Micronutrients Part 2: Minerals!

Here we are at last; the final cold, hard science edition of “Simply Real”. You’ve been introduced to ideas about what health and health food are (that’s less science and more my science-and-experience-based opinion), macronutrients, and now micronutrients. You have a basic, but thorough understanding of what foods are nutrient-dense, what nutrients are in specific foods, and even how these nutrients benefit your body.

Today, we dive into minerals – the “inorganic” cousins of vitamins. Vitamins are different from minerals because they are made of several different types of elements, and can be broken down. Minerals are made of only one element. Think back to your early science classes in elementary and high school and imagine the periodic table. You probably remember common elements like helium, hydrogen, and carbon. Minerals in nutrition are elements that the body uses, and they aren’t broken down like vitamins.

The functions of vitamins and minerals are also different. Remember that the vitamins usually “helped” things in the body happen: they help store things, they help build things, they help release and activate things. Minerals serve to maintain “balances” in the body in addition to being building blocks. Electrolytes are minerals that you may be familiar with, and we’re about to find out what they really do.

Mineral	What does it do?	Why is it important	Where to find it in Food!
Calcium	Part of bone structure Electrolyte Role in blood clotting	Lends strength and structure to bones Helps our muscles function Cool fact: our bones are storage for calcium and release it when we need to use it free in our blood.	Milk and dairy products Almonds, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, fish with bones (sardines)
Sodium	Sodium is an electrolyte	Maintains fluid balance in our cells Muscle movement, including the heart Maintains pH	Table salt Seafood Milk Processed foods (not ideal J )
Potassium	Electrolyte	Heart function and muscular function Fluid balance Maintains pH	Bananas Potatoes Beans Dark leafy  greens Mushrooms
Magnesium	Immune health Electrolyte Bone health Energy and protein production in the body Blood sugar regulation	Important factor in building certain immune cells. Bone structure	Dark leafy greens Avocados Nuts and seeds Fish Yogurt Dark chocolate :D
Phosphorus	Bone and tooth health Protein building in body Metabolism of carbs and fats	Component of structure Body maintenance Energy production	Milk + dairy Meat Nuts Phosphorus from animal foods is actually more easily absorbed than it is from plant foods.
Manganese	Development of body structures Calcium absorption Carb and fat metabolism Brain and nerve health	Helps in the production of connective tissues (skin, ligaments, fibers that hold everything together) Part of certain clotting factors (things in the body that help blood clot) Builds bones and stores calcium Energy production and use	Whole grains Nuts Leafy greens
Selenium	A trace mineral – needed in smaller amounts. Builds proteins that prevent oxidation	Remember from the vitamins post that oxidation is what causes aging, inflammation, and general bad things in the body. Selenium builds antioxidant enzymes which help prevent this process in the body.	Fish Grass-fed meat (specifically grass-fed, because the selenium content of meat depends on the content that is in the food the animal ate!) Whole grains Nuts + seeds Plant foods are the best source of selenium J
Copper	Blood vessel and nerve health and function Blood cell production with iron Iron absorption	Copper is another trace mineral, but it is important! Iron is needed to keep blood cells healthy and oxygenated. Copper helps with iron absorption. Helps keep nerves healthy and fresh.	Dark Chocolate Seafood and meat
Zinc	Cell division (regeneration of our bodies, basically) Healing wounds Immune function Smell and taste function	Zinc plays a role in the reaction that allows our cells to create more cells. This is important for obvious reasons (if your cells aren’t replicating, you’re dead, so…) Enhances and speeds wound healing	Dark chocolate Seafood and meat
Iron	Required for the production of red blood cells	Red blood cells carry oxygen in our body and play a role in fluid balance.	Meat Fish Nuts Leafy greens Animal-based iron sources are absorbed more easily in the body. However, plant-based sources can be absorbed better when iron-rich foods are combined with vitamin C. Think spinach salad with strawberries!
Iodine	Thyroid health	The thyroid is an important organ that regulates metabolism and produces hormones and immune cells.	Iodized salt Oysters + other shellfish Seafood

A Song for Chuck

Last night, I went to Glendale Glitters, an annual holiday festival here in Phoenix. I went to see the lights with my friend, and I took my viola along with the intention to get over my anxiety of playing in front of people by myself for the first time in several years. While I was there, I met a man named Chuck.

Chuck is homeless.

Every day, he picks up cans and scrap and takes his findings to a scrap yard, where he recycles it for money.

He does this not to support an addiction or other vice, but because he is trying to rebuild his life from that.

Chuck was a business owner at one time.

Chuck was a carpenter.

Chuck was a fan of Led Zeppelin (he asked me to play “Stairway to Heaven”, I did my best to translate it on the viola).

And, I think what struck me most: Chuck was a violinist.

He stopped to listen because the sound was sweet, and familiar. He told me he played from 3rd grade until he graduated high school. He played it until a carpentry accident caused him to lose the fingertips, and his sense of touch, on his left hand. Even after that, he taught himself to play with his opposite hand.

Chuck made mistakes in life, as we all do, which led him to where he is now, but he hasn't let that define him. He’s owned it, and he works hard - despite appearances and society’s perspective - to better his life now. He lives part of the time with a group of young adults who are on the path he took years ago, and he tries to convince them to better themselves now. He applies for jobs with a friend’s tablet.

I offered him the money that I had gathered from people passing by, but he refused, insisting that I’d earned it playing my music, and that I should keep it.

Chuck is a human being deserving of compassion, living in an uncompassionate world.

For an hour last night, I was blessed with the incredible honor of playing music for a man who probably appreciated it more than anyone else I'll ever encounter, because for that hour, someone saw him not as homeless, not as an ex-con

vict, but as a human being.

soli Deo gloria

Me, a Molecule

Time for a little science talk. Don't worry, this is actually pretty exciting stuff.

Yo, that title would be a great song title, too. I'm feeling inspired like no other this morning! 

Proving that I am indeed a normal person who happens upon ideas is normal person ways (I'm really not all that enlightened), I was in the shower today when my thoughts went on one of those wild rabbit trails that ends up with me being like, “oh wow I should write that down”! But then I never do.

Until today.

Basically, I was thinking about how in yoga class, the instructors say to breathe in “positive energy” and breathe out the positive and negatives. Me with my science brain took it to extremes in terms of thinking of it literally. Imagine me standing in the shower (actually, don't. That's weird.), and I’m talking to myself in my head like, “yeah! Breathe in those positive ions - come on in hydrogen! Chloride? Get outta here!” my O chem lab instructors would be horrified to hear this, but I'm pretty sure I was a major disappointment to them anyways.

I took a lot of chemistry classes to get my degree, and I disliked none of them quite the way I disliked organic chemistry, but apparently cool ideas like this can come from even the most unlikeable things. All that thought about ions and positive and negative charges got me from thinking about inhaling potentially hazardous gases to what those charges mean scientifically  for the molecules, but how it was also a killer metaphor for the ups and downs we experience in life.

Molecules are made of atoms. Atoms have things called electrons. Having certain amounts of electrons make a molecule negative or positively charged. Sometimes, losing an electron makes a molecule positively charged, which means it can go bond with other molecules that are negatively charged, create a new compound, and do something cool like become liquid water instead of a couple gas molecules floating around in the air.

Gaining an electron has the same effect.

Sometimes, it takes loss in life to be set in the direction you're supposed to be going. And there are a lot of directions to be going in. Your loss could lead you to new opportunities, new people, and beautiful experiences you wouldn't have had without it. I think about my past and how none of the awesome things that have happened to me lately most likely wouldn't have happened if I hadn't had those awful experiences.

Studying science, for me, reinforced my belief in God. Seeing the patterns and tiny details against a bigger picture and physical results of things constantly happening in nature, in our bodies, in space, in everything is pretty amazing. I know many people would disagree, but that is what I've come to see, and I certainly believe it points to something much larger than humans.

I can't explain or justify the whole “everything happens for a reason” because I really don't like that phrase, but I believe that how we react to what happens to us is more important than understanding why it happened anyways. Molecules don't think about that lost electron - they literally change into something new and continue on. 

Droppin' Mics (Micronutrients - Part I)

Simply Real: Dropping the Mic(ronutrients) Part 1

Something I’ve always thought was funny about so-called “health food” is that there has always been a huge focus on what isn’t in the product: “fat-free”, “low-carb”, “sugar-free”, are all those lovely buzzwords that seem to mean a lot but really mean nothing. I look at food and focus on what is in it. The more good stuff it has, the better! In general, when something is removed from a food something just as bad (sometimes worse) has probably been added to it. Think preservatives, salt, added sugars, and artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners.

However, a lot of processed foods have vitamins and minerals added to them. What’s really funny about this is that typically, the ingredients in that processed food used to have those vitamins and minerals but – big surprise – they were removed or lost during processing. Just because nutrients are present in food doesn’t mean that the food itself is healthy. Remember our definition of health food!

Also, fun fact: your body actually absorbs and uses natural, food-based vitamins and minerals better than those found in supplements or made synthetically (what’s added to processed foods).

Remember that last week, I discussed macronutrients – the big energy-givers and body-builders. Today, I’m going to discuss the little guys: micronutrients. Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals, which can get really, really not simple. The truth is that the functions of many micronutrients in the body are advanced chemical reactions that take a lot of studying to fully understand (think 3 years of school and 6 chemistry classes…).

Some terms to know that will help you understand what vitamins and minerals do include:

Catabolism: breaking something down into smaller parts

Anabolism: building something bigger out of smaller parts

Metabolism: how the body uses catabolism and anabolism to break down macronutrients and use them to do things in the body.

Electrons: particles which are moved around in the body to use energy

Antioxidant: we need oxygen, but sometimes, extra oxygen floating around can cause reactions called oxidation that produce harmful chemicals. Antioxidants pick up these oxygens and prevent/reduce this from happening.

Free Radicals: the harmful chemicals made when oxidation happens

Some other keys that will be helpful:

Plant-Based foods containing each nutrient are written in GREEN! Because PLANTS.

Key-words that are defined in this post and past posts are bolded.

Otherwise important information is written in RED because it really is important for some people to read these things, and red is eye-catching.

Additional comments that are more or less relevant to the information being discussed is shrunken down so that you can see how unimportant it is – but read them anyways because I think I’m funny.

Vitamin Name	Role in the Body	Why is that important?	Where to find it in food!
B1 (Thiamin)	·         Breaks down macronutrients. ·         Helps with moving electrons to send messages through the nervous system.	·         Allows food to be used for energy ·         Keeps nerves healthy ·         Healthy, working muscles	·         Pork, probably other meats as well, but my textbook didn’t include them because who really needs meat besides tigers and sharks? ·         Sunflower seeds, peanuts, peas, lentils.
B2 (Riboflavin)	·         Breaks down macronutrients	·         Allows food to be used for energy!	·         Beef, dairy milk ·         mushrooms, spinach, almonds
B3 (Niacin)	·         Breaks down macronutrients ·         Builds fatty acids and cholesterol	·         Allows food to be used for energy! ·         Fatty acids are used to build the walls of body cells and keep nerves healthy. They are also how our bodies store fat. ·         Cholesterol helps absorb fat from food. Our bodies also use it to make Vitamin D!	·         Beef, chicken, tuna, all other meats ·         mushrooms, peanuts, broccoli, coffee
B6 (Pyridoxine)	·         Helps make hormones serotonin, norepinephrine, and melatonin	·         These hormones carry messages between nerves. ·         “Mood” and “sleep” hormones. ·         Keeps body’s clock working correctly	·         Beef, salmon ·         Bananas, whole grains, navy beans
B12 (Cobalamin)	·         Metabolism ·         Brain + nervous system health ·         Helps make red blood cells	·         Makes energy from food. ·         Keeps the wrapping around nerves healthy so they can send messages. ·         Blood cells carry oxygen so we can live!	·         Meat, fish, shellfish, dairy ·         IMPORTANT! Vitamin B12 is made by bacteria, and is only naturally present in animal products (fun fact: many of these animals get it from eating their poop, because that’s where the bacteria are making it). ·         Thus, there are no reliable, naturally-occurring sources of B12. So if you are a vegan, be sure to supplement your diet by popping a pill or by choosing an alt-milk that has B12 added to it. *I personally believe in and practice getting all of my nutrients directly from natural food sources (or as little fortification as possible), which is why I’m not 100% vegan J
Vitamin C	·         Antioxidant ·         Helps build collagen proteins ·         Helps make serotonin and norepinephrine	·         Prevents cell damage caused by oxidation ·         Collagen is what keeps skin soft and stretchy – healthy skin, less wrinkles! ·         The mood/sleep hormones again! Keep us healthy and happy!	·         Liver and organ meats ·         Oranges, bananas, strawberries, kiwis, peppers, cantaloupe.
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)	·         Metabolism	·         Provides energy from food ·         Important for skin and nerve health	·         Liver, beef, chicken, fish, egg yolks ·         Beans, peas, peanuts, avocados
Biotin	·         Metabolism ·         Builds fatty acids ·         Build amino acids	·         Provides energy from food ·         Fatty acids are stored or used for cell health. ·         Amino acids are used to keep hair and fingernails healthy.	·         Made by bacteria and used by the body, but we still need some from food! ·         Egg yolk, liver ·         Soy beans, peanuts, beans, lentils, nuts

Fat Soluble Vitamins ·         Absorbed with fat! ·         Stored in the body, so they can be toxic. ·         Just get them from food. Don’t mega-dose yourself.	Role in the Body	Why is that Important?	Where to find it in food!
Vitamin A (Retinol)	·         Makes pigments and light receptors in eyes. ·         Getting a little complicated here: interacts with DNA to change cells. ·         Builds bones ·         Immune health	·         Light receptors are what allow us to see! Healthy receptors = healthy eyes ·         So in all honesty, really not super-important to know, but I was proud of the analogy here, and it’s pretty interesting. Think of it like a guidance counselor for cells: it helps little high school skin cells go to college to become epidermis cells (your “skin”), rather than the slimy under-ground-dwelling mucus-making cells. And vice-versa. ·         Works with bone cells (no one really knows how it works, actually)	·         Liver, dairy ·         Carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pretty much all of my favorite vegetables ever, greens, broccoli, yup.
Vitamin D	·         Bone metabolism ·         Maintains healthy levels of calcium in the blood ·         Cellular health	·         Super simple here: helps build bones and keeps them healthy by working with calcium – which we’ll learn more about next week cause this is turning out to be quite the info dump J ·         Works much like Vitamin A on cells, but in the intestines and some blood cells.	·         Our bodies make it – and can make plenty of it with just 15-30 minutes of sunshine every day! ·         Dairy (usually fortified), salmon, egg yolks ·         Alt-milks (usually fortified), mushrooms but really, how great are mushrooms? Bet you didn’t know they were so great, huh?
Vitamin E	·         Antioxidant	·         Helps prevent free radicals, those nasty little things that can cause damage to cells. ·	·         Salmon, egg yolks, codfish ·         Olive oil, other vegetable oils, nuts and seeds
Vitamin K	·         Blood clotting ·         Needed for proteins involved with bone health	·         Activates proteins which bind to calcium and other things floating around in the blood to help it clot if you happen to cut the tip of your finger off while making salsa (this has happened to me more than once). ·         Again, vitamin K activates proteins which help rebuild bone.	·         Vitamin K is produced in plentiful amounts in our guts! Thanks, bacteria! ·         But you can also get it from foods… Anything green and leafy (kale, spinach, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, beet greens, collard greens, etc.), broccoli, cauliflower. ·         IMPORTANT!!! People who are taking blood thinners need to watch their vitamin K intake. Your doctor should have told you this, and you should be going to regular blood draws and checkups to monitor this J

Well, this turned out to be quite a lot more information than I intended! As I stated before, micronutrients are complex – there’s a lot that goes into understanding exactly what they do, and I’ve tried my best to simplify things and tell you what’s really important to know. Though it may not be super important, I like to include why these things are “good for your eyes”, or “help build strong bones” so that you’re informed. Anyone can tell you anything (usually to sell your something) – like the people who say B Vitamins energize you. But as you learned today, that ain’t true! It’s the calories from the food (macronutrients) we eat that provide us with energy, the B vitamins simply help our bodies use the energy that’s already there.

 There’s a lot more that goes into it than what I’ve described, and if you’re up to it, I totally encourage you to investigate and learn more about how vitamins work in our bodies! It’s truly amazing to literally see how we were created with such tiny, tiny details that work together so perfectly. In the next post, get excited for minerals, the other micronutrients!

I promise, we’re almost through with the science-y stuff (hah, never!) and on to what you all really want to know… how to cook healthy food!