Banish minor health niggles by boosting your mineral intake…
Banish minor health niggles by boosting your mineral intake…Supplements can help but eating a nutritionally-sound diet is your best option. So to ensure you get the nutrients you need read our experts’ guide to mineral-rich foods to keep you feeling your very best.
Magnesium
This clever compound is vital for your bones,says Ian Marber
Excellent food sources of magnesium include: oats, brown rice,quinoa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, wholegrains, nuts, lentils and dark green leafy vegetables.
Like all nutrients, magnesium has a multitude of roles. It works closely with calcium and provides the structural ‘bone scaffolding’, into which calcium and other minerals can slot,helping to keep the skeleton strong. It also plays a role in the formation of cell membranes and chromosomes. Magnesium is widely recognised as an anti-stress mineral, due to its involvement in ion transportation, which affects muscle contraction, nerve impulse and normal heart rhythm. These functions mean that this mineral can help ease menstrual cramps,asthma and bronchitis. It also supports the adrenal glands and so is involved with adrenaline production, a further link to how we handle stress.
Magnesium’s starring role, however, is in energy production. Many of the chemical reactions needed to turn a molecule of glucose into a molecule of energy, are dependent on this magical mineral
Signs that you are deficient:
Insomnia, muscle cramps,twitching, increased heart rate and high blood pressure are all common symptoms of low magnesium levels. Muscle weakness, high blood fats and imbalanced blood glucose levels are other common signs of poor magnesium status. So get yourself checked out if you have any of these symptoms.
How to cook it…
Iron If you’re not a red meat lover, you can still get your fix with one of these iron-rich dishes instead, says Antony Worral Thompson
Beetroot, sardines and kale are all wonderful sources of this mineral, which helps the blood and muscles deliver oxygen andenergy to every body cell.
KALE CAKES
Cook 250g of new potatoes until tender.Transfer to a bowl. Reserve the water and use to cook 250g of shredded kale and 100g of shredded leeks for five minutes. Mash the potatoes with 410g of kidney beans, then add the cabbage and leeks. Add two teaspoons of black onion seeds and plenty of pepper. Mix together and form into four cakes. Next, heat four teaspoons of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes for five minutes turning once, until crisp on both sides.
SARDINE SPECIAL
In a saucepan, sweat one finely chopped red onion with three tablespoons of olive oil. Add 30g of wholegrain breadcrumbs and cook for two minutes. Remove and add five tablespoons of currants, three tablespoons of pine nuts and one bunch of chopped parsley. Pour in five tablespoons of mixed lemon and orange juice and stir. Lightly oil a baking dish with an olive oil spray. Fill each of the 12 sardines with the filling. Roll each fish from head to tail and pack together in the dish. Sprinkle over with the remaining filling. Place orange and lemon slices and six dried bay leaves around the dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
BEETROOT ROAST
Toss 16 washed baby beetroots in one tablespoon of olive oil, two bay leaves and six sprigs of thyme.Place in a roasting tray, season and roast for 45 minutes. Add 12 scrubbed whole baby carrots and eight unpeeled garlic cloves.Return to the oven and cook for a further 35 minutes. Remove garlic and squeeze them out of their skins. Toss all the vegetables with three tablespoons of sherry vinegar and two teaspoons of runny honey. Arrange the salad leaves and scatter over the veg.
Carina’s fact file
Zinc
Your man will need as much as you,says Dr Carnia Norris
Zinc is a trace element which means you only need it in tiny amounts. But it’s essential for supporting your immune system and preventing infection, as well as for healthy growth and development, and sperm formation in men.
Signs of deficiency include poor wound healing,slow growth in children and a loss of the sense of taste. But because zinc is found in protein foods, of which most of us get plenty, zinc deficiency is rare.
The best food sources are animal proteins, with oysters being the supreme source! But if you can’t bear the thought of these shellfish, lean meat is also excellent, and vegetarians can find it in lesser amounts in nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin seeds), beans and other pulses, and dairy foods.
Fibre, and also oxalic and phytic acids (found in rhubarb and spinach),inhibit zinc absorption, which is one reason why high-fibre vegetarian sources are less useful to the body. Try to avoid eating zinc foods with high fibre foods, and people eating very high fibre diets (for example,some vegetarians) may need extra zinc in supplement form to compensate.
Our daily zinc recommendation is 7mg for women, and 9mg for men. To put this in perspective, you could get this from a 110g serving of beef mince, 300g of turkey, or 106g of pumpkin seeds.
There are two kinds of minerals,macro and trace. The macromineral group is made up of calcium, phosphorus,magnesium, sodium, chloride and sulfur. Trace minerals includes iron, manganese,copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride, and selenium
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Lynne Franks
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