Lately I?ve been writing about all of the wonderful daily nutrients we need. But today, I am for sure going to tell you about one of my favorite topics: Minerals! These 16 lovely nutrients are something that we must get in our foods and supplements, and each of them are something that we should be getting a certain amount of every day! You would think that with the typical foods we eat it would be easy to get all of the minerals we need, but it?s not! Meat and dairy provide a handful of them like iron, zinc and calcium, but the majority of our minerals in the American diet come from the foods that absorb them in the soil that they grow in! This means that plant-based foods like whole grains, nuts, winter squash and other plants are supposed to be excellent sources for the minerals that we need.

Wait, did you catch that? I said ?supposed to be? and unfortunately I meant it. The reason that these foods are not as rich in minerals anymore is because of the soil they grow in. For thousands of years, farmers have grown their crops in a refined and precise manner to produce the best foods that they possibly could. This was back in a time before we developed mass-production of crops in a method called conventional farming. Conventional farming practices are the much more common, modern farming methods that are designed to produce the highest yields possible in crops so that profit is maximized.

Traditionally farmers knew that the soil needed time to ?rest? in between crop seasons, so they would rotate their crop by planting a different crop in the same place. The reasoning behind this is that certain foods absorb more minerals than others. So if you rotate crops, this gives the soil time to replenish the original minerals for the next time that a food absorbs it. Conventional farming does not rotate crops. Instead, the same food is planted over and over again in the same soil, and the soil is essentially sucked dry of the minerals that the plants tend to absorb. Research shows that the mineral content of soil over the past 160 years has significantly declined. It is a sad, but true concern that we may need to seek out our nutrients in the future from something else in addition to our food.

Okay, enough of the sad stuff! Let?s talk about something really cool! Even though our soil may not have enough minerals, it is actually not the only place on Earth that is rich in them. Do you know where else is rich in minerals? The ocean. Yes, the ocean is essentially a mineral oasis! And that?s why It?s Vital Minerals is so stinkin? cool ? because it uses one of the top resources for algae minerals to supply you with the nutrients that you?re probably not getting enough of! Aquamin Red Algae in the ItWorks It?s Vital Minerals contains nine minerals that many people in this country aren?t getting enough of. Magnesium is a huge one. I know I have said it before but I?ll say it again ? 60% of this country does not get the recommended amount of magnesium! Calcium is also incredibly important especially if you do not eat a lot of dairy products. What is even more wonderful about the ItWorks Minerals is that it also contains 250% of your daily vitamin D ? a vitamin that helps you absorb calcium better and is also a common deficiency in people in the U.S.! And just as a side note, I firmly believe that if you want to lose weight (and keep it off) you need to give your body what it needs to succeed in doing this. You can definitely lose weight without adequate nutrients, but the real questions is: how long can you keep it off without them?

So now that we have gone over the final piece of the Complete Nutrition Pack, my hope is that you now realize the importance of all 3 daily nutrient blends and how they can help you in succeeding in your health and weight loss goals. We have to have the right foods first, but juggling weight loss with enough of the nutrients that we need is almost never easy, so that?s why I?m here! By finding the right balance in your nutrition, you can lose weight AND feel better. I can?t wait to see how successful you will both look and feel once you get going!

Sources
Fan M., Zhao F., Fairweather S., Poulton P., Dunham S., McGrath S. Evidence of decreasing mineral density in wheat grain over the last 160 years. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. 2008:22;315-324.
Frestedt J. Aquamin Research: Minerals from Red Algae. Oceanography. 2013:1(3);114.
Volpe S. Magnesium and the Athlete. Nutrition and Ergogenic Aids. 2015:14(4)279-283.
Forrest K., Stuhldreher W. Prevalence and correlates of vitamin D deficiency in US adults. Nutrition Research. 2011:31(1);48-54.