Vitamin Foods You Need to Do Dynamic Functions And Maintain Optimal Health.
Vitamin foods perform specific and dynamic functions in our body systems. If we want to have optimal health, we have to fuel ourselves with healthy foods with vitamins A to E. So how do we get the optimum health we need?
Vitamin foods are a necessity to our health, so eating it as part of our meal plan will be of great help. There are two different types of vitamins, the fat-soluble and water-soluble. These two vitamins have different properties, and we should know how to consume it properly.
How do we define each type of vitamins? Fat-soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins benefits may vary from the effect it will give us.
Fat-soluble vitamins dissolve in fat before they are absorbed in our bloodstream. The fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E and K. If you consume too much of these vitamins, it will go in the muscles and liver. Our liver detoxifies our body not only from our intake of unhealthy foods and beverages but also the unnecessary large quantities of fat-soluble vitamins. And our liver can only do so much. So, if we overdose our body with these vitamins, it may eventually damage our liver in the long term.
On the other hand, vitamins that can be easily dissolved in the water is called water-soluble vitamins. These vitamins cannot be stored in the body. The excess in our body is eliminated in urine. This means that our body requires the continuous daily supply of these vitamins in our diet. You can have a vitamin B-complex group and vitamin C for water-soluble vitamins.
Vitamin-rich foods maintain the healthy condition of our body. And can prevent and cure different illnesses, especially those cardiovascular problems. It has unique properties to address various health issues that no other nutrients can resolve. Each function depends on the capability and limitations that a vitamin can do to our body.
What are the vitamins in our foods? What can you expect from consuming vitamins? How can we benefit from vitamins A to E?
By taking vitamin-rich foods, you can enjoy many health benefits as foods that are rich in each vitamin target specific health problems.
For instance, vitamin A supports treatment to eye and skin disorders. Macular degeneration is one of the common health issues. It also makes our hair healthy with the carotenoid property of vitamin A.
Complete B vitamins provide additional nourishment to our body. The positive results that we can get from these vitamins focus more on brain development and blood circulation. Getting our blood circulation on track gives our body immunity and normal metabolism function. If we maintain our body with enough B vitamins, we can reduce the risk of various diseases. Indigestion, skin disorders, diabetes, and body stress are some of the health issues that we can avoid.
As we mentioned earlier about immunity, vitamin C fights off bacteria and viruses that can harm our health. Make sure that vitamin C is in non-acidic formula or sodium ascorbate to prevent lining in our stomach. Vitamin C is considered as one of the most needed vitamins in our body because of its antioxidants properties.
If we can have antioxidants from vitamin C, vitamin D contributes to the overall health of our bones. It also participates in the maintenance of blood pressure and boosting of immunity.
The health benefits that we can get from vitamin E are relief from symptoms of menopause, dysmenorrhea and eye disorders. Also, we can indulge in the anti-aging properties of vitamin E.
Furthermore, health benefits from vitamin K in terms of prevention of internal bleeding, bone metabolism, improved nerve functions and reduced risk of kidney stones occurrence.
Where do we get vitamins
Water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins have different resources. For water-soluble vitamins, we need to intake a small amount most of the time.
B-complex vitamins
One of the water-soluble vitamins is B-complex, and they are 8 B vitamins: thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin (B7), folate or folic acid (B9), and cobalamin (B12). With all of these nutrients in our food, your body can have coenzymes that will help the body get energy from the food.
Thiamin
Some of the food sources of B-complex vitamins are peas, meat, and legumes as a source of thiamin. Other B vitamin sources are whole grains and fortified grain products like cereals.
Riboflavin
Not enough, riboflavin? You can have adequate amounts of it from eating liver, eggs, dark green vegetables, legumes whole and enriched grain products and milk.
Like riboflavin, niacin is vital for energy production and normal enzyme function. You can get enough of it from fish, chicken, eggs, meat, peanuts, and whole grains products.
Vitamin B6
To aid our body in protein metabolism and red blood cell formation, you will need vitamin B6 or pyridoxine. Food sources of this vitamin are pork, meats, whole grains and cereals, legumes and leafy vegetables (green).
Folic Acid
Folic acid is present in B-complex vitamins as water-soluble vitamins. With folic acid in our body, it promotes red blood cell. It also reduces the risk of neural tube congenital disabilities during pregnancy. One better thing with folic acid helps minimize the risk of heart diseases. Vitamin foods with folic acid are meat, fish, whole grains, legumes, citrus fruits and leafy vegetables (dark green).
Vitamin B12
Are you familiar with vitamin B12? Vitamin B12 is called cobalamin. It aids in the building of genetic materials and the production of healthy red blood cells. Also, it maintains the nervous system. You can have vitamin B12 in our food like meat, eggs, fish, and milk products.
Biotin
How about biotin? Biotin is vitamin foods helps our body to release energy from carbohydrates. It helps us metabolize fats proteins and carbs from our diet. This is an essential function in our body to achieve our daily tasks. We can get biotin from meat, egg yolk, milk, vegetables and cereals.
Pantothenic acid
Further, pantothenic acid aids in the formation of hormones and fats processing. It also provides metabolism of fats, proteins and carbs from food. We can get pantothenic acid from meat, eggs, whole grains and legumes.
Vitamin C
What we don’t want to miss out is vitamin C. Vitamin C has many functions in our body. The primary purpose of this vitamin is antioxidants, which can heal wounds and contributes to the formation of bone and tooth. Vitamin C makes our blood vessel walls strong and improves immune system function. It increases absorption and utilization of iron in our body. Another importance of vitamin C in our body is producing collagen. Collagen is a connective tissue that holds muscles, bones, and other tissues together.
As one of the antioxidant properties, vitamin C creates optimum health. This is a crucial role of vitamin C to neutralize free radicals throughout our body. Some of our top choices for C vitamin sources are citrus fruits, grapefruit, mangoes, papayas and kiwi fruits. But you can also get Vitamin C from chili peppers, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts.
Vitamin A
One of the fat-soluble vitamins is A. Vitamin A, or beta-carotene is essential to create vision, healthy skin, bone and tooth growth, and immune system health. Some food sources of vitamin A are fortified dairy products like cheese, cream and butter. You can have eggs and margarine. Beta-carotene nutrients come in dark green vegetables, orange fruits, carrots and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin D
Also, as one of the fat-soluble vitamins is Vitamin D. Vitamin D in our body gives you better absorption of calcium. Calcium is excellent for our bones to become stronger. You can have calcium from egg yolks, fatty fish and milk. Also, with the benefits of vitamin D, it helps our skin to look more radiant through exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin E
On the other hand, we can get vitamin E from soybean, corn, vegetables, whole grain products, egg yolks, nuts and seeds. Vitamin E is important as an antioxidant that protects our cells from free radicals.
Vitamin K
If you have health issues in blood clotting, you will need vitamin K to resolve that. Vitamin K is what you need to keep your blood clotting function regularly.
Vitamins versus Supplements
Vitamins and supplements are different from each other. If you are a little confused about that, let us help you figure it out.
Vitamins, as defined, are natural nutrients that our bodies cannot produce on its own. So we need to have foods with all the vitamins we need. But if we always struggle to complete all the necessary vitamins—water and fat-soluble vitamins—this can really be a problem.
Your sources are not limited to vitamin-rich foods. You can add the lacking vitamins by purchasing over-the-counter vitamins. Purchased vitamins come in the forms of pill, tablet, powder, capsule, and liquid. Complete vitamins in our body can prevent us from getting sick and other complications due to vitamin deficiency.
On the other hand, supplements are not always vitamins. But it consists of several multiple ingredients to form multivitamins.
Supplements are not food replacements, contrary to common beliefs of those who are on a diet. It is just additional nutrients from what we consume. Since there are nutrients that each food has, we need other vitamin sources.
However, before taking supplements, you will need to consult your doctor to avoid side effects. It may also interfere with your medical treatment if consumed unnecessarily. Your doctor can also recommend what type of supplements you will need to be sufficient vitamins.
Your easy vitamin foods recipes
Indeed, vitamins have many varieties. It has many sources, and you can acquire it with the right foods. You can take some of our recipes to ensure that you will have an adequate intake of vitamins.
To enjoy the consumption of vitamins and other nutrients, you can make recipes of different fruits and vegetables. It will be more enjoyable for you rather than buying over-the-counter vitamin supplements.
One of your vitamin foods recipe is the raspberry orange protein smoothie. It is good to consume during breakfasts to kick your day right. Aside from vitamins, you can have protein. What are the ingredients? You need egg whites, raspberries, orange juice. How to prepare? Put all the ingredients in a blender with 2 glass of water.
The art of taking vitamin foods
Indeed, vitamins are essential to our body to boost our immune system and create antioxidants to protect our body from free radicals. Like other nutrients, we need to consume an adequate amount of vitamins, and it should be in moderation for more promising results.
To remind you that prevention at a young age and to eat nutritious foods over time lead us to be fit and healthy. We can avoid serious health problems and learning some ways to improve your eating lifestyle.
Many have great desires to be physically fit and healthy. To be in good shape while indulging mindlessly with junk foods can harm your health eventually. So eat lots of healthy food that are vitamin sources.