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Why People – Especially Kids – Are Not Getting Enough Minerals

Once upon a time, people grew and harvested fruits and vegetables that they used to make healthy, whole food meals. Those fruits and vegetables were full of vital nutrients from the land and nourished the bodies of those who ate them, helping them to grow healthy and strong.

One of the major ways we “stress out” our adrenals is by not feeding them with the minerals they need to function.

You care about your kids and give them fruits and vegetables, but did you know many of today’s foods are mineral deficient? You can boost your health and that of future generations with precious nutrients, found in Body Ecology’s high-quality blend of humic and fulvic minerals and amino acids.

Today, we’re told to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet, but even if you are eating them, something is most likely missing.

Our produce no longer has all the nutrients we need.

In fact, over the past 60 years, we’ve seen a sharp decline in the mineral content of the foods we eat, which “clearly demonstrates a significant relationship between deficiencies in micronutrients and physical and mental ill health.”1

Whether a result of over-farming, pesticides, genetically altered seeds, decreased soil quality, or fertilizers, one thing is for certain: Americans young and old are mineral deficient because our food supply no longer gives us enough nutrients.2

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How Mineral Deficiency Destroys Your Body

Taking in significant amounts of minerals is an overlooked and under-emphasized reason why so many of us are not really healthy today. Mineral deficiency greatly contributes to early and needless aging. Active in every single function of your (and your child’s) body, minerals are absolutely essential to good health.

Consider the Japanese, who many years ago consumed a diet very rich in minerals. Their diets consisted of sea vegetables at every meal. They enjoyed good health exemplified by their dark, shiny hair, few wrinkles, calm and focused demeanors, and long lives.

Gradually, though, the influence of the West has taken over.

Many modern Japanese have abandoned their traditional ways of eating in favor of processed foods, caffeine, and sugar. These mineral-depleting foods cause gray hair, wrinkles, and other signs of premature aging. The Japanese are now just as concerned as we are about their children’s health. We are all seeing a generation of young children and teens who are intellectually very bright but are unable to sit still and focus. And according to a 2016 review article published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Japan’s transition to a nutrient-poor Western diet has even brought with it America’s Alzheimer’s epidemic. Alzheimer’s rates in Japan increased from 1 percent in 1985 to 7 percent in 2008. Every person in the U.S. now has about a 4 percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, blamed in part on our Western diet.3

Tying the dots of research together will show you that mineral deficiencies play a major role in these changes, and this has long been a factor in the declining health of adults and children the world over.

The major reasons we are now lacking minerals are:

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The Many Health Benefits of Minerals

It is so important that it must be stated again: Minerals are active in every single function of your body.

Here are just a few of the almost endless examples of the health benefits of minerals:

  • Magnesium helps convert blood sugar to energy and is the ‘anti-stress’ mineral.4
  • Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body; it initiates DNA synthesis and maintains bone health and strong teeth.5
  • Phosphorous helps maintain heart regularity, provides energy, and aids in metabolism of fats and starches.6
  • Potassium maintains acid/alkaline balance in your blood.7
  • Zinc promotes proper nerve, immune, and digestive health and boosts immunity.8

When you are mineral deficient, your whole body suffers.

But nowhere in your body suffers more from mineral deficiency than your adrenals:

  • Your adrenals are walnut-sized glands that sit on top of your kidneys.
  • The workhorses of your body, healthy adrenals ensure that you have lots of energy, help you sleep soundly, and regulate your brain, heart, liver, digestive, endocrine, and nervous systems.
  • We age because our hormone levels decline each decade, and minerals are a vital nutrient for the organs in our body that produce our hormones.
  • Your adrenals are also an integral part of your body’s response to stress. To be healthy, your adrenals need feeding. And what they like to eat are minerals, B vitamins, and plenty of Vitamin C.

Unfortunately, one of the major ways we “stress out” our adrenals is by not feeding them with the minerals they need to function. When our adrenals are mineral deficient, we may suffer from insomnia; have an acidic, ache-y stomach; and have trouble digesting food. Our hormones will be out of balance, and we’ll feel sluggish and tired, gain weight, feel depressed, and have difficulty concentrating.

So feeding your adrenals with minerals is important for everyone, especially children and teens who are not only growing but who will become the future parents of the world. Create healthy children and teens, help them create a healthy new generation of babies someday, and we can turn around the health crisis on our planet.

Minerals are so important that it’s critical to nourish your own adrenals even before you have childrenand extra amounts of minerals should be taken by a mother-to-be when she is creating a new life inside her womb!

A 2017 University of Zurich study showed that when a pregnant woman experiences stress during her pregnancy, her fetus experiences stress too.9 Stress hormones can be sent to the baby through the amniotic fluid. Stress has a negative effect on the mother’s adrenals, but it also affects her baby’s newly-forming adrenal cells.

Other studies show that when babies experience stress in the womb, the cells of their adrenals are expanded and become weak. The children studied were highly intelligent but could not handle stressful situations. They had trouble focusing and sitting calmly in school. They had trouble going to sleep at night.10 (Sound familiar?) This certainly helps explain behavioral and learning problems after birth. Research also indicates that children whose mothers experienced stress during pregnancy may be at greater risk for mental illness later in life, including schizophrenia.11

Clearly, our current epidemics of mental health problems and developmental disorders like autism and ADD can be traced back to poor nutrition, environmental toxins, and stressful lifestyles, in many cases. Fortunately, Body Ecology has a number of wonderful solutions to offer the world at this time.

From conception, our children are not receiving the valuable minerals they need to grow healthy and strong. For those of us who are well past childhood, the fatigue, stress, chronic diseases, and deterioration of our bodies indicate that mineral deficiency is taking its toll.

But if we can’t depend on our food supply to nourish us with the minerals we need, what are our options?

A Simple Antidote to Mineral Deficiency

The Body Ecology system of health and healing was created to be a mineral-rich antidote to our modern world.

Here are six easy tips you can use to reclaim your health and get missing minerals for you and your family:

    1. Choose organic foods. When you dine on organic foods, you are eating foods that are more flavorful and are free of toxic pesticides and have more vitamins and minerals. Organic farmers have strict rules for keeping the soil mineral-rich, like the soil that kept our ancestors healthy and safe from mineral deficiency.
    2. Have a mineral-rich green drink every day. Vitality SuperGreen should be your morning must! It’s made from whole-food green powder that has fermented grasses, algae, green vegetables, enzymes, and probiotics that pack a powerful mineral punch.
    3. Include fermented foods and drinks. In fact, you won’t be able to really correct a mineral deficiency long-term without the use of fermented foods, like cultured vegetables, and fermented drinks, like young coconut kefir or ready-made CocoBiotic. Yes, they are an excellent source of much-needed vitamins and minerals. But perhaps even more importantly, the microflora in these probiotic foods enhance digestion of all the foods you eat. Remember, it is not just what you eat but how it is digested that is important. You need to consume and drink mineral-rich foods, but you want to digest them as well. When it comes to minerals, probiotic-rich foods are potent.
    4. Eat your sea vegetables. Sea vegetables, or seaweed, are some of nature’s most nutritious foods. Introduced to the American health food stores by the macrobiotic movement, sea vegetables have been a staple in Asian cultures for thousands of years. Sea veggies improve thyroid function, naturally detoxify your body, and are important foods to help you overcome mineral deficiencies. We suggest you find a way to eat them at least once a day. The traditional Japanese diet includes them in every meal. (Japanese women are the longest lived group in the world.)
    5. Eliminate processed sugars from your diet and use natural sugar substitutes instead. Every time you eat sugar, it causes your body to become too acidic. To make your blood more alkaline again, minerals are pulled from your bones and teeth, where they are stored until needed. Sugar interferes with your body’s absorption of calcium and magnesium and may cause chromium and copper deficiencies. But if you still need the sweet taste that sugar provides, try Body Ecology’s natural sugar substitutes, including Lakanto (for baking delicious recipes without the dangers of sugar) and Stevia.
    6. Stress less and sleep more. This goes for parents and kids alike. Stressed parents and kids have weaker immune systems and have trouble sleeping.12 Institute early bed times and stick with it. Find fun ways to handle stress. You’ll pass these positive habits on to your children and nourish your adrenals at the same time.

Ready to become a fermented foodie? Our BE Cultured course makes it easy.

By following The Body Ecology Diet, you can replenish your body with the minerals it needs, not only to function properly but also to attain vibrant health. Whether you are a parent yet or not, a diet rich in minerals will prepare you to pass on a legacy of health to our most precious resources: the next generation of children.

What To Remember Most About This Article:

As our modern world puts more stress on our bodies, our minds, and our environment, it becomes even more important to take charge of our health and the health of our kids.

Minerals are missing in most of our diets today. By making a few healthy changes, you can supply more of these valuable nutrients to you and your family:

  1. Buy organic. Organic foods are full of natural flavors, and they are also free of toxic pesticides, while remaining rich in vitamins and minerals.
  2. Start your day right. Vitality SuperGreen is an essential mineral-rich green drink, made from a whole-food green powder of fermented grasses, green vegetables, algae, enzymes, and probiotics, that you and your family can enjoy every morning for a boost of nutrition and energy.
  3. Eat more fermented foods. Enjoying vitamin and mineral-rich fermented foods and drinks, like cultured vegetablesyoung coconut kefir, and CocoBiotic, is one of the best ways to correct an underlying mineral deficiency. The microflora in probiotic foods and drinks also improve digestion, making it easier for your body to use the minerals in the foods you eat.
  4. Try sea vegetables. Seaweed, or sea vegetables, are some of the most nutritious foods found in nature and may be the reason why Japanese women are considered the longest living group. Eating more sea vegetables can help to support your thyroid, aid in detoxification, and replenish mineral reserves.
  5. Cut out processed sugars. Refined sugar makes the body acidic, causing it to leach minerals from bones and teeth to become alkaline again. Use safe, natural sugar substitutes instead, like Lakanto and Stevia, so that your body isn’t robbed of minerals every time you eat sugar.
  6. Get more sleep. Making bedtime a priority for parents and kids can reap big benefits — like improving immunity. Giving our bodies enough sleep and finding ways to manage stress daily can help to nourish our adrenals, the glands most likely to be compromised by mineral deficiency.

Minerals are essential to your well-being, but the Standard American Diet does not provide you with all the nutrients you and your children need. By following the Body Ecology system of health and healing, you can replenish your body’s storehouse of minerals and improve your health — and the health of generations to come.

REFERENCES:

  1. Thomas D. The mineral depletion of foods available to us as a nation (1940-2002)–a review of the 6th Edition of McCance and Widdowson. Nutr Health. 2007;19(1-2):21-55. Review.
  2. Wallace TC, McBurney M, Fulgoni VL 3rd. Multivitamin/mineral supplement contribution to micronutrient intakes in the United States, 2007-2010. J Am Coll  Nutr. 2014;33(2):94-102. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2013.846806.
  3. William B. Grant. Using Multicountry Ecological and Observational Studies to Determine Dietary Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2016; 35 (5): 476 DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2016.1161566.
  4. Eby GA, Eby KL. Rapid recovery from major depression using magnesium
    treatment. Med Hypotheses. 2006;67(2):362-70. Epub 2006 Mar 20.
  5. Meerim K. Nurbaeva, Miriam Eckstein, Axel R. Concepcion, Charles E. Smith, Sonal Srikanth, Michael L. Paine, Yousang Gwack, Michael J. Hubbard, Stefan Feske, Rodrigo S. Lacruz. Dental enamel cells express functional SOCE channels. Scientific Reports, 2015; 5: 15803 DOI: 10.1038/srep15803.
  6. Weisinger JR, Bellorín-Font E. Magnesium and phosphorus. Lancet. 1998 Aug 1;352(9125):391-6. Review.
  7. Sebastian A, Morris RC Jr. Improved mineral balance and skeletal metabolism in
    postmenopausal women treated with potassium bicarbonate. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul
    28;331(4):279.
  8. Evan Mayo-Wilson, Jean A Junior, Aamer Imdad, Sohni Dean, Xin Hui S Chan, Evelyn S Chan, Aneil Jaswal, Zulfiqar A Bhutta. Zinc supplementation for preventing mortality, morbidity, and growth failure in children aged 6 months to 12 years of age. The Cochrane Library, May 2014 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009384.pub2.
  9. Pearl La Marca-Ghaemmaghami, Sara M. Dainese, Günter Stalla, Marina Haller, Roland Zimmermann, Ulrike Ehlert. Second-trimester amniotic fluid corticotropin-releasing hormone and urocortin in relation to maternal stress and fetal growth in human pregnancy. Stress, 2017; 1 DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2017.1312336.
  10. Kinsella MT, Monk C. Impact of Maternal Stress, Depression & Anxiety on Fetal Neurobehavioral Development. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2009;52(3):425-440. doi:10.1097/GRF.0b013e3181b52df1.
  11. Khashan AS, Abel KM, McNamee R, Pedersen MG, Webb RT, Baker PN, Kenny LC, Mortensen PB. Higher risk of offspring schizophrenia following antenatal maternal exposure to severe adverse life events. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008
    Feb;65(2):146-52. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2007.20.
  12. SA Gharib, MD et al. Transcriptional Signatures of Sleep Duration Discordance in Monozygotic Twins. Sleep, January 2017 DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsw019.
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