Why Are You So Malnourished? - Part 2
What is on your fork? And where did you get it?
We all know that all food is not equal, yet sometimes we act like it is! We might even forget that a calorie is not a calorie (see article on “Who Tells the Truth…”). A large handful of healthy tree nuts and a glazed donut may each burn 150 calories in a lab, but the effects on your body are dramatically different. Nuts provide healthy fats to fuel and heal your body, good fiber to nourish your microbiome, and protein to build tissue, muscle, hormones and more. On the other hand, the glazed donut not only has no fiber, no healthy fats, and almost no nutrients, but is made of sugar and grains that are anti-nutrients that block the absorption of vitamins and minerals, plus directly damage your body with refined poisons.
Forgetting these differences can lead you to become malnourished, have a negative effect on your health, and set you up for chronic disease. Like Part 1, this article will emphasize the best way to nourish your body with foods that you desperately need to function today and, in the future, but also cover a few other issues that can keep you nourished, like avoiding anti-nutrients.
We will briefly discuss these issues later, but first, we will finish out the Nutrient Density list from Part 1.
More Nutrients
See Part 1 to review the list of key macronutrients like protein and healthy fats, along with water, fiber, and micronutrients like probiotics and vitamins. Two more key nutrient categories:
MINERALS - These inorganic elements are needed in modest amounts but are essential for your body to function properly. Minerals help make energy production possible and support every major body system by providing the chemical, electrical, and structural support your body needs. Several common deficiencies in some of these minerals are often caused by a low-nutrient diet but may not be apparent without a blood test. (Amounts listed are the average daily quantities recommended for optimal health, mg=milligram, mcg=microgram.) Note that minerals available from both plants and animals are more easily absorbed from meats than plants.
Calcium - 40% deficient, partly because so many people are deficient in Vitamin D, K2, and magnesium, which are critical for your body to make calcium for bones and teeth, and for nerve transmission and muscle function. (Note: calcium supplements carry risks and should be avoided by most.) Other important nutrients for making bones include zinc, boron, silicon, vitamin C, manganese, and copper. All come from healthy fruits and vegetables. Amount: 1,000-1,200 mg. Best Sources: Sardines, leafy greens, plain yogurt, natural hard cheese, basil seeds. Example: 3 oz can of sardines (325 mg) + 3 oz collard greens (325 mg) + 6 oz plain yogurt (310 mg) + 1 oz Gouda cheese (198 mg) = 1,158 mg.
Magnesium - 45% deficient, which may include up to 70% of older adults age 70+. Critical for muscle and nerve function, heart rhythm, energy production, and mental health. The typical American diet is low in magnesium, which may require a supplement, especially if you are over 60 (500-750 mg is typical). A deficiency can weaken bones, create anxiety, muscle spasms, and sleep problems. Amount: 400 mg for men, 310 mg for women. Best Sources: Dark chocolate, dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds (basil), avocados, spinach, yogurt, bananas. Example: 2 oz dark chocolate (129 mg) + 1 oz roasted pumpkin seeds (156 mg) +1/2 cup cooked spinach (78 mg) + 1 medium banana (32 mg) = 395 mg.
Potassium - 95% deficient! This electrolyte facilitates balance of liquids, salts, and pressure inside vs. outside your cells, controls nerve signals and muscle contractions. A deficiency can produce weakness, high blood pressure, and muscle cramps. Amount: 2600-3400 mg. Best Sources: Avocados, cooked spinach, bananas, beans, basil seeds, dried apricots, oranges, grapefruit, beets, sweet potato. Example: 1 medium avocado (975 mg) + 1 cup cooked spinach (840 mg) + 1 medium banana (420 mg) + 1 cup cooked butternut squash (580 mg) = 2,815 mg.
Iodine - 38% deficient. Critical for thyroid function, including hormone production, and metabolism. Because the thyroid regulates the pace of the entire body engine, an iodine deficiency can cause many symptoms that seem unrelated: brain fog, poor memory, depression, fatigue, cold intolerance, slow heart rate, cold hands/feet, stiff joints, weakness, and more. Because supplements are inexpensive, risk free (at 1,000 mcg) and made from natural kelp, anyone with a couple of these symptoms should consider taking some. Amount: 150 mcg. Best Sources: Nori seaweed, baked cod, Greek yogurt, eggs (also in iodized table salt, but not in salt mills or the salt in processed food). Example: 3 oz baked cod (146 mg) or 2 tbsp flaked Nori seaweed (116 mcg) + 2 eggs (62 mg) = 178 mcg.
Iron - 10-20% deficient. Plays a key role in transporting oxygen, supporting energy production, and immune function. A deficiency can create fatigue, anemia, and poor focus. Amount: 8-18 mg. (Note: only use an iron supplement based on a blood test, as too much iron creates some risk.) Best Sources: Red meat, liver and organ meats, seafood, spinach, chickpeas, lentils. The non-heme iron in plant sources is less well absorbed than the heme iron in animal sources. Example: 4 oz venison (3.3 mg) + 1 cup cooked spinach (6.4 gr) + 1 cup lentils (6.6 mg) = 16.3 mg.
Zinc - 30-35% deficient. This critical nutrient supports your immune system and wound healing, activates over three hundred enzymes, prevents skin infections and inflammation, reduces the risk of depression and brain fog, and is required for cell division, growth, and repair. Deficiency causes slow healing, hair loss, and weak immunity. Amount: 8-11 mg (less than 40 mg to avoid copper deficiency). Best Sources: Oysters, beef, lamb, pork, dark meat chicken, crab, pumpkin seeds, oats. Example: 1 oz of cooked oysters (10 mg) or 3 oz beef (3.8 gr) + 1 cup oats (2.3 gr) + 2 oz roasted pumpkin seeds (4.4) = 10.5 gr.
Copper - 15-20% deficient. Your body might need only a gram of this trace mineral, but it still plays a critical role. It is essential for helping your body absorb and transport iron, support energy production, support the formation of your connective tissue and bone, protect your cells from free radical damage and more. A deficiency can lead to anemia (even if iron is adequate), fatigue, poor immune function, brittle bones, and memory problems. Copper supplements are not recommended due to a risk of toxicity (unless given under medical supervision after a blood test confirms a deficiency). Amount: 0.9 mg. Best Sources: Oysters, dark chocolate, cashews, sunflower seeds, Shitake mushrooms, avocados. Example: 1 oz oysters, 1 oz dark chocolate, or 1 oz sunflower seeds (0.5 mg) + 1 medium avocado (0.4 mg) = 0.9mg.
Selenium - 10% deficient. You need even less of this trace mineral, but it plays a vital part in protecting your cells from oxidative stress, supporting thyroid function, providing immune support, and helps control autoimmune activity. Because of the small amount you need and a narrow safety margin, supplements are not recommended. Amount: 55 mcg. Best Sources: Brazil nuts, canned tuna, sardines, eggs, sunflower seeds, turkey. Example: 1 Brazil nut (70 mcg), 3 oz of canned tuna (90 mcg), or 2 eggs (40 mcg) + 1 oz sunflower seeds (18 mcg) = 58 mcg.
Phosphorus - deficiency is rare in the U.S., in fact excessive levels often occur from phosphate additives in processed foods and soft drinks. After calcium, phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in your body and readily available from a lot of meats, dairy products, and plant foods. Without it, your bones weaken, your energy plummets, and your cells do not work properly. Amount: 700 mg. Best Sources: Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, yogurt, cheese, nuts & seeds, lentils. Example: 3 oz of cooked pork (197 gr) + 2 eggs (180 gr) + 1 cup yogurt (125 gr) + 2 oz tree nuts (300 mg) = 802 mg.
Sodium - Deficiency rare. 90% consume too much due to a high intake of processed food (this also creates an imbalance with potassium). This electrolyte, like potassium, is essential for cell fluid amount and pressure balance, nerve transmission, muscle contraction, blood pressure regulation and nutrient absorption. Few plants or animals naturally contain large volumes of salt, but 1/2 tablespoon of table salt meets our minimum requirement, and many packaged foods have half or more of our daily requirement in a single serving (a can of soup, several slices of deli ham, a pizza slice, a frozen meal, salty snacks). Amount: 2,300 mg or less, ideally about 1,200 mg, but this amount can vary depending on diet and health status (healthy athletes need more). However, the average U.S. intake is over twice the ideal, increasing the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. Read labels and pay attention to your intake!
PHYTONUTRIENTS - Even though not considered “essential” like most of the nutrients described earlier, our bodies are also designed to use these healing and protective plant nutrients, sometimes called phytochemicals or polyphenols. At least 25,000 phytonutrients have been identified in a variety of fruits and vegetables, and many have an amazing impact on your long-term health—they are critical to help you prevent chronic disease. The expanding research in this area demands a dedicated article as more research is done. For now, the best advice is “eat the rainbow,” because the bright colors of different fruits and vegetables are signals of important phytonutrients (e.g., green for lutein, orange for beta carotene). Different phytonutrients help defend your cells from damage and illness, decrease inflammation, support your microbiome, and at least one (beta-carotene) is converted to Vitamin A. Here are just a few examples (shown with food source examples and benefits):
Sulforaphane (broccoli, broccoli sprouts) - Anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiaging.
Beta-carotene (carrots, sweet potatoes, papaya) - Antioxidant, cancer preventative, cardioprotective.
Lutein and zeaxanthin (leafy greens like kale, collards, mustard greens, cooked spinach) - Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, improves and protects vision health.
Anthocyanins (blueberries, black raspberries, blackberries, cherries, currants) - Anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, supports vision health.
What do you notice about this lengthy list of nutrients? Did it make you aware of what you may be missing? You may want to print out the complete list from both Part 1 & 2 to help fill any gaps and serve as a reminder to eat a large variety of brightly colored, fresh, organic fruits and vegetables along with daily, organic/wild servings of red meat and seafood. Now you know why so many functional medicine doctors say, “food is medicine!”
Obstacles to nutrition
At the beginning of this article and in Part 1 I mentioned some of the obstacles to good nutrition, like knowing the nutrient value of foods (plus changing your habits to eat more of them) and avoiding anti-nutrients. You know what a nutrient is, but what is an anti-nutrient? These are foods or food-like substances that block your body from absorbing the nutrients in the foods you are eating! You will recognize these culprits that are so prevalent in our diet: sugar (soft drinks, desserts, processed food, candy, pastries), high-fructose corn syrup, grain products (esp. wheat in bread, pizza, crackers, chips, pasta, bagels, pastry, cookies, etc.), and alcoholic drinks.
These anti-nutrients make us malnourished in three ways:
Taking the place of more nourishing food
Poisoning your biology and damaging your body both short and long term, causing chronic disease
Actively blocking you from getting the nutrients from some of nutritious food you eat
Other barriers to good nutrition include:
Not eating enough healthy fats required for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins
Not having the gut microbes needed to support your gut lining and the breakdown of nutrients
Improper cooking methods (light cooking and steaming improves nutrient absorption)
Chronic stress that impairs your gut function
Aging (we absorb nutrients less well as we age, especially over sixty, increasing the importance of eating fresh, organic, local, and wild whole foods and taking supplements when needed)
Medications, especially antacids, reflux medicine that reduces stomach acid, antibiotics, NSAIDs like ibuprofen & acetaminophen, and many others
Conclusion - Eat High Density Foods!
Most of us a malnourished in one way or another (one estimate says one-third of Americans are extremely malnourished despite eating enough calories). To avoid this silent health disaster, reread these articles and download the pdf provided below.
The key to eating the highest density foods is to favor them. The image below ranks foods by nutrient density, from number one (most dense) to eleven (least dense). Clean (organic/wild) animal protein is the most nutrient dense on the planet and the easiest place to get many nutrients. Heavily favor groups #1 through #5, limit #6 & #7, and avoid the rest.
Of course, this image is just a summary, but you need more details, right? The pdf link below expands this to a two-page listing you can put on your refrigerator as a guide to choosing what to put on your plate.
Happy eating! Thanks for reading.
Note: Based on the writings of many Functional Medicine doctors and researchers, including Drs. Mark Hyman (Young Forever), Monica Aggarwal (Body on Fire), Benjamin Birman (Why We Get Sick), Georgia Ede (Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind), William Davis (Super Gut), and a great deal of online research for specific examples.