Kathie Ingram Owen

Supplemental Vitamins: 10 Signs You May Need One



Posted: Sunday, October 29, 2006

by
Body Designer

It is always best to get your vitamins and minerals from your diet. But with today’s stressors, depleted soils, and time crunches many of you are likely to be short an essential nutrient or two. Taking a quality multivitamin/mineral is a great starting point, but here are 10 specific healthy symptoms that point to specific deficiencies:

  1. Craving Carbs and Sweets: This symptom along with poor concentration, afternoon sleepiness, irritability after 4 hours without food, and blood sugar problems can indicate a need for more of the trace mineral chromium. Chromium is found in red meat, liver, egg yolk, whole grains, molasses, and cheese. It is best to eat small meals every 2 hours. Waiting 4 hours to eat is too long, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Try to eat at least a small snack to avoid prolonged hunger.
  2. Infection-prone: A shortage of Vitamin C can deplete your immune system, cause illness, fatigue, bleeding gums and easy bruising. Vitamin C is plentiful in fruits and vegetables but it is destroyed by long storage or over cooking. A supplement of Vitamin C has been shown to improve your immune system and we all could use that during the upcoming flu season.
  3. Insomnia: Sleeplessness and especially Type 2 insomnia - where you wake up and cannot go back to sleep - can indicate a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is a nervous system relaxant. Other symptoms of deficiency are weakness, muscle cramping, or general muscle tension. Whole grains, nuts, seeds, leafy vegetables, and dried figs are high in magnesium.
  4. Depression: If you are in a depressed mood that is not circumstantial, you may be low in the B vitamins. When you are stressed your body uses more B vitamins than during normal conditions. This family of vitamins is essential for proper mental functioning and the lack of one of the B’s, folic acid, has been linked to depression. These vitamins are destroyed by alcohol, so those who imbibe may need extra. Diets rich in whole grains, meat, eggs, nuts, dried fruit, and green leafy vegetables will have good sources of this vitamin group.
  5. Low libido: Zinc is needed to produce testosterone and in women as well as in men a deficiency of the hormone can reduce sex drive. Other signs of a need for zinc are thinning hair, loss of sense of smell, white flecks on the nails, and depressed immune function. To get more zinc eat shellfish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, peanuts, and pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
  6. Menstrual cramping: This may signal magnesium deficiency since smooth muscle tissue needs magnesium in order to relax and the uterus contains a lot of smooth muscle tissue. Other food elements that help with menstrual health are the essential fatty acids (EFAs). Eat some oily fish once or twice weekly for the EFAs and whole grains and brazil nuts for the magnesium. Note that it may take several cycles before you see symptomatic improvement.
  7. Restless legs: According to a study done at the John Hopkins University, an iron deficiency may be at the root of the nervous system response that causes restless leg syndrome. Low iron may also cause pale skin, sores on the tongue and a feeling of being tired more often than usual. Red meat, liver, dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and lentils are good sources of iron. And increasing your intake of vitamin C will enable your body to absorb more iron.
  8. Eczema: Itchy and scaly skin signals a deficiency in the good oils that our bodies need. Oily fish, nuts, and seeds provide essential fatty acids that keep skin and other organs functioning. You can supplement with flax oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil, or fish oils.
  9. Panic and anxiety: The antioxidant mineral selenium may be in short supply if you suffer from panic attacks or chronic anxiety. In one study on the relationship between these symptoms and selenium supplementation, it took about 5 weeks of nutritional support to alter symptoms. Liver, kidney, oily fish, brazil nuts, mushrooms, and whole grains are excellent sources of selenium.
  10. Gums that swell or bleed: The health of our gums is a marker of certain nutritional states. Chronic bleeding and inflammation has been helped by taking 30 to 100 mg of Co enzyme Q10 daily. This substance is formed in the body from the amino acid tyrosine. Abundant tyrosine can be found in soybeans, peanuts, sardines, and sesame.
Before you begin any supplemental program be sure to check with your doctor. Some medications can affect how supplements work. Use these tips as a guideline for a healthy lifestyle change. Supplements give a great addition to those vitamins and minerals that you may be unable to get from diet alone!
Kathie Ingram Owen is a Certified Fitness Trainer in the Houston Area. She is also a Certified Specialist in Older Adult Fitness and a Certified Specialist in Sport Conditioning as well as a Certified Life Coach with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Houston. She has a studio in Rosenberg, Texas where she uses the TheraPlex Unit as her main form of exercise. Please visit Kathie's Fitness Blog for more information about Kathie and to read all her FREE articles and information.

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