The Win On Purpose Podcast

18: Nutrient Power: Unlocking Optimal Health with Micronutrients

• Adam Kelley • Episode 18

Share episode

Send us a text

This episode explores the vital importance of micronutrients in maintaining optimal health and how they complement macronutrients in our diets. We discuss various vitamins, minerals, their food sources, the impact of dietary choices on nutrient density, and the significance of whole foods in preventing deficiencies. 

• Importance of micronutrients for overall health 
• Breakdown of fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins 
• Mineral sources and their health benefits 
• Risks of nutrient deficiencies from restrictive diets 
• Emphasis on whole foods and dietary variety 
• Practical tips for incorporating more nutrients into daily meals

https://www.facebook.com/coachadamkelley/

Instagram: @coachadamkelley

www.transformedhealthcoach.com

Speaker 1:

What's up, guys, welcome back to the Win On Purpose podcast with Adam Kelly. On this week's episode. We're kind of piggybacking on the series that we did talking about macronutrients. That was called let's Talk Macro. So make sure you guys check that out because there's lots of good information for you guys. Breaking down protein, carbs and fats.

Speaker 1:

This episode is talking about micronutrients. So those are macronutrients that we need in large amounts. So then you have micronutrients that we need in smaller amounts, but we still need these nutrients to survive and especially to thrive. So I break down all of the vitamins and all the minerals that we need, okay, and I tell you all the different food groups that we need to get them from. So, as you're going to see, every food group that's listed, or every food item that's listed, is a whole food, minimally processed the things that we know are healthier for us, and a lot of them are the same food. So having even somewhat of a variety in your diet, if you're choosing whole, minimally processed foods, is going to be the most health promoting thing that you can do, guys. So make sure you use this information. Uh, I hope you guys benefit from it. I hope it helps you design your diet plan to really promote optimal health for you and for your family. Guys, all right, we'll catch you on the other side.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the win on purpose podcast from health and fitness, business, personal development, relationships and more. We promise you will find inspiration to help you win on purpose in all areas of your life journey. Now for your host, adam Kelly.

Speaker 1:

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you for joining us today. It's a beautiful day here in sunny Oklahoma enjoying this early February heat blast that we're dealing with. Temperatures are in the 70s and 80s. It's a beautiful day here in sunny Oklahoma enjoying this early February heat blast that we're dealing with. Temperatures are in the 70s and 80s. It's amazing, it's beautiful. It's temporary, so I hope you guys are getting out and enjoying it. If you're listening to this after the fact, because this will probably be posted oh, second week of February we may be freezing again. So at least you can look back, hopefully, and realize that you did take the opportunity to get outdoors, enjoy the sunlight, get that vitamin d in your skin, get some fresh air, do some earthing and grounding and all these things that really, you know, just make us feel better and make us feel more, you know, connected with nature, back to our roots, because that's super important, guys. So, man, I've definitely been enjoying, our family's been enjoying it. No one's been sick here lately. It's been beautiful. So I hope we can keep this trend going.

Speaker 1:

But on this episode, I'm going to cut straight to the chase, guys, after I start with. If you don't mind, guys, please give us some good stars, give us a good rating, drop some comments, share, share the episode, share the podcast, watch it on YouTube. Help us guys, get some views, get some ratings, because this helps us get this quality information out there to the masses, to help as many people as possible with practical, real-life information from real people who are out here living real life, helping real people while we're balancing families and marriages and work and hobbies and everything else that this crazy life throws at us and trying to feel our best and be our best in the process. Guys, so you can help many, many people just by sharing to your circle, to your social media. So it would highly appreciate if you would do that for us, especially if you've been gleaning from the information and been benefiting from it, because why keep a good thing to yourself? People, knowledge is for the people, so help us get it out there. I would highly appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

With that being said, this episode is kind of tagging on to the series that we came out of in January 2025, which was about let's talk macros. So we went through an overview of what macronutrients are. What the macronutrients are protein, carbs and fats. Sorry, guys, we've got a very unusual call coming into the office. That rarely happens and it's usually sales calls, so hopefully they'll leave a message if they need to. Oh goodness, why are you not turning off? Sorry, guys, bear with me. At least you know we're live. At least you know this is real, guys. This is not pre-recorded. Well, I guess it technically is pre-recorded, but this is not rehearsed. This is raw and this is real.

Speaker 1:

Um, so now that I'm distracted and thrown off, let's get back to the topic at hand. Like I said, we came out of that series, so we talked about what macronutrients are protein, carbs and fats. You know how many calories are in each gram of these, because that matters, based on our energy balance and if we're going to gain weight or lose weight. We talked about, we broke down each of those macronutrients protein, carbs and fats. We talked about what they are. You know biologically I don't even know if that's the right word, I'm just throwing that out there we talked about what they are. You know what they truly are, what they do for our bodies, good food, quality food sources to get them from and we also talked about some of the top benefits of these macronutrients and even dispelled some of the false information and confusion about carbohydrates If they're good for us, bad for us if they're causing diabetes, all these different things. So make sure you guys check out that series if you haven't, because it is jam-packed with lots of good information. But this kind of tags on to that series and we're going to discuss micronutrients.

Speaker 1:

So these you have macronutrients, which are nutrients that we need to consume in large amounts for optimal health, and then you have micronutrients, which, as you can guess, we need smaller amounts of these nutrients for optimal health, but they are so important and we want to make sure that we're covering all grounds because that's how we become a better version of ourselves. So we need to understand where these micronutrients come from and, in my opinion, the best way to get them from natural, whole food sources, because supplementation is great. It's. It's a great thing for people who, especially third world countries where nutrient deficiencies are pretty prevalent here in the States, here in America and in most of the you know, first world countries I guess you would call us we don't really see nutrient deficiencies all that much, but it can be a thing. And, again, if we want to fill our best, we need to fuel the best. All right, fuel, the best to fill the best, all right. So micronutrients, like I said, these are going to be your vitamins and your minerals A lot of things that don't get really discussed all that often.

Speaker 1:

So this is based and if you're watching the video, of course I'm looking at my computer screen because I'm reading from a print off, a PDF file that I print off for all my clients when they sign up. So when you sign up with me, you don't just get personal training where you just come and get a good workout and I send you on your way. I send you on your way with a ton of information because I want you to be as equipped and empowered as possible so that you can really better yourself and know how to do it and know how to keep doing it. So, rather, if we work together until one of us dies, or we only work together for two months, I want to make sure that when you leave my services, when you're done with my services, that you're way better, not just physically but also mentally and in your understanding and your education when it comes to nutrition and physical activity and exercise and health and all these things that don't really get talked about too much in the health and fitness scene, it's a lot of focus on just eating healthy and moving your body, but we don't tend to focus on the smaller well, what's considered the smaller things? But really huge things like sleep, stress management, enjoyment of life and things like micronutrients to make sure we're promoting as high quality health as possible. Okay, um? So, with that being said, you, if you work with me, you get all this information right out of the gate, including the breakdown of protein, carbs and fats, including lots of other tips and suggestions and things like that to help you formulate your life, to be able to help you reach your health goals. Okay, so I'm. So. There's two different types of minerals and vitamins. You have fat soluble and water soluble. So just keep that in mind, because we're going to break those down into their groups, and the best food sources, or at least some good food sources to get them from there's not a best, it's just. Here are some options that you can choose from that you may not have realized will provide these nutrients for you. So, although micronutrient and this is I'm just reading from the print off, so I'm pretty sure I just said this but although micronutrient deficiencies are less common in the US.

Speaker 1:

Deficiencies can occur when restrictive dieting or in a calorie deficit. So typically it's more of an extreme calorie deficit. Or if you're just being super, super narrow with your food choices. So kind of goes the same with restrictive dieting. If you're doing like vegan diet, vegetarian, carnivore, keto, more of these super restrictive diets where you're basically eliminating whole food groups, entire food groups, or you're just in a very deep calorie deficit, especially for an extended period of time, where, again, you're not eating much of a variety of food. You're not eating a lot of variety, like a quantity of food and variety. With that, you may potentially over time, run into some nutrient deficiency issues. But again, it's typically rare to see true nutrient deficiencies in places where food is everywhere. Now there are some health conditions that lead to nutrient deficiencies. That's a different discussion. But when I'm talking about the general population mostly healthy, not dealing with disease and things like that that affect our nutrient uptake and utilization it's not something we commonly see. Nutrient uptake and utilization it's not something we commonly see. But we still want to make sure we're getting all these nutrients in and minerals in on a regular basis, because they do promote health and we want to make sure that we're fueling our body the best we can like.

Speaker 1:

I love to tell people you know, treat your body like a lamborghini, not like a honda civic. No, knock on hondas or civics, because it's a great quality car. It's going to get you where you need to go for a long time. But let's face it, everybody would choose the lamborghini over the civic if you don't have to pay for and someone's like here, take your choice now. Maybe you don't. Again, I don't like making blanket statements. Let me retract that. Maybe you pick the civic. I'm picking the lambo, okay, and I gotta make sure with that lambo that I'm putting the fuel in it that that Lambo requires, because Honda Civics they are such a solid, tested car that crap. You may be able to just put some vegetable in the gas tank and it's going to run for you, not literally, but you got some wiggle room there. Those are some highly reliable cars. A Lamborghini is reliable, but you got to treat it like a Lamborghini and you want to make sure you put in the fuel that it needs. So let's treat our bodies like Lamborghinis as well, by putting in the proper fuel that it needs to function at a high level for as long as possible, okay.

Speaker 1:

So let's touch on fat soluble nutrients. So we have vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K. Okay, so fat soluble basically means that they break down and are transported by fat rather than water. Okay, very rough definition there. Uh, so vitamin E is some good sources to get vitamin E from naturally would be salmon, trout, trout, so fish and overall avocados and almonds. Okay, vitamin a liver cod, liver oil, salmon, tuna, eggs, so again, a lot of your healthier seafood options. Carrots and butter. Vitamin d salmon again, salmon's just a really good food source, guys. If you want a food source that covers a lot of your nutrients that you need, throw some salmon in there, guys, and you're going to cover a lot of it. But again, vitamin d salmon. Sardines sounds gross but I don't eat them, but from what I've heard, they're actually not that bad. Uh, mackerels, tuna, cod, liver oil, fortified milks and cheeses so you'll see where it says it's fortified with vitamin d, they add extra vitamin d to it, so that's a good thing there. And then vitamin k green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, brussel sprouts, mustard, parsley, all right. So basically your green leafy vegetable type foods. You get a lot of vitamin k there and we know that vitamin k and vitamin d kind of need to be together in order to be utilized properly by the body, so it's good to kind of mix. Again, having a variety of foods covers most of your needs, all right.

Speaker 1:

So next would be our water soluble nutrients. So we have all of our b vitamins, that's B1 through B12, and they're found in different combinations in these foods. Beef is a great source, especially vitamin B12. Eggs, fish, trout, shellfish, turkey pork, chicken, cheese, milk, avocado, whey protein, almonds and spinach. Okay, it's not. Again, it's not the only places you get b vitamins from, but these food groups tend to have higher amounts of them and the variety of the different types of b vitamins, because they all have a different effect and play a different role in our overall health.

Speaker 1:

Vitamin c is another water soluble vitamin and you can get it from bright colored fruit. So you know your apples, your oranges, your citrusy type fruits. There's a good source to get them from. Bell peppers is another good source. A lot of people don't realize cruciferous vegetables. So, like your broccoli, your cauliflower, those types of vegetables, dark leafy greens, so your spinach, your romaine, your kale, those types of foods, and tomatoes as well.

Speaker 1:

So there's a good idea, some good food choices to get that vitamin C. We know it does help with immune system, so make sure you're getting your vitamin C. And guys, and again, when you get nutrients from whole foods it's much more bioavailable and it's much easier for our body to process than when we're just only supplementing these, these nutrients. And then choline would be the last one choline, choline people pronounce it differently, so you can get that from liver if you eat organs I'm not an organ eater, so I'm not eating liver. But that's just side note, doesn't really matter. Um, eggs, oysters, mushrooms, cauliflower and d? Uh, deep dark leafy greens.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we see dark leafy greens and leafy greens show up quite a bit when it comes to water soluble nutrients, so it'd be a good idea to have some green leafy vegetables in your diet, for sure. All right, so that covers our vitamins. Okay, vitamin A, all the way through vitamin K. So basically, from just summarizing these food groups, we have a lot of your animal products, especially your fish and your eggs and your beef. We also see your vegetables, your fruits. So if your diet is primarily animal products, fruits and vegetables, you're going to cover almost well, actually really all of your nutritional needs, because you're going to see when we get to minerals, that a lot of these same foods continue to pop up. When it comes to the minerals that we need, all right, and we're going to list those out. So we have chromium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, iron, potassium, selenium and zinc. Okay, these are your minerals. So chromium best sources, or at least high quality sources beef, chicken, milk, cheese, yogurt and again green leafy vegetables, again animals, fruits, vegetables, covers, about everything.

Speaker 1:

Magnesium A lot of people may not be magnesium deficient in our country, but a lot of people do not get enough magnesium for optimal health. So this is actually something I personally supplement. Now, I'm not recommending anybody use supplements. That's your decision for yourself. Talk to your doctor about it. However, I do supplement magnesium because I know my diet doesn't get enough in it and it has a huge impact personally, anecdotally speaking, meaning what I notice in myself definitely helps me sleep, help me relax, help me reduce stress, and those are good enough reasons for me to take it right there. And we don't tend to see an issue with it if you supplement it for long periods of time. So it's not, like you know, you need to be on and off of it. It's something that we could use every single day for sure.

Speaker 1:

So magnesium a little bit harder to get from food sources. This is why we tend to see more of a deficiency, especially in, like the carnivore keto side of the aisle. But magnesium, mineral and spring water, so you're like true natural waters. They have your electrolytes, your natural electrolytes, in it still before it gets stripped in the cleaning process, purifying process, and then also spinach, nuts and seeds Great options to get magnesium. And then again, like I said, there's supplementation if needed.

Speaker 1:

But we focus on the important things. First, sodium. Man has sodium had such a bad rap in recent years and it's terrible because sodium is so crucial for our body, for muscle contraction, for for so many different things, guys, and if you're not getting enough sodium you can forget your muscle pumps in the gym, you can forget quality muscle contractions, all that like it's so important, but not even going to really dive into that here. So for sodium, mineral spring water again, because because sodium, magnesium, potassium, they're all electrolytes. So you're going to get these from these natural spring waters because they still have the electrolytes in them.

Speaker 1:

Cheese, processed meats, which may sound weird, but there's quite a bit of sodium If you ever had a piece of sandwich meat? There's a lot of sodium. That's part of why it tastes good. Low calorie dresses I'm supposing that's supposed to say dressings, so not dresses like you should eat someone's dress off their body, but dressings, like you know. Salad dressings and sauces okay, they Because they taste so good. Sodium is also a flavor enhancer and it's a preservator, so we add salt to things to make it last longer. We also add salt to things and sodium to things to enhance the natural flavors that are in the food. So your dressings and sauces are literally to enhance the taste of your food. All right, calcium, greek yogurt, cheese, milk, sardines and once again, that was a drum roll, but that sounded terrible Dark green leafy vegetables all right, so lots of those are some great sources for calcium. Again, your dairy products are probably one of the highest sources of calcium, so a great reason to include dairy, if you can tolerate it. Of course.

Speaker 1:

Iron Okay, this is a big one that people miss on. Now we do see quite a bit of iron deficiencies in our country, especially with women. Okay, because women tend to need more iron, because through the menstruation cycle, you know, they're losing quite a bit of iron every month, and so we need to make sure that we're replacing that iron. And then just a lot of our foods don't have iron in it anymore. A lot of our soils have been stripped because they've been over farmed too many times. They're not rotating crops enough, so they're taking a lot of these natural minerals out of the soil, so therefore it's not getting into the food anymore. So iron is definitely an important one.

Speaker 1:

And just side note, here, with iron, there's a huge difference between types of iron. Okay, not all iron is created, created equally. Okay, so iron that you get from plant sources is like something like half is bioavailable, meaning able to absorb it into your body. Then what comes from animal products? Okay, so I highly suggest, if you're, if you're not consuming animal products, talk to your doctor about, or your dietician or whoever you work with, about supplementing iron and making sure that your iron levels are are where should be, especially for my female population. So good sources for iron beef, organ meats, green leafy vegetables, spinach, which is a green leafy vegetable, and pumpkin seeds. Sounds weird, but there's quite a bit of iron in pumpkin seeds. But again, I would lean more towards the animal products, because one beef has one of the most bioavailable, absorbable types of iron that there are, and also you're getting so many other nutrients with it and you're getting your macro nutrients, like a good amount of protein and some healthy fats, so I would definitely lean more that way. Iron meats meats, again, are typically high in iron, but I'm not eating iron or organ meat, so I'm not going to get it from there. But there are some really good supplements out there that are actually, you know, basically powderized organs that are in capsules, so you just swallow them and you don't have to taste it or anything and you're getting these nutrients in that way. So that's an option as well. Um, as well. So, yeah, that'll cover your iron needs. Definitely important, guys.

Speaker 1:

Next is potassium okay, another electrolyte. So some of the really good sources to get it from avocados, salmon, beets, bananas, tomatoes and spinach okay. So I would try to add some of these foods in if you're not doing some sort of supplementation or drinking plenty of spring water, where you're getting in those natural electrolytes. Selenium is another one. So we have beef, poultry or chicken, eggs, pork, sardines, tuna, mushrooms, spinach and Brazil nuts Okay, and then last one, zinc nuts okay, and then last one, zinc. You can get zinc from beef, eggs, greek yogurt, milk, nuts, seeds and dark chocolate. So, for all my chocolate lovers out there, if you can tolerate switching to dark chocolate, you're going to get more nutrients, less calories, less sugar all the way. All good, all the way around.

Speaker 1:

So, and I have a little note here at the bottom that animal products have the most bioavailable forms of nutrients and should be prioritized for nutrient content. Again, if you're vegan, if you're vegetarian not shaming you or anything just you may have to really consider supplementation or eating a lot of variety on a daily basis to make sure you're getting in these nutrients, because, again, just because it has that nutrient doesn't mean it's bioavailable. Okay, like I said with iron, you know the iron in plants. Our bodies just don't digest it and absorb it very well. Because, again, the composition of plants, their nutrients that are in them, are there to make a plant survive. Okay, the stem, the root, the leaves, the leaves, the buds, the flowers, that's what their nutrients are in those plants. For an animal, the nutrients that comprise an animal, are there to make animals thrive. Okay, so since we are, you know, technically part of the animal kingdom, if you will, it makes sense that animals are going to have the nutrients needed to thrive, that we can also get that from them, okay. So that's why I always prioritize animal products.

Speaker 1:

Now, if it's a, whatever your reason is, if you don't like animal products, I'm not against you. I'm not poking fun at you. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just saying some things you may want to keep in mind when it comes to getting all your nutrients, your macronutrients and your micronutrients. So some key takeaways, guys. When it comes to micronutrients, like I said, in America is not a big thing to you know, it's not very common to see nutrient deficiencies other than, like I said, iron and even sodium sometimes, because so many doctors recommend people take out all sodium for even healthy people, your B vitamins, things like that. We want to make sure that we're getting in a variety of foods and that we are focusing on high quality foods, low processed foods, whole foods, because it's going to provide the most nutrients as possible.

Speaker 1:

So, yes, these foods may cost a little bit more than more of your junk food, but you have to realize there's a difference between cost and value. Okay, just because something costs a lot of money doesn't mean it has high value. You can just be paying for an expensive piece of crap. All right, excuse, my well, not french, but language, uh. And same thing vice versa. You know, something may cost more but if, as a higher value, you're getting more out of it, so it's a better, it's a wiser investment.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of like, you know, buying cars you can go buy the cheap used car because you're going to save money, but how much money are you going to have to dump into it because things go wrong, and how reliable it is, and how much do you like? How much joy does it bring you when you ride it and when you see it every day? Now the more expensive car may hurt your pocketbook a little bit more, but if it doesn't break down every two weeks, because all these issues with it and you're not having to constantly get things replaced and do all this type of maintenance and you really enjoy it, brings you a lot of happiness when you see it, you like riding in it, you like the mute sound system, the air works good, all these good things, that value goes up quite a bit. So even though the cost goes up, the value is higher and that makes it more worth it if you can afford it. So same thing with foods. Guys like healthier foods, lower processed foods, maybe a little bit cheaper or, sorry, a little bit more expensive than your junk food aisles. But you're basically buying something that has nothing for you that's good, versus something that has a lot of good things for you. So it's worth the balance of your budget to make sure that you're including a variety of these different types of food.

Speaker 1:

You know you can do things like buying in bulk, buying things that you know have been marked down because you know they're getting close to their best buy date or best if used by. Again, most of those dates mean nothing and does not mean it's going to go bad on that day. It's just one. It may be a little bit fresher up until that point. Also, it's a good way of marketing to get you to buy things, get rid of things a little bit quicker. That's kind of more of my opinion about it, but anyways, those dates aren't really that significant. So if something's marked down, as long as it looks good, smells good, tastes good, you're probably all right. So that's just some different ways that you can save money there and still get all of your nutrient needs, because the better we fuel our body, the better our body is going to feel, guys.

Speaker 1:

So hope this information is helpful to you. I know this is kind of different, it's a little bit heavy on the educational side of things, but it's very important because, like I said, we did that series, but this information ties right in with that, because we shouldn't just worry about macronutrients, because we're leaving so much of our health on the table and health benefits on the table by not making sure that we're getting in all the nutrients that we need on a regular basis. So, like I said, the easiest way to do this number one eat a variety of foods. Number two make sure that you have animal products with veggies and fruits and whole grains are fine too. They're health promoting. You can definitely have those in there, but focus primarily on the meat, the animal products and the leaner versions is going to be healthier, and then also your vegetables and your fruits, and that pretty much covers all that you need.

Speaker 1:

And then, if your doctor notices that something need, and then, if you know, if your doctor notices that something's low and it's perpetually low or you know it's not just like, hey, I fasted for a week and so, yeah, my nutrient, my nutrient, how much nutrients are in my body looks off okay. Sorry, brain fart there. You know, maybe that's something that needs to be addressed with your doctor, but if you're covering these bases, you're probably going to be in a really good place, or at least a better place, guys. So do something good with this information. But whatever you do, make sure you do something good for yourself, something good for your health, something good for those you care about and whatever you do, make sure you win on purpose. Talk to you next time.