The Importance Of Vitamin And Mineral Intake

When going on any diet, one of the things you must always make sure of is that you are maintaining a sufficient intake of all the vitamins and minerals essential for proper health. One of the negative things about very low calorie diets is that often they do not provide enough food to enable you to be able to reach these minimum requirements. That is where supplements can come in very handy and should definitely be used. Do not underestimate how much a vitamin deficiency can affect you. From putting you at risk for more disease conditions to reducing your energy levels, the effects may not be noticeable right away but over time they will grow and become problematic.

Obviously taking in your vitamins from food is going to be ideal as this is the way nature intended. Additionally, when you consume foods that are high in the essential vitamins such as fruits and vegetables, you also increase your intake of fibre, which is also critical for proper health.

There are two main types of vitamins, fat soluble and water soluble.

Fat Soluble

Fat soluble vitamins are dissolved within the fatty tissues of the body where they can be stored. Then, when the body is in need of these vitamins it will go into the fat stores and get them. The important point to note here however is that this storage ability makes it possible for you to develop a toxicity of these vitamins. If you are taking in extreme amounts, the body is going to continue to store them until you start seeing negative health effects. This makes it very important to monitor how much you are taking. The fat soluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E and K.

Water Soluble

The water soluble vitamins on the other hand are not stored by the body and excess taken in will usually be eliminated in the body. This lack of storage ability also means that these vitamins are more important to be taking in on a regular basis to meet your needs. The water soluble vitamins include the B-vitamins - B1, B2, B3 and B12, along with vitamin C, folic acid, and Biotin.

Minerals

Proper mineral intake is also a very important consideration for a healthy diet. These are mostly involved in a variety of metabolic processes and will help to promote healthy bones, cell growth and high levels of energy. Many minerals will work synergistically with other minerals and vitamins therefore making it very important that you are not deficient in any one mineral in particular. You really need to take a holistic approach with your diet to ensure you have complete nutrition.

The minerals that you must pay attention to are calcium, copper, chromium, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium and zinc. Finding a good multi-vitamin that contains all of these is going to be your best defence. Do take note however that you can get too much of a good thing so if you choose to take additional supplements of any one vitamin, have a look at how much is in your multi to ensure you are not exceeding recommended dosages.

So make sure you do not forget about vitamins and minerals when planning out your diet. When it comes to weight loss so much attention gets put on the macronutrients of protein, carbohydrates and fats, often at the expense of these very important micronutrients.