WHERE YOU GET THE MOST “BANG” FOR YOUR BUCK
Is your kitchen counter covered in vitamin containers? Maybe you take a regular multi-vitamin, or maybe you don’t take any at all! Either way your body absorbs the most vitamins and minerals from the food you put in your mouth! Vitamins are great and supplements serve their purpose, but today I want to talk about the super nutrient-dense foods that will make the biggest difference in your diet!
PROTEIN IS PACKED!
Many people I hear from are convinced that “red meat” is bad for them, or that too much meat isn’t good for you and causes cancer. No doubt, this is a myth you’ve read on the internet or heard from some tabloid magazine. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Good quality, grass-fed, pasture-raised local beef and meat is absolutely good for you! You get so many vitamins and minerals from beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, and pork. Of course, commercially farmed meat is not good for you and is probably the culprit for your upset stomach, and post-steak digestive trouble. Commercially raised animals are packed into stalls, back-to-back with other animals and fed GMO grain and corn. They defecate in the same place that they eat, hence the frequent E-coli outbreaks and recalls you hear about in the news.
Beef, chicken, and turkey are high in Iron, Zinc, Vitamin B2, B3, B6, B12, and Pantothenic Acid.
Likewise, Fish (wild-caught) is so good for you and high in just as many, if not more vitamins and minerals, plus Omega 3’s, which reduce inflammation. Salmon alone is a good source of Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Selenium, Vitamin B1, B2, and B3. Sardines, trout, halibut, and shellfish are also packed with vitamins and minerals! We should be eating a variety of these protein sources to give our bodies the nutrients it needs!
VEGGIE VARIETY
Don’t forget to eat your veggies! We not only need a variety of meat and fish in our diet, but we need different vegetables to get adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals that play key roles in our metabolism, digestion, hormone regulation, brain function, and heart health. A few veggies that are nutrient packed are Spinach, Kale, and Swiss Chard. These contain Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin E. Different types of greens, Bok choy, Cabbage, Okra, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and mushrooms are also full of other vitamins and minerals like Folate, Vitamin K, and Vitamin C. So, don’t skip out on your veggies. Aim for a colorful plate each time you eat!
BEANS, LEGUMES, NUTS, AND SEEDS
Lastly, the foods we all forget to eat, but the ones our grandmas ate- lima beans, black-eyed peas, and lentils. I would argue that most people have no idea what these are, let alone eat them regularly. Beans and legumes are nutrient packed foods that do have a place in most people’s diets. They are full of fiber, insoluble and soluble, that our bodies need for a healthy gut. Pumpkin seeds, sunflower, sesame, flax, and chia are also all super-nutrient dense foods that we need but seem to forget to eat. These take a little bit more intentionality to incorporate into our diet but should be eaten daily. Beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds contain different vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc, B Vitamins, Vitamin E, Folate, and pantothenic acid.
Vitamins and Minerals are crucial to our bodies functioning properly and optimally. My next blog I will get into what each one does for our bodily systems.
The point is our body needs a VARIETY of proteins, plants, legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds. So, stock up and starting eating!
