Imagine a perfect world where colourful rainbows always shine in the skies, unicorns graze the grassland, and the soil is laden with minerals – sounds too good to be true, right? In such a place, we wouldn’t need supplements in our meals.

Our foods will be bursting with life, containing all the nutrients needed for our bodies to be in the best shape. Perhaps, hospitals would even be running out of business with almost everyone staying fit and maintaining good health.

Unfortunately, we can only dream of these, as we live in an ideal world where modern farming methods have contributed to the depletion of the soil. People engage in several activities that rob the soil of some of its nutrients.

Hence, food grown on this depleted soil will lack some necessary minerals and vitamins for our proper body functioning. For this reason, we need to take supplements to augment the missing nutrients in our diet.

That said, before you begin taking your supplements, make sure to detox your body. Here, we will expose you to five essential supplements for optimal health.

• Magnesium

This is one of the most important supplements needed for optimal health, and it is pretty worrying that many people are dealing with a deficiency of this mineral. According to the World Health Organization, about 75% of Americans do not meet the FDA’s recommended daily intake.

Some telling symptoms of magnesium deficiency include depression, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, fear, memory loss, insomnia, and restlessness. To avoid these conditions, we should increase magnesium levels in our bodies.

Magnesium plays over 300 biochemical roles in our bodies, including facilitating better sleep patterns, enhancing mood, aiding recovery, relieving muscles pains and fibromyalgia, and so on. It is recommended to supplement your magnesium levels up to 400mg (RDA).

Ideally, magnesium should be taken in the evening as the mineral has a calming effect on the brain and central nervous system.

You’ll find there are various types of magnesium supplements available on the market, each with their own individual benefits, here is a good guide on the best magnesium supplements.

• Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Our bodies need fats to function well, and Omega 3 fatty acids are short chains that help build fats, which is an essential fuel source. These chains work to maintain the cell’s structure while retaining its fluidity simultaneously. 

Also, they ensure that the cell membrane is permeable enough for movement in and out of the cell. This function allows for good heart and nerve condition, brain function, and blood flow. Additionally, Omega 3s aid better metabolism, improved nutrient absorption, and help in the buildup of good cholesterol in the body.

Omega 3 is closely linked with fish oils, which has been a cause for concern due to metal toxicities and unsustainable overfishing practices. However, there is a vegan algae source that has been found to be more sustainable and highly recommended.

• Vitamin D

One cannot overemphasize the importance of vitamin D in our bodies. Still, it has been found that about 88% of the world population are not receiving this vitamin at the optimal level. Naturally, our bodies produce vitamin D via sun exposure, but the sun’s intensity is usually not enough to keep up with our needs.

Some factors hamper our ability to convert sunlight to vitamin D, and they include older age, cold months, dark skin, and the use of sunscreen to protect the body from the rays of the sun.

Vitamin D is needed to maintain sound bone integrity, proper muscle strength, good calcium absorption, fine neuromuscular function, great immune response, and normal inflammatory response and blood pressure.

Studies show that proper vitamin D levels are associated with a decreased rate of upper respiratory tract illnesses, injuries in athletes, and stress fractures. Supplementing with this vitamin reduces migraine and headache symptoms.

• Probiotics

We absorb and digest nutrients via the gut. However, what happens when the gut has bad pathogens and bacteria? Its function is hampered, leading to diseases and sicknesses in our bodies. Hence, it is crucial to maintain a balance between good and harmful pathogens in the gut.

Probiotics are vital for the maintenance of gut health, which makes supplementing them into our diet a very informed decision. Even if our eating habit is on its A-game, with a balanced diet and vitamin supplementation, the presence of harmful bacteria in our gut can cause deficiency of nutrients.

According to a major study, supplementing with probiotics helps regulate inflammation, enhance brain health, improve immune function and weight management. Also, it cancels out some harmful side effects of taking medications such as antibiotics and NSAIDs.

So, what are you waiting for? Let us immediately incorporate probiotics into our meal schedule and strive to keep to the plan.

• Multivitamins

A whopping 30 elements are needed for the optimal functioning of the human body. Multivitamins contain many of these elements, and supplementing with this can save you from taking thousands of pills every day and still meet your mineral requirement.

The primary role of a multivitamin is to make up for nutritional gaps and ensure that we get our daily dosage of essential body vitamins and minerals. Minerals in multivitamins include calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, iodine, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. Vitamins found include Vitamin A, B, C, D, E and K.

Everyone can benefit from taking a multivitamin regularly. You should choose your multivitamin carefully. For instance, if your family has a history of eye defects, go for a multi with lutein, and if prostate cancer is the problem, choose on with boron. Read more on what the NHS has to say.

Bottomline

With our modern, hectic lifestyle, our food can no longer provide enough nutrients to keep us fit and active throughout the day. We need to fall back on alternative options called supplements to get us through our daily activities.

The five supplements mentioned above should be incorporated into your diet to ensure that you meet your body’s mineral and vitamin requirements. That said, it is worth noting that these supplements cannot replace a healthy, balanced diet. Make sure to take a range of good fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins to enhance your health.

Let’s eat healthily, sleep well, and use these five supplements so that we can remain in great shape and maintain an active lifestyle always.