for making blood in our body. The hemoglobin in our blood is made up of iron and the DNA configuration also requires iron. Iron helps to transfer oxygen to whole body and all the muscles in our body. 

It's daily recommendation is different in men, women, old aged and kids. Men who work as labors and other hard jobs, require extra iron. On the other hand the women who are athletes and those who are pregnant also need extra dose of iron. Women who are pregnant require more dosage of iron as the deficiency will cause premature birth and impaired behavioral development in babies. 

On the other hand athletes also need extra dosage of iron other than their meals. Deficiency of iron in athletes will cause nausea, fatigue, dizziness and muscles cramps. All the normal working class should take iron rich foods or foods with more iron so that their stamina, focus, and mind resistance is not effected or lowered.

Here is the list of foods that are rich in iron:

White beans

Spinach

Dark chocolate

Pacific oyster

Beef liver

Lentils

Chickpeas

Tomatoes

Coriander

Mint

Potatoes

Chicken

Turkey

Tuna

Broccoli

Strawberries

Watermelon

Figs

Cereal

Apricots

Peaches

2) Calcium

It is one of the most essential nutrient for bones, teeth, and nails. It is very important for our nervous system and the functionality of heart. Calcium and vitamins together helps in reducing the risk of cancer, and high blood pressure. These two diseases are now a days very common all around the world, which means that our diet is calcium deficit.

Calcium is also an important element to work with enzymes, and helps digest food. Another reason to have calcium is clotting of blood. If we get a wound and blood doesn't stops we can lose so much of blood, and in sever cases it can be fatal.

Pregnant women and athletes need extra calcium to increase the strength of their muscles, bones and the functionality of their heart because heart have to pump blood with more pressure and faster all around the body. Deficiency of calcium will result in stamina loss, weak bones, hair fall and weak eyesight.

Following is the list of foods that are high in calcium

Yogurt

Milk

Salmon

Tuna

Broccoli

Turnip leaves

Almonds

Sesame seeds 

Chia seeds

Spinach

Oranges

Figs

Raspberry

Kiwi

Guava

Litchi

Grapefruit

3)Zinc

Zinc is the second most abundant element found in our body. The first one is iron. Zinc is one of the most essential element for our body, many vital processes require zinc such as our taste buds in our tongue requires zinc to differentiate taste from one another.

It is also required by enzyme reactions in our stomach. It is also required for the gene development in our body. All types of protein functions are carried out by zinc, therefore zinc is essential for wound healing process of our muscles because our muscles are made up of proteins. It also helps in strengthening our immunity system which is one of the main system of our body.

Our body grows now and then due to many factors such as age, workout, excessive eating, or any other factor, all these growth related functions require zinc in the process. Zinc helps in cell and muscle growth and repair throughout our body that is why it is found all over body. 

Another most vital function of zinc is that it helps in healing processes of our body. As I have mentioned before that it is available across our muscles and hence it is found in skin too. In hospitals zinc is used to treat burned patients and patients with skin injuries and it also helps control the age effect in our skin. That means it also support the making of collagen in our skin.

So we see that precisely, zinc is very important for the growth, repair, digestive system, cell synthesis, DNA configuration, immunity strength, enzymes reactions, taste buds and in controlling the old age factor. But our body does not produce zinc by itself so we have to take zinc everyday so that our body can perform all our task easily.

Following is the list of foods that are high in zinc:

Oysters

Crabs

Fish

Salmon

Chicken

Beef

Turkey

Flounder

Chickpeas

Black beans

Kidney beans

Lentils

Pumpkins

Cashew nuts

Hemp seeds

Milk 

Yogurt

Cheese

Eggs

Brown rice

Oats

mashrooms

Asparagus

Peas

4) Potassium

Potassium is an electrolyte and therefore it is very essential for the nerve impulses in our body. Potassium is vital for cardiovascular system of our body. It helps prevent heart diseases including heart attack. It is also very vital for the maintenance of blood pressure, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure all around our body.

Potassium is required by the pregnant women's so as to maintain their blood pressure and heart rate during pregnancy.

As an electrolyte, potassium helps in generating impulses all around our body. Hence, deficiency of potassium in our body will result in slow impulses generation. That means that impulses and reaction time will increase.

98% potassium is distributed all around the cells of our body, including organ cells and muscular cells. Therefore we need to intake a reasonable amount of potassium for the working of our cells, impulses, and organs all around our body. 

Following are foods that are helpful in covering up the potassium requirement in our body:

Apricots

Banana

Kiwi

Oranges

Apple

Carrots

Potatoes

Lean meats

Nuts

Beans

5) Folate

Folate or folic acid is the type of vitamin B. It required for so many vital functions in our body and specifically in the pregnant women the fetus and birth related issues are addressed by folate. 

Folate helps in building DNA and RNA in our body, along with cell nucleus structures. It is also helpful in making white blood cells and red blood cells in our body, without which we simply cannot live. 

Folate is very important for to be mothers. It is recommended a month before pregnancy and is prescribed through out pregnancy. This is because it reduces the birth defects and premature births. Folate is not produced by our body in the quantity that could help reduce all the related risk so we need to select foods that are rich in them. 

However pregnant women need more than the Folate present in foods so mostly doctors prescribe them folic acid supplements to support the growth of fetus and the mother's themselves. 

Deficiency of folate can cause number of risk in our body such as sore tongue, ulcers in mouth, paresthesia or pins and needles, fatigue, dizziness, depression and confusion. All such symptoms can be due to deficiency of folate or folic acid. It is found that folate helps reduce risk of some cancers related to our whole oral cavity down till oesophagus.

Following is the list of folate rich foods that should be add to our everyday meals:

Beef liver

Dark leafy green vegetables

Oranges

Peanuts

Beans

And all fresh fruit juices 

6) Vitamins

There are 13 recognized vitamins that dwell in our body;

Vitamin A ( essential for eyes)

Vitamin B

Vitamin C ( collagen production, wound healing, bone formation and strength blood vessels)

Vitamin D ( it is necessary for healthy bones and maintaining bone marrow)

Vitamin E ( helps prevent oxidation stress)

Vitamin K ( it is important for clotting of blood)

There are two groups of vitamins fat soluble and water soluble vitamins. Vitamin A,D,E and K are fat soluble and vitamin C and all types of vitamin B are water soluble. Yes right vitamin B is further divided into

Vitamin B1 ( helps in producing enzymes for the digestion of blood sugar)

Vitamin B2 ( growth and development of body cells and helps metabolize food)

Vitamin B3 ( it helps in the better working of cells )

Vitamin B5 ( it is very important for hormones and energy production in our body)

Vitamin B6 ( very important for making of RBCs)

Vitamin B7 ( it helps body to metabolize protein, carbs, and fats, also helps in nail and hair nourishment)

Vitamin B9 ( important for the building of DNA and RNA)

Vitamin B12 ( vital for our nervous system)

All these types of vitamins are found around our body but they are flushed out and everyday we need to intake them to keep our body healthy.

Only fat soluble vitamins stay in our body for some days, they are mostly found in liver and muscular tissues. These are fat soluble that's why they have the capability to be stored. On the other hand water soluble vitamins are never stored in our body and they are flushed out by our kidneys.

As we see that almost all the elements and organs in our body require vitamins. We cannot just avoid them and feel that we are healthy. Starting from hairs on our head to toe nails all of the cells, blood, muscles, organs and even nerve impulses require vitamins.

Following is the list of food that are rich in vitamins

Liver

Carrots 

Broccoli

Spinach

Pumpkins

Cheese

Eggs

Apricots

Melon

Sunflower seeds

Cauliflower

Potatoes

Oranges

Banana

Yogurt

Fish

Okra

Tomatoes

Lentils

Chicken

Beef

Tuna

Chick peas

Nuts

mushrooms 

Wheat

Kiwis

Figs

Leafy vegetables

All these are rich in one or the other type of vitamins and many other nutrients as I have mentioned above. So instead of fast and junk food we all better need to stick up to vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, poultry and dairy products. The more healthy we live our life the better chance of long and diseases free life. 

No medicine is better then natural health the All Mighty has blessed us with. So it is very important to keep our health our priority not only for us but for our whole family specifically our kids, and pregnant women to reduce any risk of birth defects and growth deficiencies in our upcoming generations.

 Not only fruits and vegetables but dairy products are equally important for the healthy growth of our body. The nutrients in milk, eggs, cheese, butter are also very essential to maintain the homeostasis of our body in different seasons.

Our body is made up of many other nutrients but the aforementioned are most most important for the healthy working of our body and everyday task.