Did you know that most of us are deficient in key nutrients our body needs?
The Western diet, and more specifically the Standard American Diet, is to blame for our vitamin deficiencies.
The typical breakfast of eggs, bacon, & toast for breakfast, followed by a burger or sandwich for lunch, and maybe some pizza, pasta, or meat for dinner, are all severely lacking the nutrients and minerals we need to support our health.
Unless you’re proactively reading nutrition and ingredient labels, the foods that tend to show up on our plate also have lower nutrient quality because of how they’re made and where they came from.
As a society, our meals tend to be highly processed, containing genetically modified ingredients (GMO), laden with hidden sugars, salts, and unhealthy fats, topped with antibiotic-fed animals, and pesticide and herbicide-ridden produce.
If this is our typical diet, then it shouldn’t be a surprise that over 23.5 million Americans are living with autoimmune diseases and chronic illnesses right now – a result of poor-quality food and vitamin deficiencies.
However, many don’t know that they have these nutrient deficiencies.
Instead, we’re blaming our current complaints like poor memory, sagging skin, low energy, and even hair loss and low libido on getting older. When in actuality, these could be signs and symptoms of an underlying deficiency, or even more common, undiagnosed inflammation or an autoimmune condition.
Signs of vitamin deficiency include:
- Low energy & fatigue
- Dull and dry skin
- Fine lines & wrinkles
- Sagging skin
- Hair loss
- Brittle nails
- Poor memory & brain fog
- Constipation
- Erectile dysfunction & low libido
- Mood swings & general sadness
But don’t worry; there are daily micro-habits that can stop and even reverse this vicious cycle so we can get our health back on track.
How to Fix your Vitamin Deficiency:
#1: Eat your greens.
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time now, then “eat your greens” shouldn’t be a surprise to you. As I share over here, as a functional nutritionist, I see the number one thing you can do right now to improve your health is to increase your daily intake of green veggies.
The best part is that you can start small by adding a piece of spinach here and a side salad over there. I break it all down for you over in my post: THE Most Important Daily Micro-Habit for Health.
#2: Lay off the processed foods.
Processed foods are basically anything that comes in a box or a bag. If it has a nutrition label with a list of ingredients, it’s a processed food.
Heavily processed foods are when the foods are not recognizable in any way as something that came from nature. For example, corn syrup doesn’t look anything like corn on the cob. Fruit loops don’t look anything like a wheat plant – and also don’t contain anything resembling a fruit.
Not only do heavily processed foods lack nutrients, but they’re also vitamin-depleting. The energy your body uses to digest these processed foods uses your current vitamin stores. So not only are processed foods not helping your body, they’re making the problem even worse, causing a cycle of nutrient deficiencies.
#3 Eat more real foods.
In tandem with #2 above, we need to eat more real foods. Foods that resemble what they look like in nature.
These foods are called whole foods (and no, I’m not referring to the grocery store chain). A whole food is usually not found in a bag or a box. For example, an apple is a whole food, apple juice is not. Steel-cut oats are a whole food, while flour is not.
Our sister brand, Whole Food Plant-Based Club, has a kickstart guide to help you start transitioning from a processed, Standard American Diet to a healthier lifestyle with whole, real foods. Can get their free Whole Food Plant-Based How-To Guide over at wfpb.club.
#4 More minerals, please.
Minerals can’t be produced by our bodies, so we need to be sure that we are getting them from our diet. Minerals contribute to bone health, energy production, balancing sodium, cell signaling, and many other body functions.
Six significant minerals that are a must, especially for anti-aging, include calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, and magnesium. You can find these minerals in dark leafy greens, wild-caught fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, sea salt, avocado, pumpkin seeds, and even dark chocolate.
Not sure if your mineral levels are up to par? Schedule your Health Snapshot with me today.
#5 Support your gut health.
Experts now know that most disease and illness is linked to our gut health. Many of my clients are over 40 and have had antibiotics at least a few times in their lives. Antibiotics significantly impact your gut health, killing off the good microbiome your body needs.
We need to reinoculate our gut and restore the good bugs our body needs to perform optimally. This can be done by taking probiotic supplements as well as eating probiotic-rich foods. I recommend my clients try probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut and kimchi. They give a variety of good probiotics, and they’re also whole, nutrient-rich foods, so a win-win!
On your next shopping trip, add one of these fermented foods to your cart:
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
- Kefir
- Miso
- Tempeh (not tofu)
- Yogurt (preferably non-dairy)
#6 Don’t guess, Test!
Vitamin deficiency is incredibly common and has been proven to be linked to chronic illness and autoimmune conditions. Especially low Vitamin D and B12. But you don’t have to wait till you’re diagnosed to take action. You can make changes to your health today that can prevent and even reverse your chances of developing a chronic illness or disease.
Be proactive and schedule your Health Snapshot with me today. It’s $1,200-worth of blood tests, 55+ biomarkers reviewed with the functional medicine lens to see where your health, vitamins, and minerals may be suboptimal, plus a clear action plan with steps you can take to course-correct.
You’ll start by getting your blood drawn at any LabCorp in the country. You and I will meet over Zoom to review your results using functional medicine best practices and discuss your nutrition and action plan. You’ll come away with a clear vision of where you’re currently at with your health and what you can do to reach your health & wellness goals.
The Health Snapshot is valued at over $2,600, but you can get it at a fraction of that cost. Your investment is currently $397, but it’s going up to $497 on June 1st. Schedule your Health Snapshot today and save before the price goes up. Click here to learn more or sign up. I look forward to helping you reach your health goals!
