Vitamins & Minerals

Hi healthy eaters!

We've been thinking about vitamins and minerals of late and basically we've decided that we should tell you something about them. So in this post you can find basic information about both of them. Interestingly, any other post connected with both vitamins and minerals you'll be able to read in the brand new section called  NUTRIENTS, where we'll post more information about them. Let's take a look! 

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Vitamins

Vitamins and minerals are essential nutrients that your body need, so that it can work they way it should. In order to provide our body all the nutrients it needs, we ought to stick to a varied and balanced diet.

When it comes to vitamins, there are two types of them:

FAT-SOLUBLE VITAMINS

These can be found mainly in fatty foods and animal products, such as vegetable oils, milk, eggs, butter or oily fish. You don’t need to eat tons of vitamins every single day, because your body stores them in advance. These stores usually builds up so you have them when especially needed. Nonetheless, if you have much more than your body requires then fat-soluble vitamins can be harmful.

Obviously, it’s a way better to eat three bananas and four kiwis then a box of sweets and candies. But more importantly, we should acknowledge that balanced diet is crucial to have the proper amount of every nutrient that exists.  

Fat-soluble vitamins are:

• Vitamin A,
• Vitamin D,
• Vitamin E,
• Vitamin K.

WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS

Water-soluble vitamins can be found in a variety of foods, including fruit, veggies, grains, milk and dairy foods. Unfortunately, they can be easily destroyed by heat or being exposed to the air. Additionally, they can be lost in water while cooking. It means that you may lose some of these vitamins especially while boiling foods. We have to be careful and pay close attention while preparing foods.

Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, so you’re supposed to have them more often. As the body does not store these vitamins, they are not harmful in general, because if you have more that your body needs, then it dispenses with the extra vitamins when you urinate. 

Water-soluble vitamins are: 

• Vitamin C,
• The B vitamins,
• Folic acid.

MINERALS 

Minerals are necessary for your body for many reason:

1. They help you improve your metabolism,
2. They turn the food your eat into energy,
3. They control all fluids you have outside and inside yor cells,
4. They improve your skin and hair condition,
5. They exert an impact on building strong bones and teeth,
6. They are important for nerve functions, blood and muscles. 

Minerals can be found in fruit (especially dried ones), veggies, meat, cereals, cereal products such as bread, milk and nuts.

There are loads of essiencial minerals your body needs, such as:

• Iron,
• Calcium,
• Beta-carotene,
• Magnesium,
• Manganese,
• Potassium,
• Boron,
• Chromium,
• Selenium,

And many other....