Learn what nutrients are and how to ensure your diet includes the optimal balance of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients necessary to maintain good health, enhance energy levels, and improve overall well-being.
What are nutrients?
Nutrients are chemical substances required for your body to function optimally and are found in the food you consume. Nutrients are involved in many body processes like providing energy for the cell, growing, repairing (healing), brain function, muscle and bone growth, etc.
Maximizing your nutrition means obtaining the most nutritional value from your foods. This involves choosing nutrient-dense foods, preparing and combining foods in ways that preserve and enhance their nutritional value, and understanding the factors that influence nutrient absorption in your body.
For me, to manage Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and to reduce chronic allergies without medication, I had to focus on feeding my body with high-nutrient foods. A nutrient-dense diet has helped me reduce inflammation and fight shingles, severe allergies, and asthma.
In this article, you'll learn a few key factors you need to consider to maximize your nutrient intake.
Prioritize nutrient-dense food.
Nutrient-dense foods provide high amounts of micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants relative to their calorie content. For example, Eating nuts that are high in calories is much healthier than eating a bowl of white rice or pasta; these 2 are high in calories but have fewer nutrients.
Choose whole foods
Whole foods or minimally processed foods contain more nutrients than highly processed foods. For example, whole grains of rice or wheat have high fiber, vitamins, and minerals that are lost during processing.
Highly processed foods are high in sugar (carbohydrates), raise blood glucose, and lead to diabetes in the long term.
Highly processed foods may also contain added sugars, unhealthy fats, and food additives.
Buy fresh produce, even meat from different sources
You might miss out on nutrition if you've been buying food from the same seller for years. In most countries, the soil in which food is grown is poor in nutrients, especially where they don't practice food rotation.
Purchasing your produce from different markets or groceries can allow you to eat food grown in various climates and soil.
Prefer produce grown in open air vs greenhouse
Whenever possible, buy vegetables and fruits grown in the open air rather than those grown in greenhouses. Remember that plants get their energy from the sun to make food.
So, food grown in the open has had direct sunlight and thus has more nutrients. I've noticed that vegetables grown in the open have tough skin, are small, and dense in color.
Opt for organic or small farmers
When crops are not sprayed with pesticides and are grown in the open air, they tend to have high nutrient value because they become resilient by making more antioxidants and anti-nutrients to protect them from harsh conditions and keep invaders away. For example, wild blueberries are richer in antioxidants than regular.
Food preparations
To preserve more nutrients, use cooking methods like steaming and sauteing while limiting baking and avoiding boiling, which leaches nutrients into the boiling water. Avoid dip frying at all costs if you want to optimize your health!
- Cooking some foods can increase their bioavailability. When cooked, carrots and most green vegetables increase their beta-carotene, while cooking tomatoes with some healthy fat increases the bioavailability of lycopene.
- However, cooking breaks down the sugar molecules, making starchy foods like carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes high in sugar.
- Chopping garlic 10 mins before cooking increases the level of allicin.
- When preparing fruits and veggies, use only what is necessary. Chopping foods and storing them to cook them in a few days can lead to a loss of nutrients. The same goes for smoothies and homemade juices. The oxygen and light start oxidizing the nutrients, and by the end of the week, you've lost some nutrients!
- Avoid cooking vegetables high in vitamins C and B in high heat and for a long time, as these nutrients are sensitive to heat and thus are destroyed quickly.
Should you peel or not peel?
Most people like peeled fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, apples, etc.. Did you know that most of the nutrients are found in the peels? The skin of fruits and vegetables is the closest to the sun and soil, making it more nutrient-dense than the interior (flesh). Keep your peels. And if you can't eat them, make broth.
Juices vs whole fruits
Fruit juices are high in sugar. Most store-bought juices are low in nutrients because they have been pasteurized and continue to lose nutrients after packaging. Eating whole fruits means eating all the micronutrients in that fruit. Whenever possible, include the fruit's skin, as most nutrients are concentrated in the peel (skin).
Include raw foods in your diet
Cooking foods increases their aroma and flavors, makes them easy to digest, and makes some nutrients bioavailable. However, cooking destroys most nutrients that could be beneficial to your body. Raw foods are a source of enzymes that support your health. These enzymes are destroyed during cooking. I encourage everyone to include some raw food in their diet.
Food combinations to enhance absorption
Pairing some nutrients can be a game-changer in absorbing micronutrients. For example,
- Adding foods high in vitamin C to a meal high in iron will make iron easily absorbed.
- Avoid turmeric, tea, and calcium-rich food while consuming iron-rich meals, as these foods inhibit iron absorption.
- Also, consuming fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, and E with healthy fats (like nuts, avocados, coconut, olives, or olive oil) will increase these vitamins' absorption.
- Magnesium intake enhances vitamin D absorption. However, high vitamin D can lead to magnesium depletion in the body.
Choose organic or pasture-raised
When it comes to meat, eggs, and milk, always buy pasture-raised animals. Conventional animals are fed a lot of antibiotics that you end up consuming.
Caged animals never see the sun or have never moved a meter since birth/hatched. These animals are stressed out, and their diet is mostly GMO crops. Remember, just as you're what you eat, animals, too, are what they eat.
Should you eat fish and sea animals?
While eating fish can be good, especially for omega-3, let's not forget that the oceans are not what they used to be years ago! They are highly polluted, and fish and sea animals contain relatively high amounts of heavy metals.
"Often, fish and other seafood represent one of the main sources of exposure to metals in the general population." Nature
Farmed fish could be a good alternative, but be careful because they also contain metals, chemicals, and toxins that are of health concern. Farm fish also use antibiotics and dyes. Whenever possible, opt for wild-caught fish.
Stay hydrated
Proper hydration facilitates the transport of nutrients through the bloodstream to be delivered to cells, ensuring that the body efficiently utilizes essential vitamins and minerals.
To sum up, understanding what nutrients are and incorporating nutrient-dense foods into your diet is crucial for optimal health and well-being.
By prioritizing nutrient-rich choices, you can fuel your body with essential vitamins, minerals, and other vital compounds necessary for optimal function.
Remember, a balanced diet filled with nutrient-dense foods is the foundation for healing, repairing, and cell growth.
You've the power to heal yourself, Githu
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