How to Replace Your Multivitamins with Food.

In today’s scenario, many people don’t get enough nutrients from the diet alone. Our stores are filled with artificial multivitamins, minerals, and amino acids pills, nowadays pills are so common even doctors are prescribing mineral pills instead of suggesting diet to counter the deficiency, it is because of its easy availability and cheap rates and convenience, The majority of supplements available on the market today are made artificially. even nutrients derived to make these pills are also processed to make it digestible. They can be taken in pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid form, and are made to mimic the way natural nutrients act in our bodies.

Many people all around the globe use some form of artificial multivitamin for treatment or prevention daily, it is to prevent chronic disease. Uncontrolled regulations & advertisements about these pills in addition to the wide availability of these pills result in a high prevalence of their consumption among people predominantly in developed nations. Although the effectiveness of the multivitamins and minerals is unclear, the prevalence of the use of these supplements in many developed countries is widening day by day, and people are substituting their daily diets with these pills.

In recent decades, the use of nutritional supplements has rapidly increased. One-third of adults and half of the population aged more than 55 years report taking at least one supplement per day. Studies have shown that taking artificial nutrients for a long time is not always effective and can even be harmful to overall health. In this article, we will be discussing how you can replace your nutrient pills with daily food habits.

Vitamin C:

Let us start with the most common one, the most common symptom of vitamin C deficiency is premature hair graying, bleeding gums, and mouth ulcers. nature has provided us with so many abundant sources of vitamin C, that even if we still need to pop pills, its a shame, Lemons, Oranges, Guava, green capsicum, and the God of all Indian gooseberry, Just 1 Indian gooseberry is equivalent to 20 oranges in a concentration of vitamin c, what most vitamin C contains the extract of these fruits, even modern science is recommending to consume the nutrients as a whole and not in form of pills and isolation,

Vitamin C is an important antioxidant that promotes built collagen naturally in the body, keep blood vessels flexible thus preventing strokes, and most importantly keeping your skin glowing, so just make sure to pop one cooked or pickled gooseberry instead of pills,

Zinc:

Even though its presence in the body as a trace mineral, its significance for building a robust immune system and optimum production of testosterone in men, some of the most common symptoms of zinc deficiency are

• Low sperm count
• Slow muscle growth
• Uneven beard growth
• Getting sick often
• Inflammatory skin rashes

So what causes zinc deficiency

A poor, sugar dense, and highly processed food-based diet can cause zinc deficiency. So it is more common in children who often eat junk foods and candies and adults and in people who are unable to eat a normal diet due to work cultures or illness. It’s a myth that the predominant source of zinc is from intake from meat and seafood, so vegetarians can be more prone to deficiency. Apart from poor diet Prolonged use of antibiotics, over workout, high-stress levels and weak digestion can the reason for zinc deficiency.

If you are vegetarian, rejoice, cause after researching for hours I have found the most crave-worthy way to get rid of zinc deficiency, Cow milk mixed with Unsweetened cocoa powder can be the best alternative to zinc pills, as cocoa provides 72% of zinc a human body requires on the daily basis, another way is stick to the homely diest which includes a variety of whole grains, legumes, pulses, cashew nuts, flax seeds and the best of them all cow ghee.

Calcium:

Older or young, both segments of the population are relying upon calcium pills and drinking powders marketed as calcium supplements, people are crazily popping calcium pills hoping to keep their bones strong. However little do they know these calcium pills do more damage than good to their bones. As we know calcium is essential for bone health, in fact, 99% of the calcium of our body is stored in our bones and teeth. that is the reason our body signals the lack of calcium in our body through:

• Tooth decay
• white patches on the skin
• cracking sound in joints
• Cavities

Now even after every other person is consuming calcium, they still show signs of deficiency, Why?

The first reason is Calcium absorption in our body is not that easy as it required optimum digestive system and ample acidity in the stomach

Calcium is fat-soluble, if you are following a fat-free diet then consuming calcium tablets is useless for you.

Commercial calcium pills and supplements are synthetically produced, and some of them are even sourced and produced with animal bones,

Such low-quality calcium can be absorbed by the body properly and could get deposited in the body, prolonged use of such calcium pills could result in

• Cataract in eyes
• Kidney and gall bladder stones
• And the worst of all calcification of arteries.

So what do you need to do? the easiest way is to take a pinch full of edible food-grade calcium carbonate in any oily medium dish or with curd every day, this pinch full amount is more than sufficient for the body. another great source of calcium is fox nuts roasted in ghee.

Now in some cases even if you are consuming an ample amount of calcium and still seeing deficiency signs, then it could be the sign of Vitamin D deficiency, Vitamin D is very essential for the absorption of calcium in the body. it is the reason you can see synthetic vitamin D mixed into the calcium tablets.

It is needless to say no other source come closer to the sun when it comes to vitamin D. mushrooms are another best source of vitamin D

Vitamin B12

If you are vegetarian, at some point your dr. would have recommended taking fortified foods two to three times a week or taking Vitamin B12 supplements daily providing at least 10 micrograms or 2000 micrograms weekly. This has also become the slogan of the supplement industry. vitamin B12 is essential for our Blood, Nerves, and DNA so the concern seems more real. The symptoms of a Vitamin b12 deficient person is

• Brown nails
• Depression
• Mouth ulcers
• Pale skin
• Extreme Fatigue

The good news is if you are facing the same symptoms, you don’t have to go non-vegetarian or rely on supplementations,

So the secret is when the food gets sprouted it automatically gets fortified with vitamin B12, so if you consume raw sprouts even once a week you’re in the green zone. Apart from sprouts, some other vitamin B12 enriched foods are

• Wheatgrass
• Moringa leafs
• Dairy products
• Indian gooseberry
• Fermented grains especially rice
• Mushrooms
• Beetroots

According to the studies your gut bacteria have the ability to synthesize B group vitamins, so make sure to take care of your gut health by including fermented foods in your diet, and you don’t have to worry about any recommendation to eat meat.

Biotin:

Biotin is another water-soluble member of the vitamin B group family, as biotin plays a crucial role in maintaining hair health, its often called vitamin H. its another supplement which is been getting promoted crazily because of increasing hair fall problem, so much so that any hair related problem makes people thinking about biotin deficiency.

Many people pop biotin pills without realizing that biotin deficiency is very rare, and there are very few exceptions of biotin deficiency. These are so rare that there is no recommendation of daily biotin requirement for the body. Our body is capable of producing biotin and often it is produced much more than our body needs, then poping these biotin pills means filling up an already filled glass.

Studies have suggested that the major symptom of biotin deficiency is sudden hair fall, one must know that our hair health is directly connected to our digestive health. so just take care of your digestive health by eating probiotic-rich food and you don’t have to worry about biotin deficiency.

Omega 3 fish oil:

Once you reach a certain age, our society has declared omega 3 fish oil as a necessity, It’s a crime to spend a day without consuming fish oil. As fish oil which is an ideal source of omega 3 is essential for proper brain function, heart function, and absorption of fat-soluble nutrients.

Dry Skin, Dryness in hairs, and joint problems are the key symptoms of omega 3 deficiency. people who follow No oil diet are more susceptible to omega 3 deficiency. so is fish oil is the only source? No.

Flax seeds and soaked walnuts are the best sources of omega 3’s just add flax seeds in your puddings, and start having overnight water-soaked walnuts, adding just these two can make you notice a significant difference in your skin and hair health and you will notice in a reduction in skin dryness within a month.

Collagen:

This one is the latest one originated from botox injections, once people got aware of its ill effects, companies are now promoting it as a supplement to keep those fine lines at bay, but these companies don’t want you to know that collagen is the second most common substance in your body after water, it’s a main structural protein that maintains the connective tissues of our body. Companies also don’t want you to know that our body is capable of producing collagen on its own,

As our current lifestyle is deprived of sleep, stress is an everyday affair, sugary and processed fast foods are our only indulgence, due to all these factors our body doesn’t get an optimum environment to synthesize collagen.

So the wise choice is to take charge of your lifestyle, and you will notice the difference.

PS. Don’t underestimate your body’s intelligence, if your body can heal a broken bone after giving environment by plaster, it can take care of itself in every aspect, you just have to take care of the environment.

So what else you could do:

• Eat sulfur rich food like onions as sulfur promotes collagen production
• Massage with cold-pressed oil is another way to increase collagen
• Include copper in diet.