Top 5 Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
Vitamins and Minerals do wonderful jobs inside your body. Think of it this way:
Minerals are like your hard drive and video drivers in your computer. It’s the thing you actually touch to read these Blogs. Minerals are very much like this, they form structure and allow other systems to operate.Vitamins are like the computer programs, they make the experience fun and exciting. Vitamins in your body do this same job, they help processes work, support biochemical reactions and help you experience your day.
So you need both operating at their optimal levels to make your experience the best one it can be.
But yet, so many people are walking around with vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Why?
Here are 3 factors which reduce vitamins and minerals in your body.
Stress- It will chew through your vitamins and minerals because your systems are in alarm and protect mode
Medications like antacids and Birth control- both noted to kick out key minerals like Magnesium and Vitamin B12 (1) (2)
Indigestion and Digestive Issues- When the body struggles to digest and absorb these vitamins and minerals, depletion can occur.
How do I assess Nutrient Deficiencies in my clients? Watch this video.
What are the top Nutrients I see Deficient in my clients?
Vitamin D
VItamin D is the sunshine vitamin, your body makes it when you expose your skin to the sun’s rays. its roles include: Supporting Strong bones and teeth, helping with immune system functions, helping to regulate mood ( 3), supporting proper muscle function and many more.
Previously, Vitamin D used to be considered normal with any score above 20ng/ml. More recently, the new normal level is anything greater than 30 ng/mL. However, I prefer to see 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels between 50 and 75 ng/mL. Always check with your doctor to assess your vitamin D range before taking large doses of Vitamin D supplements In this vitamin’s case it is FAT soluble, which means that it will accumulate in your body when you take it orally. So we want to find that sweet spot for you. There isn’t a way to guess at that.Here is a video of how I assess my Vitamin D levels.
Click to learn what Vitamin D supplement do I use and Recommend.
2. Vitamin B12
Brain fog, Fatigue memory and focus come to mind first when it comes to Vitamin B12 deficiency signs. Or if you have had a nerve related problem, B12 should be looked into with your doctor.What does B12 do?Vitamin B12 helps with proper production and regulation of Red blood cells, it is a critical component in the blanket which surrounds every one of your nerves called myelin, acts in a process of energy production and neurotransmitter balance called Methylation and many more processes.
The biggest things I see Zapping B12 are:
The use of Heart Burn Medications (2)
Chronic stress
Indigestion and Chronic GUT issues. ( check in with the 7 factors affecting GUT health)
If these 3 things are in your lifestyle daily, you may need some B12.
I usually use this B12.
3. Iron
Your blood needs adequate amounts of this oxygen carrying mineral to keep your body tissues happy. Iron is essential for energy production so if you're chronically tired, get your ferritin levels checked with your doctor. If you have chronically heavy menstrual bleeding, or have a history of GI bleeding you may also be low in iron. Please have these conversations with your doctor.
If it comes out that you are low in iron, or Anemic is the term adding iron supplements into your day seems like the easy answer to fix the problem, right? Wrong!Adding iron supplements into your day when other minerals are imbalanced is not going to help you feel very good. Check out this Post about Iron.
What Iron do I use?
I use a product called Hemagenics from Metagenics. It’s very well absorbed and I have had so much success with using it over the years.BUT I also ADD: Magnesium and make sure that you are eating it from your food. Make sure you check out the Iron Blog post for more info.
4. Magnesium
My favorite mineral of all is Magnesium. It’s like the mother of all other minerals. It plays a role in over 300 different biochemical reactions! And can do wonders when it is added back into the body. Make sure you take the time to check out THIS blog post about Magnesium.
What Magnesium do I use?
Personally I use Magnesium Glycinate, and I recommend that type of Magnesium quite frequently. As a rule of thumb for me I take 5 times my body mass in Milligrams per day. On days where I am more stressed or have a hard workout, I will bump it up.
So I weigh 170LBS. 170X5=850. So I am shooting for 850mg of Magnesium per day from food and supplements. Each one of my Magnesium Tablets is 250mg, so I need about 4 of them per day to feel my absolute best. You can use this conversion for yourself, but make sure you speak with your doctor before taking any Magnesium supplements. Some of your Meds may interact.
5. Vitamin C
Vitamin C makes the list as Vitamin C is one of those nutrients which we use plenty of each day to help us stomp out inflammation, and it also helps to feed and nourish our adrenal glands. The gland we use to make that 2 sided sword called Cortisol. With many of us more stressed out than ever, it's not uncommon to see vitamin C coming in low when we assess it.
Now I know what you are thinking, isn’t vitamin C deficiency called Scurvy? YES, however we also have this sub-optimal category which I find many of my clients live in.Here is my suggestion for Vitamin C
Make sure you get it from food. Greens, Peppers, and Kiwi are some of my favorite sources
Make sure you control the factors in your life bringing it down, like stress and sleep
If you take a supplement, make it a small dose and focus more attention on your food and lifestyle.
I use this Vitamin C as a supplement.
There are plenty of more vitamin and Mineral deficiencies I see in my clients, so please don’t think this is an extensive list.If you think you have some vitamin or mineral deficiencies the best way to approach it is to look at your lifestyle and see where the deficiency is coming from. Think of it, if I plug the hole in your nutrient profile, but you fail to fix the areas where the deficiency is coming from, the issue is going to return. Instead, if you choose to supplement, make sure you work on the lifestyle areas while you are taking the supplement, and then slowly take the supplements away.
If you need help assessing what is going on in your lifestyle, I know that I can help.Do yourself a favor and take this FREE assessment. Send it back to me, and let’s have a chat about how we best solve your issue using Natural Strategies.
I choose these supplements for a reason, click HERE to find out why.
I hope you have an awesome day! Talk soon!
MK
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