The human body requires vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants, fatty acids, and other phytonutrients to keep its organs and systems working smoothly. However, most individuals are nutrient deficient. For example, through our modern-day diets our bodies are frequently subjected to processed foods that are lacking in nutrition and are often difficult to digest. Thus failing to provide the crucial nutrients that our bodies need to thrive and be healthy. Furthermore, they are laden with chemicals and GMOs that toxify the body and destroy the immune system.
Individuals with food intolerances, allergies, certain health conditions, or vegetarian/vegan diets can often develop nutrient deficiencies due to missing essential nutrients. Evidently, lacking critical nutrients causes an adverse reaction in your body with problematic symptoms.
Most people could remedy nutritional deficiencies themselves with a simple correction in diet choices. However, it is always encouraged to visit your physician or holistic practitioner if you see no improvement despite making lifestyle changes with nutrition.
The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own immune system.
Robert C. Peale American Physician
Reaching Your Daily Nutritional Needs
An individuals nutritional needs to function optimally are considerably different from one individual to the next. The amount needed depends on your age, sex, current health, how physically active, and if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, and if someone follows a vegetarian/vegan diet.
Nutrients are essential for a broad range of processes in the body, from the regeneration of bones and muscles to removing waste products, producing nerve signals to create enzymes, and more. If nutritional needs are lacking, a disruption may transpire, and our body will start to show signs of deficiency through an array of negative symptoms.
Signs of a Nutrient Deficiency
Often we can overlook the warning signs our bodies send us, and unfortunately, nutritional deficiencies do not show up overnight but rather build up over time, making them difficult to notice. Here are some revealing signs that you might not be getting enough and how you can change it.
1 – Feeling Tired
Are you feeling tired all the time? Vitamin deficiencies that can cause fatigue are insufficient in magnesium, potassium, vitamin B12, and folate. However, fatigue can also be a sign of anemia, an iron deficiency that can result in troublesome symptoms that can affect your daily life. Although there are different types of anemia, iron-deficiency anemia is the most common worldwide.
Iron is a micronutrient that our body’s needs for an array of essential functions, and iron deficiency occurs when the body requires a sufficient amount of the mineral and its requirement is not reached. A deficiency in iron leads to abnormally low levels of red blood cells, and without an adequate amount of iron, the human body cannot produce sufficient hemoglobin — a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the remainder of the body along with myoglobin, a protein that brings oxygen to our muscles.
Common causes of iron deficiency
Common causes of iron deficiency include poor diet or restrictive diets, inflammatory bowel disease, increased requirements during pregnancy, and blood loss through heavy periods or internal bleeding.
Fantastic Heme + Non-Heme iron Foods
Foods rich in heme-iron are absorbed in a higher rate than non-heme iron. Heme-iron is found predominantly in blood and muscle such as meat, poultry, shellfish, and fish. Non-heme iron is a plant source of iron found in dark leafy greens and legumes, such as lentils.
2 – Problematic Hair + Nails
What you consume affects everything from your hair to your skin to your fingernail health. Multiple nutrient deficiencies can cause hair to thin and break and nails to become weak and brittle. If you notice unhealthy changes in your hair and nails, you may be lacking vitamin B 7 (Biotin), vitamin D, vitamin C, iron, zinc, calcium, protein, or essential fatty acids.
Biotin is a B vitamin involved in many body functions. It plays an essential role in strengthening hair and nails. A deficiency in this vitamin is generally rare but may occur in some situations. When it happens, brittle, thinning, or splitting hair and nails are some of the most noticeable symptoms.
Dry or Flaky Scalp
These are signs you require omega 3s and omegas 6s, these essential fatty acids are necessary for the follicles’ health, and they bring moisture to your hair and scalp.
Thinning Hair
Like other cells in the body, hair cells are composed of amino acids, the broken down form of protein. If you are not getting enough amino acids, you may start to lose more hair than usual.
Brittle Hair
Brittle hair and texture could also be a sign of a zinc or an iron deficiency, or both. Zinc and iron are necessary for keratin production, and not having a sufficient amount can prompt changes in the structure of the hair.
Dull-looking hair that lacks vibrancy
Dull-looking hair that lacks vibrancy could indicate you need more healthy fats to add shine and body. Omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats are essential for overall health, but dull hair could be a sign you aren’t getting enough.
Dry + Brittle Nails
If you possess a vitamin or mineral deficiency, it can show up as dry, cracked, brittle, and irregularly shaped nails. A lack of calcium intake contributes to dry, brittle nails. A lack of folic acid and vitamin C can lead to hangnails. Insufficient dietary essential oils, like omega-3, cause cracking. But more often, it is as simple as having a lack of iron.
Helpful supplements
- Ashwagandha, a powerful herb that can support adrenals and transform the hair health.
- Nettle leaf tea or tincture.
- Lemon balm tea or tincture can help restore hair.
- Milk thistle can support the liver and revitalize hair.
- A high-quality liquid zinc sulfate is beneficial for a host of health issues, including hair, skin, and nail health.
- Spirulina and barley grass juice powder.
3 – Slow Healing Wounds
The skin is the largest organ in the human body and can be affected and impaired by nutritional deficiencies, including protein, vitamin C, and zinc deficiency. Protein-energy malnutrition can also affect wound healing.
4 – A Weakened Immune System
Does it feel like when you get over an illness, another follows suit? The offender could be that you aren’t getting enough nutrition that, in turn, is undermining your immune system. Excellent health starts with your immune system and staying away from the pharmacy; with a robust immune system, sickness would be less and with a shorter duration if a sickness at all.
All vitamins are indispensable to the immune system as well as essential constituents of our daily diet. Vitamins A and D have an unexpected and crucial effect on the immune response.
Vitamins A, C, and E are antioxidants that support the body’s natural immune response. The B vitamin group, especially vitamin B6, is responsible for keeping the immune system healthy, producing new red blood cells, and carrying oxygen throughout the body. Vitamin B6 also assists the body in making the protein interleukin-2 to direct white blood cell activity. Deficiencies in this vitamin can cause mood fluctuations and decrease antibodies needed to avoid infections. Vitamin B6 is responsible for producing white blood cells and T cells, which regulate immune responses. Zinc is an essential mineral that helps support germ-fighting white blood cells.
Because your body doesn’t naturally produce zinc or vitamin C, you must obtain it through food or supplements. Both zinc and vitamin C are found naturally in a wide variety of both plant and animal foods. Although animal foods usually do not contain enough vitamin C. For this reason, people need to get it from fruit, vegetables, fortified food, or high-quality organic supplements.
Quality matters in your healing journey so using a high-quality organic supplement can also help ensure you fill in any missing gaps to meet all of your daily nutritional needs. However, the best nutrition is real whole organic foods.
5 – Negative Changes In Oral Health
Nutrition has a significant bearing on oral health, and the roles of nutrients in oral health are crucial to having healthy teeth and gums. However, when your diet lacks all the necessary nutrients for healthy teeth, your teeth will fracture, break off, and be laden with cavities, and your gums will bleed.
A deficiency in vitamin A leads to impaired epithelial cells responsible for secreting calcium, phosphate, fluoride, magnesium, and carbonate ions that help form enamel and a healthy tooth. Vitamin A deficiency results in inadequate enamel, enamel with pits, or less thick enamel.
Vitamin D is imperative for calcium and phosphate to function adequately in the body, both of which are essential for tooth enamel formation.
A deficiency of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) increases the susceptibility of dentine damage. Furthermore, the very cells that help build dentine are directly influenced by ascorbic acid supply; hence low vitamin C means a low number of these dentine producing and protecting cells.
Vitamin K has antimicrobial effects, and some believe vitamin K reduces plaque buildup through its presence in saliva, Fetuin-A, and matrix Gla protein. Teeth and bone are dynamic tissues, continually maintaining and renewing themselves with the help of vitamin K. Vitamin K dependent proteins have been found throughout bones and teeth. These proteins require vitamin K to activate them.
Should avoid
- Acidic Acid: An acid created by bacteria. Acidic acid depletes the body of the trace mineral calcium. Our body uses calcium as an alkalizer; it helps neutralize acidity and calms acid down. The more acidic acid you put into your body, the more calcium gets leeched from your bones and teeth.
- Excessive salt – Table salt (Not the salt naturally accruing in foods)
6 – Brain Fog
Brain fog has many different probabilities and affects various mental processes, including memory and concentration. One mild and prevalent cause of brain fog is not getting enough sleep, emotional triggers following nutrition. In comparison, an extreme case of brain fog would be caused by viruses such as Epstein- Barr or toxic heavy metals, or both. These are the true causes of brain fog.
Suppose you’re finding it difficult to focus, moody, or find it challenging to remember things more often than not. In that case, it may be more than a nutrient curtailment; your brain fog could be induced by viruses such as Epstein-Barr or toxic heavy metals such as mercury and aluminum or both scenarios at the same time.
Brain fog caused by toxic heavy metals in the brain can oxidize and create a metallic runoff that can saturate brain tissue, short-circuiting electrical impulses and hindering neurotransmitters. Brain fog can also develop when the liver has become toxic with other types of agitators, such as chemicals, prescription drugs, and solvents.
Environmental and dietary triggers that can aggravate an already existing condition such as the virus Epstein-Barr includes but is not limited to-
- Gluten
- Caffeine
- Dairy
- Stress
- Mold
- Chemical fragrances
- Scented candles
- Air freshener’s
- Colognes
- Perfume
- Cleaning supplies
- Fabric softeners
- MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
- Aspartame
Helpful remedies –
A variety of nutrients is vital for a healthy brain and cognitive function and helps to maintain a healthy, festive mood. A few of these brain boosters are omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins (vitamin B12 supports healthy brain function, and a vitamin B-12 deficiency can bring about brain fog), choline, and vitamins C, D, and E.
For brain fog induced by toxic heavy metals, a toxic heavy metal detox would help immensely. For a helpful heavy metal detox so you can be on your way to healing, try this Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie Recipe.
- Spirulina
- Barley Grass Juice Powder (Not Barley Grass Powder)
- Wild Blueberries (Not cultivated)
- Cilantro
- Atlantic Dulse
- Celery Juice – Drink 16 ounces of pure, juiced celery, nothing added on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and waiting at least twenty-five minutes before eating and drinking.
- Gaba supplement
7 – Decreased Night Vision
Maladies such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts, can affect your eyes. Along with a lack of antioxidants, mineral deficiencies, and free radicals in the body from oxidizing heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxins.
Moreover, if you have recently noticed that it has been more challenging to see at night, you may not be consuming a sufficient amount of vitamin A. This Vitamin plays a vital role in equipping us to see in low light conditions. Though various factors cause these conditions, nutrition seems to influence all of them — at least in part.
Plant-based phytonutrients such as carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and polyphenol play a critical role in nourishing, cleansing, and protecting our eyes. For an example, carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin give vegetables their vibrant green or orange colors. They are in dark leafy greens, peas, summer squash, pumpkin, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, and pistachios. You could also try a comprehensive blend of botanical extracts and concentrates that nourish and support healthy vision and eyes.
Boost Your Nutrition
If you are discerning any of the above issues, it’s time to change your diet to real nutrition with whole organic foods.
A simplistic way to give your body the nutrients it needs is by adding energy-boosting organic algae, sprouts, and wheatgrass juices to your daily diet. These superfoods can provide a wealth of nutrient-dense ingredients that most don’t get in their daily diets. It supplies you with energy, has a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals, and is more beneficial than taking a multivitamin tablet. Superfoods provide vitamins and minerals through natural soluble compounds that work collectively to nourish your body. It promotes better digestion and noticeably boosts the immune system while gently detoxifying the body of harmful toxins. I have a great superfood recipe here that taste delicious.
If you prefer daily vitamins, choose a high-quality vitamin that your body can absorb and utilize. Vitamins with zero additives, solvents, or preservatives.
Leave a Reply