When you eat a meal, chances are your thoughts do not surpass, “wow, this tastes good,” or, “I am so hungry.” The way the food you are eating travels into your digestive system, is broken down into small molecules and used for various bodily processes will not usually even enter your mind.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash.
However, eating is much more than just putting great tasting food in your mouth. What you do outside of eating can affect the way your body can absorb nutrients.
There is some good news. There are several things you can do to help boost your body’s ability to absorb nutrients. From certain actions to taking supplements, learn more about improving your body’s ability to absorb nutrients here.
Why Are Nutrients from Your Food so Important?
Nutrients are necessary for an array of biochemical reactions in your body, which are vital for your health and wellbeing. Your body functions from a combined intake of water, macronutrients, and micronutrients. This includes minerals, vitamins, fat, carbohydrates, and protein.
When you eat a well-rounded and balanced diet, you can nourish your body, providing your bones with the calcium needed to keep them strong, and to ensure your muscles thrive off your intake of protein, and that your organs function from the minerals and vitamins derived from vegetables and fruits.
If you do not eat a broad variety of nutrients, you may be at risk of becoming low in certain nutrients, which may affect these biochemical reactions in the body. You need the right nutrients to ensure the healthy functioning of your organs – thyroid, kidneys, liver, brain, and heart.
While the symptoms of nutrient deficiencies may seem subtle, like dull hair, fatigue, or dull skin, but if it is left for many years, it could manifest into more serious problems.
Tips to Boost the Absorption of Nutrients
As long as you do not have any underlying medical conditions, there are a few ways you can improve your body’s absorption of nutrients.
Eat an Array of Foods with Each Meal
To ensure you get a combination of nutrients, you need to focus on including several colorful foods in your meals. For example, you can have a salad with roast vegetables or eat brown fried rice with celery, zucchini, capsicum, greens, and carrots.
Be sure to eat different foods each day and avoid eating the same foods. For example, try not to eat the same breakfast each day – mix things up. This will ensure you are getting a broad selection of nutrients.
Pair Vitamin-C rich Foods with Iron
This is especially important for anyone who is eating plant-based iron sources (i.e., legumes, dried fruit, tofu, etc.). Pairing these foods with vitamin C-rich foods will help to convert the nonheme iron into a more bioavailable form.
Be sure to eat plenty of vitamin C-rich foods, like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, capsicums, and oranges with iron-rich foods like red meat and legumes to increase your body’s absorption of iron.
Include Healthy Fats with Every Meal
Vitamins like A, D, K, and E need healthy fats so they can properly absorb because they are all fat-soluble. Because of this, you can use oil-based salad dressings like olive oil or flaxseed to help enhance the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins from your vegetables. Adding avocados, seeds, and nuts to meals and salads are also a great way to improve your body’s nutrient absorption.
Take a Probiotic
It is important to nourish your gut. This is especially the case if you have issues related to digestion, like constipation and IBS, so it is a good idea to get a handle on that first. This can be done by populating your gut with healthy bacteria by taking probiotics or eating probiotic-rich foods like kombucha, sauerkraut, and kefir or supplements like cracked cell chlorella.
Avoid Tea at Meals
While tea contains an array of healthy substances that can help reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases, these compounds can also inhibit the absorption of iron. Try to avoid drinking coffee and tea with meals because this can prevent your body from absorbing many minerals and vitamins.
If you want to ensure your body is absorbing the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed, keep the tips here in mind. This will ensure you are healthy and that you don’t have any issues.
