Our food should always be the number 1 source of nutrients. Remedies, supplements, herbs and vitamins should generally only be used in times of re-building, recovery or to support with illness & disease.
But as said they should be supplementing our nutrition and never substituting/replacing, nutrients we should get from our food.
Generally, therefore all nutrients should predominately come from a healthy and balanced diet, but eight nutrients fall into this ‘keep an eye on category’ as they can easily be low in people even when eating a healthy and clean diet, or mostly a healthy vegan or plant-based diet, but not exclusively as these nutrients are also often low with any other diet especially the SAD diet (Standard American/Australian Diet).
As we age the absorption of nutrients decreases, particularly when chronic disease is present, when taking pharmaceutical medication or when someone is recovering from accident or illness.
These eight nutrients are:
- Vitamins B12
- Vitamin K2
- Vitamin D3
- DHA/EPA omega 3
- Iodine
- Zinc
- Selenium
- Magnesium
Fresh or Frozen?
Where do we get more nutrients from?
Are fruits and vegetables healthier bought fresh or frozen?
There is a lot of research showing that if fruit and vegetables are snap frozen after harvest, they are as nutritious as freshly picked fruit and vegetables.
However, frozen fruit and veggies may even be fresher and more nutritious than those bought in the supermarket due to their longer periods of storage and transport.
You can keep frozen fruit (e.g. berries) in the freezer which can be easily defrosted in a bowl placed in a larger bowl of hot water. Frozen vegetables can easily be defrosted in a frypan or wok within 5 minutes for a quick and easy vegetable dish.
