Always on the go? In today’s world, depleting the body’s natural fuel reserves is easily done, and feelings of fatigue, low energy, difficulty focussing, and falling sick often are all signs that your body may be running on empty.
The body’s fuel is often disguised in the form of vitamins and minerals. These replenish the body and help it perform optimally. In this article, we shall talk about 4 things that you can do today to boost your vitamin intake, so you can have enough energy for all life’s exciting moments!
Why You Need to Boost Your Vitamin Intake?
It’s true that for all things in life our body requires energy. And for energy generation, our body requires sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals to function optimally.
However, in individuals with chronic diseases, and those who overwork and lead hectic lifestyles, we can use up the body’s fuel reserves faster than can be replenished.
This can result in energy crashes and symptoms such as fatigue and feelings of low mood. If you are someone who experiences these symptoms or something similar, it could be beneficial to get your vitamin levels checked.
If you think your symptoms are likely caused by vitamin deficiency, the simple answer is to increase your vitamin intake. Just as any machine requires more fuel when it is being pushed to its limit, our body also requires more fuel. This is why boosting vitamin intake makes sense.
Some common benefits of boosting vitamin intake are as follows:
1. Improved Energy
Vitamin B (particularly B6 and 12) play an important role in improving energy levels. This is because these vitamins are responsible for converting the ingested food into energy, thereby regulating our energy levels and fighting off sluggishness.
2. Better Focus and Mood Regulation
Some nutrients such as vitamin B complex, D, iron, magnesium, zinc and omega 3 fatty acids support brain function. Ensuring you have plenty of these in the body could help to improve focus, lower instances of brain fog and help with better mood regulation.
3. Healthier Skin and Hair Health
Improved skin and hair health is a benefit of boosting the intake of vitamin A, C, E and biotin. All these vitamins collectively result in improving collagen production, repairing skin damage and strengthening of hair follicles.
4. Stronger Bones
Strong bones are essential for preventing serious disability. Increasing your intake of calcium and vitamin D can support bone health into old age.
5. Vision
Vitamin A is a crucial vitamin that is responsible for improving your vision. Increasing your intake can support vision and help to prevent age-related vision degeneration. It can also prevent night blindness.
6. Better Cardiovascular Functioning
Ensuring the good health of our cardiovascular system (which involves the heart) is a no brainer. Vitamins like B6, B12 and folate are responsible for proper circulation along with reducing the risk of heart disease. They do this by regulating homocysteine levels (a type of amino acid that converts to protein) in the body.
7. Stronger Immune System
Vitamins C, D and E are known for supporting the immune system by boosting immune cell functioning in the body. Boosting their intake in your diet can help your body be in the best possible place to fight off illness and infections.
4 Things You Can Do Today to Boost Your Vitamin Intake
Boosting your vitamin intake and expecting it to make a difference overnight is a myth. Improving your vitamin intake requires conscious and regular effort, to really reap the benefits. To make things easier, let’s take a look at four things you can do today to boost your vitamin intake.
1. Streamline Your Diet
The first and foremost step is to improve your dietary intake. Improving your diet is not just eating healthy food, but opting for items that are nutrient-dense and can be consumed by you sustainably over time.
A good starting point could be to reduce consumption of items such as alcohol and processed food packets and increase consumption of fruit and vegetables.
Once this step is achieved, you can opt to improve intake of foods such as salmon for omega-3, blueberries for antioxidants, chicken and poultry products for vitamin B and calcium, and flax seeds for zinc and magnesium to tackle specific nutrient deficiencies.
2. External Supplementation
Sometimes, the food we eat is not the issue, it’s that the body is not absorbing the nutrients we consume from our food optimally, resulting in a vitamin deficiency. This is where external supplementation in the form of IV drips comes in handy, because it bypasses the gut.
We all know how oral supplements work – taking a tablet or pill that contains the required nutrient at a frequency decided by your doctor, which can assist you in getting topping off that vitamin level over time.
However, for those who suffer from severe vitamin deficiencies, have gut issues that affect absorption or need immediate supplementation due to a health concern, an IV drip is a great alternative.
IV drips deliver vitamins intravenously via a cannula. This allows for faster absorption by the body. The vitamin solution can be customised according to your body’s individual requirements.
3. Managing Stress
Sometimes, boosting vitamin intake isn’t just about what you put in your body, but about regulating the output of nutrients. One reason you may be using nutrients up quickly is due to stress.
Stressful situations are present in everyone’s life and are inevitable. However, what is in our control is how we react to such situations. Being able to effectively manage stress is incredibly important.
Techniques such controlled breathing, mindfulness exercises, meditation and even yoga can help you in keeping stress at bay. With less stress, your body will use less of its resources, thereby preserving your vitamin reserves for optimal functioning.
4. Eliminate Substances and Avoid Medical Interactions
Boosting vitamin intake is of use only when your body is able to effectively absorb and process these nutrients. Modern day life brings with it exposure to substances such as alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, which are extremely detrimental to our overall wellbeing.
While all of us are aware of the negative effects of these substances, one thing that often goes unnoticed is how these substances can limit our body from absorbing nutrients effectively.
There is enough literature to support this statement which is why eliminating these items is recommended. In addition to this, sometimes medical drugs such as birth control, antacids and antibiotics also impact the absorption capabilities of our body.
Do You Need to Boost Your Vitamin Intake?
Now that we know how impactful is the role of vitamins in our body, boosting your vitamin intake seems like a no-brainer. While the ultimate choice to go forward with supplementation is a personal one, the benefits are many. Whether it is via lifestyle changes or through options like external supplementation (oral and IV drips), improving your vitamin intake can result in a better overall health.
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