What is the difference between a vitamin and a mineral?

Many of us have wondered about this. Vitamins are organic in nature and can be broken down with heat, or exposure to oxygen. Minerals are inorganic and maintain their chemical structure. Our bodies need both! Minerals are known as the keys to vibrancy, the spark of life…vitality. Minerals exist in quantities that our body requires much more of – more than 100 mg per day – macro nutrients. Next,  are Trace Minerals which is the term used to refer to the micro nutrients we need in less than 20 milligrams per day, yet they are still vital to many of our body’s systems.

Sufficient minerals are needed to supply every system of our body

Minerals are nothing more than elements – that’s right the same elements you learned about in high school chemistry. The famous periodic table lists all of the earth’s known elements. Our bodies are made of these very same elements. Things like iron. zinc, and magnesium. The task of daily living – including all of the body’s incredible processes – depletes these elements and they must be replenished regularly.  Some of the metabolic functions trace minerals aid are reproduction, development, and immunity. Our bodies can only function properly if we have these elements at the proper balance within our body.

Sufficient minerals are needed to supply every system of our body. For example, our circulatory system needs iron, our muscles need sulphur, and our bones need calcium. But most of us are not even aware when our bodies are lacking these necessary minerals! Often we may not notice something is lacking until we have experienced numerous nagging symptoms that finally cause us to analyze what is happening in our body.  Frequent fatigue, joint pain, lack of sound sleep, digestive issues, inability of muscles to quickly recover after exercise, and even much worse symptoms like loss of bone density. If minerals are the key to our body’s “spark”, then when the spark goes out we can start by taking at look here. Not enough of each mineral can lead to a deficiency causing some of the symptoms we’ve mentioned. Yet, too much of one trace element can lead to an imbalance. These micro nutrients, do not exist independently but work symbiotically to create the perfect balanced environment for ultimate health.

The problem that exists is that minerals both macro and micro (Trace)  are no longer found in plenty in our earth’s soil. In ancient times eating foods like grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, grown in nutrient rich soil was enough to ensure our bodies had the minerals they needed.  Our bodies require nearly 2/3 of all known elements in order to function at its optimum, and our bodies cannot produce its own minerals. It must consume them! Simply put we must eat, digest and absorb minerals.  A colourful, variety of fruits and vegetables (organic is best when possible!), and a broad spectrum celtic, sea, or himalayan salt are the building blocks for feeding your body well.

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Why Is It Important To Know About Nutrition?

One subject which is most fascinating and most complicated is that of Dietetics. It is also fascinating because it is personal and individual as the whole of life depends on it. Just as no two cases are alike or respond similarly to treatment, it is very true in diet that one man's food is another man's poison.

The subject is complicated because we are living in an age of commercialism, and millions have been invested in the manufacturing of demineralized, processed, dead products for which a large demand has been created by misleading advertisement. Besides adulteration is very much on the increase.

The general public devoid of exact knowledge concerning food values buys these improvised poisonous products, unaware of the fact that they undermine health, vitality and bring about disease conditions which are at times irreparable.

Faulty nutrition is one of the most insidious and unrecognized enemies of mankind. Human diet needs reorientation from a scientific point of view. Without doubt, the ability to feed rationally has lost and unfortunately, the medical profession has not been very helpful along dietetic lines.

We all along talk in terms of disease. Medical journals and medical libraries abound in material or diseases and how to combat them. It is rare to find in their pages any extensive literature on diet in relation to health.

Are we giving any thought and consideration to the food that we eat daily? Our food and eating habits determine in no small manner our general outlook on life. Food and not drugs is the basis of health. Nutrition lays the foundation for the development and maintenance of physical, mental, and moral fitness. The influence of food and diet on public health and morals has been and will always be an important factor in the progress and welfare of the human race.

Pure air to breathe, wholesome water to drink, and right quality of food to eat should be secured by the State for all its citizens, the poorest as well as the richest. The man who deals in impure, diseased and adulterated food is a malefactor and should be treated as such.

A government which permits the sale of injurious foods or allows tampering with manipulation of foods, by any man or combination of men, for financial gain is not serving its citizen in a just, wise or human manner.

There are three important factors which are at present undermining the health and vitality of nations:

Our enervating system of commercial competition.
The increasing consumption of stimulants, narcotics, drugs, tobacco, alcoholic beverages.
And last, and probably the most important factor: faulty inadequate, indiscriminate feeding during all periods of life.
It is not claimed that complete knowledge has yet been attained on this subject. There is still much to be learnt about nutrition, but that should not deter us from this subject which is very vital to physical, mental and spiritual health.
In presenting my work to the public and practitioners in the healing art (as the result of study and experience in the healing profession from the standpoint of a physician on preventive lines and a believer in Nature as the wisest of all teachers) and I consider not only diet of all cures to be placed above all methods in the healing art, but also food which is the first of all the weapons of preventive medicine.

However novel the facts presented may seem to some readers, they are by no means new as they have been handed down to us by the early pioneers of Nature Cure based upon biological principles which are as old as the human race. Besides, with the advancement of the science of dietetics there is no longer the jumbled mass of empirical notions which it included in the past.

Thanks to the painstaking researchers of Pavlov, Rubner, Atwater, Benelict, Chittendon, Mandel, Osborne, McCollum, Otto Carque, John Harvey Kellogg, Sir Robert McCarrison and other scientists in the field, perhaps equally worthy of mention, we now possess knowledge instead of assumptions, facts instead of fancies, scientific standards in place of empirical though time-honoured notions and sanctions.

The main problem of food in relation to health and disease cannot be reduced to any cut and dried theory or system, otherwise it may create various diet fads and dietary methods which may be confusing and often contradictory.

Eating for health should not involve any highly complicated knowledge if we could sensibly get rid of the artificial foods and artificial eating customs built up by the conditions of our artificial civilization.

It is difficult, for economical and other reasons, to get rid of these elements of artificially in diet completely, so a knowledge of the science of food is essential to enable one to judge which commercial foods and acquired tastes are helpful and which are harmful. The best single principle, around which one can construct a workable system of health-building dietetics, is a faith in the value of natural foods.

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How To Listen To Your Body

        Listening to your body in an art. I remember years ago when I first heard this I was saying to myself “how do you do that? My awareness levels were on the precipice of a new dawn of awakening, I felt I was beginning an inner journey of self discovery, health and healing and I was waking up to something better emotionally, physically and spiritually.

The journey of being receptive to my own body’s messages could first be narrowed down to answering this question how am I feeling? Ask yourself that right now? Any aches or pains? – what’s happening in your body? Feel good? Feel restless, irritated, tired or overwhelmed? Do you know?

Today’s blog comes to your from someone who’s taken the journey of not knowing to someone who really knows. However, I didn’t even know how to decipher these emotions until I first learned how to quiet my mind.
My mind is a very active mind. And being so active it used to run away with itself from time to time. I felt blessed to have been shown a practice that helped me to focus and be in tune with my body. Some people already know the messages their body sends, but I am a learner and had to learn this before I could master it. If you are a learner then this is definitely for you!

A series of things began to happen after asking a few personal questions; ones I wanted answers to. Answers came, albeit in a different fashion to what I thought. This was the introduction to meditation, something that has ended up making a profound difference in my daily life.

I knew very little about meditation 13 years ago. I thought it was something that Buddhist monks did and that was about it. I had never done it or thought about it and I didn’t know anyone who practiced it. However, one day the signs began to flow. They came across my screen of consciousness via a National Geographic TV show. I remember a guy sitting on a chair keeping his back straight wearing an airplane mask to cover his eyes from any distraction. The narrator spoke of the massive physical benefits that just 20 minutes a day of quieting the mind had on the human brain scientifically. I also read about incorporating it into your daily life in Deepak Chopra’s amazing book “Perfect Health.” This was so inspiring to me. Then finally the third message came via a chance encounter with an Indian man in a shop who said, “take this flyer this is the real deal a meditation class.” So now I was curious.

I did the class, signed up for the weekend special and was introduced to Transcendental Meditation or TM. I was given a private mantra (just for me) to repeat silently to myself when thoughts arose. That was it, simple, just repeat the mantra when thoughts arise for your 2 meditations a day. I was told to keep it a secret as it was sacred just to me. Within 2 weeks my teacher Colin asked me to call him back just to check in. When we spoke he said “has anything happened in the last 2 weeks”? I said, “no nothing.” Then he asked, “meditation is not about attaining anything or getting anywhere it’s just about quieting the mind.” Then I thought and mentioned, “actually something has happened that’s unusual, I woke up sweating and had to change the bed sheets 2 nights in a row.” Colin replied, “that’s fantastic that means you body is releasing toxins!”

And that was my first understanding of listening to my body’s messages. Now if I feel a slight twinge after a workout I take it easy to maintain balance. When I feel restless I workout. When I’m eating good foods I feel healthy and clear-headed. I’ve noticed that my body sweats a lot when I eat rich foods especially in my sleep. When I feel aches the next day I tend to slow my workouts right down and go for brisk walks instead to maintain a balance and I’ll also do yoga to stretch. When I have plenty of energy I’ll run, do weights, HIIT or sports or anything that will utilize my vitality.

Everyone is different but listening to your body’s messages can be a life saver as it helps you to maintain a balance which is key to your quality of life.

Live well, Live inspired!

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