Your body is made to run on a mixture of vitamins and minerals. The great news is that by following a balanced diet, you can get all the minerals your body needs to maintain great health. Here is a really useful list of minerals that will help you eat the foods that are most beneficial to your health.
1. Sodium
Sodium can be found in salt, soy sauce, milk, all meats and bread. Consuming sodium will help maintain fluid as well as electrolyte balance. A diet containing sodium will help support muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmissions.
2. Chloride
Chloride is essential for maintenance of your body’s fluid and electrolyte balance; chloride can also help your body’s digestive system. Foods high in chloride are salt, milk, meats, eggs, and soy sauce.
3. Potassium
Potassium can be found in an abundance of foods such as avocado, tomatoes, green beans, grapefruit, banana, watermelon, strawberries, broccoli, artichoke, squash, potatoes, yam, spinach, carrots, milk and cod.
4. Calcium
One of the most famous minerals available, calcium is vital in the formation and development of healthy bones and teeth as well as it supports blood clotting. Foods that are high in calcium are milk, cheese, yogurt, sardines, tofu, broccoli, green beans and spinach.
5. Phosphorus
Phosphorus can be found in all animal foods and is vital in the formation of bones, teeth and cells as well as it helps maintain your body’s acid-base balance.
6. Magnesium
Supporting protein building, nerve impulse transmission, immunity, protein building and all muscular contractions that your body makes, magnesium can be found in a large variety of foods such as sunflower seeds, cashews, halibut, black eyed peas, navy and pinto beans, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, broccoli and tofu.
7. Iron
Iron is extremely vital to your health as is it helps carry oxygen throughout your body’s cells. Foods such as shrimp, clams, spinach, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, tofu, beef liver, parsley and artichoke are high in dietary iron.
8. Zinc
Zinc is an amazing mineral that is part of many enzymes that are vital to your body. These enzymes can help transport vitamin A, help heal wounds, help taste perception, help develop a normal fetus, increase sperm production, is vital to the production of genetic materials and proteins. Zinc is readily available in a variety of foods such as shrimp, oysters, crab dark turkey meat, beef, ham, cheese, yogurt, ricotta, tofu, green beans, spinach, green peas, tomatoes, lentils and broccoli.
9. Selenium
Selenium is an amazing antioxidant as it teams up with vitamin E to protect the body from oxidation. Selenium can be found in foods like seafood, grains, meats and Brazil nuts.
10. Iodine
Iodine can be found in iodized table salt, bread, cheese, milk and seafood. Iodine helps regulate growth, metabolic rate and development by its being an integral component of a person’s thyroid hormones.
11. Copper
Helping your body utilize and absorb dietary iron as well as supporting formation of hemoglobin and important bodily enzymes. Copper can be found in water and meats.
12. Manganese
Manganese can be found in almost any food source and is extremely important in many of your body’s cell processes.
13. Fluoride
Fluoride has been added to many urban drinking water sources as well as can be found in seafood and tea. Fluoride helps build strong teeth and healthy bones as well as you have probably heard from your dentist, fluoride fights tooth decay.
14. Chromium
Chromium helps your body release energy from stored glucose and can be found in liver, whole grains, cheese, nuts, and vegetable oil.
15. Molybdenum
Helps with many different cell functions, molybdenum can be specifically found in organ meats and legumes.
Make sure to eat meals full of the foods mentioned in this list of healthy minerals in order to get the most out of your diet program.