I recently broke a rib.  No, I wasn’t cliff diving, rock climbing, or extreme skiing.  I wish I could create a really exotic story for fracturing this painful part of the endoskeleton, yet there is no such tale.  I broke my rib doing something mundane that normally doesn’t result in such an injury.  This lead to physician-recommended bone density testing and a new obsession with Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamin D.   As a proponent of a healthy diet (with occasional splurges, or course) based on mostly organic foods, lots of veggies of all kinds – especially the green ones, and vitamin supplements, I was shocked that I might have less-than stellar bone-density.  Believing I was eating everything I should this led me to some research on nutrition, including the increased recommendations for certain nutrients from both my doctor and my nutritionist.

According to the USDA (via WebMD), American’s aren’t getting enough of 7 essential daily nutrients:  Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamins A, E and C, Calcium and Fiber.  Perhaps despite our attempt to keep up with the FDA’s recommendation that we eat a minimum of 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies (mostly veggies) a day, we are not eating what we need.   What should we eat to increase our intake of these 7 missing nutrients?  Fortunately for us, there are some foods rich in more than one of these often-lacking nutrients in our daily lives.

Sweet potatoes are rich in potassium (protects muscle and nerve function), vitamin A (healthy immunity & tissue growth) and fiber.  Don’t like sweet potatoes?  Add bananas and spinach to your diet.  Spinach is full of magnesium (helps with calcium absorption and prevents osteoporosis) and vitamin A.  Don’t like spinach?  Add beans and peas for magnesium and carrots for vitamin A.  Increase intake of healthy oils like olive oil, almonds, and omega 3 fatty acids to increase vitamin E assisting with immunity, the skin and protecting vision.  Increase fiber-rich foods (fruits and veggies), or add a food-based fiber supplement.  For calcium, you can increase dairy consumption, if you eat dairy, or take a calcium supplement.  Studies have shown that calcium citrate is the most absorbable form of calcium.

Take a GOOD vitamin supplement, and consider a natural fiber supplement as well (women should add Calcium and vitamin D on top of their daily multivitamin).  Not all supplements are created equal.  Different forms of nutrients are more bio-available than others and the manner in which it is formulated also matters.  Did you know that WHEN the supplement dissolves in your system makes a difference on how it is utilized?  There is a science to good nutrition.

The FDA does not regulate vitamins or nutritional supplements, and it can be difficult to navigate the hype, claims and advertising to get to the science of a product.  Be picky, and research the company.  Many cheap “vitamins” use inactive ingredients (binders) to make the vitamins/supplements into a pill that are inexpensive and ineffective delivery systems.  This leads to the destruction of the pill from stomach acid or the body’s inability to utilize the nutrients.  Obviously, this is a waste of time and resources for the client.   Find a supplement that is not made with synthetic vitamins (they are not utilized by the body and are excreted), and research the company.  I have total and complete faith in the supplements I take and the company who makes them (Daily Essentials by Arbonne) because I have researched the company, the ingredients and had them personally validated by nutritional professionals.  Do you have that faith in yours?

Most doctors no longer question whether or not supplements are needed.  We can no longer gain all our nutrients through our food thanks to chemical fertilizers, pesticides and over-farming which strips nutrients from our soil, and in turn, our food.  Eat a rainbow of locally grown and/or organic produce and include some of the above foods, consider a high quality food-based daily supplement, and you should be off to a good start.

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