Essential minerals.... minerals.... minerals... the spark plugs of metabolism! Without enough minerals, the enzymes in our bodies have a hard time doing the jobs they need to do, which affects every. single. cell.
Minerals are inorganic substances required by the human body to function correctly. Your body requires varying amounts of essential minerals daily in order to build strong bones, muscles, bodily fluids, etc. When your body does not receive enough essential minerals, you might develop nutritional deficiencies and diseases such as:
Goiters
Osteoporosis
Anemia
Diarrhea
Low thyroid
Low Hormones
Headaches
Toxin build up
Diabetes
Essential minerals and their functions
Phosphorus
Helps the body store and use energy
Phosphorus in combination with calcium creates your metabolic rate
Works with calcium in the formation of strong, healthy bones / teeth
Magnesium
Cell membrane permeability
Involved in energy production
Balances sugar metabolism
Necessary for all 300 enzymatic functions
Relaxation of muscles
Reduces inflammation
Potassium
Regulates blood pressure in conjunction with sodium
Maintains fluid balance
Sensitizes cells to thyroid hormones
Nerve conduction
Sodium
Primary alkalizer
Regulates the adrenal glands and blood pressure
Maintains fluid balance
Calcium
Controls the nervous system
Muscle contractions
Maintains the pH balance of the body
Reduces lactic acid build up
Helps secret insulin
Copper
Formation of red blood cells
Necessary for nervous system function
Makes iron bioavailable
Necessary for reproductive system
Stimulates production of neurotransmitters
Supports thyroid and adrenal gland function
Immune support
Needed for bone and connective tissue production
Zinc
Supports the immune system
Important for the essential process of cell division and reproduction
Iron
Needed for thyroid hormone conversion
Helps in transporting oxygen to all parts of the body
Chloride
Maintains proper blood volume, blood pressure and pH of bodily fluids
Iodine
Promotes thyroid hormone production
Supports brain function
Sulfur
Involved in protein synthesis
Protects cells from damage
Selenium
Makes DNA and protects against cell damage and infections
Reproduction and metabolism of thyroid hormones
Cobalt
Necessary component of Vitamin B12
Important role in forming amino acids and proteins in nerves cells, neurotransmitters
The higher our stress OR the faster our metabolism, the more essential minerals we need.
All stressors, including good stress, increases our needs for essential minerals.
Exercise & Sweating
Pregnancy
First Dates
Competing in a game
Job promotion
When we develop imbalances, many stressors have contributed to a depletion of minerals over time, such as:
Fasting
Imbalanced Blood Sugar
Poor Sleep
Overly-Low Carb Diets
Overly-Low Protein Diets
Emotional Stress/Trauma
Over-drinking water
As we work to restore our metabolism, restoring our minerals is a foundational step.
It's a good idea to focus on lowering the stressors that are depleting us, while simultaneously implementing easily digestible, bioavailable sources of essential minerals from nutrient dense foods including:
Broth and Stocks
Fruit and fruit juices (fresh, no additives)
Well-cooked greens
High quality milk and dairy products
Liver and other organs
Oysters and other shellfish
Once we have reduced stress and shifted to a diet with more bioavailable nutrients, adding in extra sources of minerals to restore reserves that have been depleted is a helpful next step.
Shilajit
Fulvic acid
Trace mineral drops and powders
Sea Salt
Herbal teas
Cream of Tartar
Adrenal cocktails
Magnesium bicarbonate
Mineral foot soaks
By no means is this an exhaustive list, nor do you necessarily need all these mineral sources.
These are just some of many effective sources of minerals.
Another point to consider is your mineral absorption rate. You don’t just need enough essential minerals, you need to be able to digest and absorb what you're taking in. Getting essential minerals in bioavailable form is the best way to ensure your body can use them.
A lot of things interfere with absorption or speedup depletion:
Structure of food
Synthetic vs bioavailable minerals
Food interactions
Damage to intestines (infections)
Inflammation
Trauma
Antibiotic and herbal pathogen protocols
Bioavailability of minerals is considered to be the relative absorption of a nutrient from the diet.
Here is what matters:
What form the essential mineral is delivered in (animals, protein, plant)
What other cofactors (other nutrients) are needed for optimal absorption
What other cofactors might inhibit nutrient absorption
The health of the person (gut and metabolic health)
If nutrients are not absorbed or released during the digestive process they will be of no nutritional value, even if you are eating a nutrient rich diet.
Here are some examples:
Calcium
Cooking foods will decrease the effects of oxalates and phytates, so the bioavailability of calcium will increase with cooking. If there are too many phytates and oxalates present in food, calcium absorption is inhibited.
Sugar and Vitamin D will increase calcium absorption. Having a class of milk is the perfect combination of all these nutrients.
There are other things that prevent calcium absorption such as an intestinal disease, dietary fiber and smoking for example.
Vitamin A
The animal source of Vitamin A (Retinol) is 10x more bioavailable than the plant version of beta carotene. Beta carotene needs to be converted to vitamin A in the liver. Yet if the liver is undernourished it prevents beta carotene from converting and you see it build up in the tissue instead of being utilized. You see people who eat lots of carrots sometimes get orange skin! Not good.
Dietary Fat will increase Vitamin A absorption since it is a fat soluble vitamin. And again, intestinal disease, alcohol and interaction with drugs can inhibit Retinol absorption.
Iron
Heme iron from animal sources is more bioavailable than non-heme from plant sources.
Excess phytates, calcium and polyphenols will inhibit iron absorption and vitamin C will increase the absorption of non-heme iron. Your small intestines regulate iron absorption. Your body will decide how much to absorb or not according to your individual needs!
Find out your mineral status by running a hair tissue mineral analysis here.
Always talk to your healthcare provider and do your own research before supplementing!
Resource:
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/vitamins-and-minerals#:~:text=A%20number%20of%20minerals%20are,fluoride%2C%20manganese%2C%20and%20selenium.
Comments