5 Signs Your Body Is Lacking Essential Minerals
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Remember the days of elementary school when we learned the importance of a balanced diet? Well, that wasn’t just for us to get good grades. As the term suggests, a balanced diet is the adequate intake of essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fluids, macronutrients, and micronutrients. The packaged foods and the ever-deceiving “healthy foods” (nutrition bars, energy drinks, etc.) lure us into thinking that our diet is healthy and loaded with the best of all the nutrition available on planet earth, but it’s just a sham (1).
Gone are the days when people asked the mirror on the wall about who the prettiest was. Now, the noise is all about who is the healthiest of them all. But being healthy doesn’t mean you starve yourself and resort to eating bird food. It is essential to include a wide variety of foods in our diets so that the body receives sufficient nutrition.
And when you fail to do so, your body takes it upon itself to hint to you about your erroneous dietary intake. Well, deficiency of minerals and vitamins might not put you at a risk of a chronic disease, but they can definitely impair the bodily functions. This is because these vitamins and minerals are necessary for all the biochemical processes that take place in our body. The body has its own — slightly strange and unpredictable — ways of sending red flags. So, we have jotted down a list of signs that indicate that you are lacking essential minerals and vitamins.
1. Unhealthy Hair
Healthy and lustrous hair is a sign of good health overall. So, does your hair feel like it has lost its charm? Are you left feeling like your hair has lost its thickness? Okay! We don’t mean to sound like a shampoo advertisement here, but unhealthy brittle hair and unexplained hair loss or hair thinning are direct effects of a vitamin B deficiency (2). The hair requires a healthy balance of vitamin B, biotin, and folic acid to stay nourished and healthy (3). If the body isn’t getting enough of these vitamins and minerals, the effects start to show directly on your tresses that you adore so much. Include spinach and white rice in your diet if you find yourself with a vitamin B deficiency.
2. Frequent Leg Cramps
Do you often feel a pull in your legs or muscles that leaves you aching like someone just stabbed you? Sometimes, these cramps attack during the night. And they’re not your average cramps that you get after a workout. These are a result of magnesium and calcium deficiencies in the body. Up to 60 percent of adults experience such midnight leg cramps (4). Although the leg cramps are an idiopathic condition without any clear-cut cause, deficiencies of vitamins (A, B, and E) or mineral deficiencies (calcium, magnesium, and potassium) can lead to frequent muscle spasms and consequently, cramps (5). Include foods like bananas, milk, and leafy greens that are rich in magnesium and calcium in your diet. Almonds, cherries, and apples are also great for your body.
3. Irritated Skin On Arms
We have all at some point or the other caught ourselves scratching our hands, or back, or legs. While it feels normal to spot itchy, reddish bumps on your arms, buttocks, or face, it isn’t really a good sign (6). Your body is crying out loud and telling you to stock up on vitamin A and zinc (7). An inadequate supply of vitamin A and zinc can be corrected by consuming a good amount of sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, carrots, pumpkin seeds, chicken, and hummus.
4. Delayed Healing Of Wounds And Injuries
Zinc is one of those minerals whose deficiency can make our bodies go bonkers. It helps in healing wounds and injuries and prevents blood from clotting, which is why it is considered as an essential element of our body (8). Slow healing is one of the tell-tale signs of a zinc deficiency. All these indirect effects actually have a deeper underlying meaning and it is important to identify them and tend to them. Almonds, cashews, bajra, beans, and legumes are some great sources of zinc.
5. Tiredness And Nausea
Is it getting hard to get out of bed every morning? Have low energy levels, dizziness, and tiredness become your second nature? These are symptoms of temporary or chronic fatigue that is caused by vitamin deficiencies (9). Fatigue is a direct indicator that your body is lacking vitamin D. As vitamin D regulates the absorption of calcium in your body that strengthens your bones and increases your muscle movement, it is essential to provide your body with a good amount of it. You can indulge in a nice dish of mushrooms or give your body some sunlight therapy to restock the vitamin D that your body has been craving for.
Without even realizing it, we tend to abstain from eating the essential nutrients. If this continues over a period of time, our body will start reacting in a negative manner. So, remember to balance your diet with all the essential nutrients and minerals, because balance is the key to everything in life – including our health!
