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People today do not eat as well as they did even 30 years ago and many of us are starved for essential nutrients and don’t even realize it. With today’s fast paced lifestyles, it’s more convenient to grab a fast food meal or energy bar then to cook up a balanced meal full of the nutrients our bodies need to work their best.

Our diets are woefully lacking in fruits and vegetables which provide us with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber that help your immune systems fight off illness and disease. And when we do eat fruits and vegetables chances are they are full of pesticides and chemicals. No wonder our health on the whole is declining!

Below are several essential nutrients that are probably missing from your diet. Going for the quick fix and replacing them with supplements won’t make up for the synergistic effects of these nutrients found in food and if you want to avoid the harmful effects of pesticides then it’s best to go with organic foods when possible.

Vitamin A
Vitamin A gives us healthy eyes as well as helps to maintain the linings of the intestinal, respiratory, and urinary tracts. It also helps keep our skin healthy. To get more vitamin A in your diet, eat darkly-pigmented foods such as spinach, carrots, winter squash, kale, and sweet potato.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C is needed in order for our body to create collagen, which is basically the glue that holds our skin, bones and blood vessels together. It also aids in making brain chemicals, neutralizing damage from free radicals, and metabolizing cholesterol. Vitamin C has also been shown to help reduce arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. To add this vitamin to your diet, drink add a glass of orange juice or eat an orange every day. Other foods that contain vitamin C are strawberries, kiwifruit, red bell peppers, cantaloupe, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli.

Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps to neutralize free radicals and protect cells from damage. It plays a key role in the immune system and can even help prevent the common cold as well as lower the risk of Parkinson’s disease. Foods high in vitamin E include sunflower kernels, almonds, and sunflower oil especially when used in salad dressings, which helps you get nutrients from the vegetables as well as carry the vitamin E into the bloodstream.

Fiber
Fiber is the part of fruits, vegetables and whole grains that is not digested. Whole grains can lower your heart disease risk by 30 percent. It is recommended that you get 14g of fiber for every 1000 calories you eat. To get more fiber in your diet have a 1/2 cup serving of Fiber One cereal and add more beans to your diet. Switch to whole grain bread and eat lots of fruits and vegetables with your meals.

Calcium
Calcium helps us build and maintain healthy teeth and bones. It prevents bone-thinning osteoporosis and also contributes to healthy blood pressure. Recent studies have shown that calcium can reduce the risk of colon cancer. To get enough calcium, drink three glasses of low-fat or fat-free milk a day, or eat eight ounces of fat-free yogurt along with 2-3 ounces of low-fat cheese evert day.

Magnesium and Potassium
Magnesium works together with calcium and along with potassium it is linked to healthy blood pressure. These two nutrients are also though to help protect against osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. To get more magnesium, add a half-cup of bran and cooked spinach each day. For more potassium, eat sweet potatoes, white potatoes, bananas, and white beans.

Iron and Dementia
In the US iron deficiency has been found to be a major problem in people of all ages. Everyone knows the lack of iron causes anemia. Iron is the center of our red blood cells, which allow oxygen to be carried throughout your body and into your brain. Your brain uses over 20% of the oxygen available in the blood. Lack of oxygen has a major impact on your brain’s health and in the formation of dementia.

When a person is deficient in iron, they may have difficulty in keeping a conversation or in keeping a good attention span.

The actual ability to absorb iron into your body is dependent on the amount of acid you have in your stomach. If you have acid reflux or heartburn and are using drugs or antacids to get relief, you are affecting your ability to absorb iron.

To absorb iron, the pH in your stomach has to be normal, 1 – 2 pH. Under these conditions, iron in your stomach chemically reacts with other chemicals and is prepared for absorption in the small intestine.

When you take drugs to reduce the acid in your stomach, the iron does not chemically react and change for proper absorption in the intestine. The result is iron deficiency.

Here are some of the best foods that have iron.
Fried liver, fried kidney, fried chicken liver, wheat bran, ovaltine, coco powder, spinach, parsley, radishes, peas, leeks, carob bar, sesame seeds, pistachio nuts, dried coconut, cashew nuts, muesli, cornflakes, oatmeal, brown rice, total cereal, baked potato. Use 25 to 50 mg of iron supplement daily. If you take iron supplements check with your doctor to see if you really need them. Take excessive iron can result in poisoning. Keep iron supplements away from children.

B-Vitamin
The B-vitamin folic acid and B12 have also been a major problem in the US. B12 has been consistently found deficient in people with Alzheimer’s. Folic acid and B12 have been found to improve mental health in people who were in metal institutions.

Folic acid and B12 work to produce neurotransmitters and replace nerve cells. The lack of neurotransmitters is responsible for loss of a good memory.

To make sure B vitamins work for you in keeping your mental capacities in tack start making sure you are getting them in your diet or taking them as a supplement. If supplementing, use the B50 or B100 complex.

It appears that after a certain age B12 will not help in alleviating mental changes or problems.

Here are some the best foods that have B vitamins.

fish and seafood
whole grains breads, cereals, oats, and barley
chicken, beef, eggs
most leafy green vegetables, avocados
cheese, milk and yogurt
beans and peas
oranges, lemons, grapefruits
various nuts
It is always best to get your minerals and vitamins in food. In food, minerals and vitamins are combined with other chemicals that allow your body to absorb them better than supplements.
Author Bio

Zinc is one of those minerals that you need to hold off the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Most older people and those with dementia and other mental disorders have been found to be deficient in zinc. In most studies zinc has been shown to improve mental capacity in elders.

To get zinc into your blood stream you need to have a specific acid that is excreted by the pancreas. This acid is called “picolinic acid” When food containing zinc or zinc supplements reache the small intestine, duodenum, the pancreas excretes picolinic acid. This acid binds with zinc and moves it across your intestinal wall and into your blood stream.

Picolinic acid is created in the liver and kidneys from the amino acid tryptoph. This amino acid then moves into the pancreas. If you have diabetes or if your pancreas is overworked or weak, you will not be excreting enough picolinic acid and will not be providing enough zinc to your brain. You will need to supplement your diet with zinc.

The type of zinc you need is one that is bound with picolinic acid. This type is called “zinc picolinate.” There are other type of zinc supplements such as zinc citrate and zinc gluconate, but they are not absorb as good as zinc picolinate. If you cannot get zinc picolinate then the next best is zinc gluconate.

The body has many uses for zinc and this can contribute to a deficiency of zinc in your blood and in your brain.

The body uses zinc to help,

with enzyme chemical reactions
antioxidants prevent arteriosclerosis
DNA prevent dementia or Alzheimer’
with cells activity
kidneys maintain acid base balance
with carbon dioxide removal
make pancreatic enzymes
your liver to detoxify alcohols
and the list goes on and on
Here are some of the foods you should add to your diet to get more zinc.

beef, lamb, cheese, yeasts, oysters, Shrimp, herring, sunflower seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sesame Seeds, wheat germ & bran, Mushrooms, Spinach, Squash, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Broccoli ,Chard, Miso, Maple Syrup

Zinc can be toxic in excessive amounts. A safe amount to take is 20 – 25 mg per day. Do not take more than 40 mg per day. Toxic effects are stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea.

Add these foods and zinc picolinate to your diet in an effort to starve off dementia and Alzheimer’s. There are a more special nutrients that you should include in your diet to prevent degradation of your mental thinking. These Nutrients will be discussed in other other articles.