Most nutrients we need for better health our body gets from better food or makes from building blocks in storage. But a few (10) of the key nutrients critical for better health can not come from food so here they are, and a recipe idea or two on how to get them in weekly, if not more often.
Here are the 10 nutrients that I feel are equally essential.
1. Nutrient L For Laughter
As and when we laugh, our face muscles stretch, our pulse and blood pressure goes up, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues. Sounds a lot like exercising, huh?
Recipe: Watch one funny video or two and let loose!
2. Nutrient M For Massage
Which aids in relaxation and can therefore help support optimal functioning of your entire digestive system. It doesn’t work as well under stress.
Recipe: Have you and a friend switch off giving each other back massages.
3. Nutrient N For Nurture
Not only for yourself, but also for others because it is something we have complete control over that make us and others feel good.
Recipe: Give yourself and 3 strangers a compliment today, and mean it.
4. Nutrient O For Oxygen
A gas that we can never get enough of. Because, it acts as our body’s charger to keep us alive and help us thrive.
Recipe: Open your windows in the house or car to inhale fresh oxygen
Note: If you live somewhere where air quality is an issue, get in your car or take a bus or train elsewhere. Spend time close to nature whenever you can.
5. Nutrient P For Physical Activity
Which makes you feel good by pumping up your endorphins and decreasing your cortisol levels.
Recipe: Try jumping rope or adding some hills to your daily walk.
6. Nutrient Q For Quiet
Which is needed to tap into our inner stream of thoughts, emotions, and ideas so we can reflect on our own mental and emotional states.
Recipe: Use your headphones, especially noise cancelling ones. Not to listen to music or a podcast, not even to talk on your phone, but to enable true silence at home or your desk or as you take a stroll (be careful to do where you won’t be hit by a car and still maintain alertness to your surroundings).
7. Nutrient R For Relaxation
Which allows your cells to shift off its fight or flight response so that it relaxes and helps you restore energy and health.
Recipe: Find the closest yoga studio and try out its free week or download a video and try yoga at home.
8. Nutrient S For Sleep
Which is the time when the body does most of its repair work, including the release of hormones that regulate energy, affect growth, metabolism and other regulating bodily functions.
Recipe: Turn off the alarm on the weekend or a weekday and allow your body to awaken naturally, thereby signaling this important work is done.
9. Nutrient T For Time
Because when you feel you cannot control it, it’s easy to end up feeling rushed or overwhelmed. Having good time management skills allows you to accumulate extra time through the day to relax and unwind.
Recipe: Do a time management assessment. How are you using time well, where are you letting it run away from you? This isn’t about controlling everything but about being efficient where you can. Pick three things you can do more efficiently this month and identify what you will reallocate the time you regain.
10. Nutrient U For Understanding
As the better we understand ourselves, the easier it will be to make better choices that will benefit us.
Recipe: Do character writing exercises and evaluate your strength and weaknesses. Stuck? Ask a friend or a co-worker for an honest assessment and then look at three ways you can turn a weakness into a strength (hint: the answers are often in what you are already doing well).
