Tag Archives: vitamins

Day #3 on Body-for-Life, Supplement Review

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Universal Animal Pak One of the keys to weight loss that most people miss is taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. When we’re trying to lose weight, we often follow unbalanced diets and expect our bodies to not only do their day-to-day on these unbalanced diets but also to do extra exercise as well. Expecting so much from a body that isn’t getting the amount or type of food that it is used to can be a recipe for disaster. If you aren’t eating right but exercising more, you’ll get run down very quickly and most likely get sick. … Continue reading →

What You Didn’t Know About Vitamin K

My dad’s recent illness inspired me to write this blog about a vitamin that doesn’t get nearly as much attention as the almighty vitamin C. (More on my dad’s medical condition in a bit.) As you probably know vitamin K is essential for blood clotting, but did you know that vitamin K also aids in the health of bones, blood vessels, brain cells, and eyes? It’s true. Studies show that vitamin K helps bones retain calcium. When it comes to providing cardiovascular health benefits, vitamin K helps your body by preventing calcium accumulation in blood vessels. This helps to avoid … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin B1?

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The B family of vitamins is a large one! Vitamin B1, also known as thiamin, helps your body fight off illness and diseases of the nervous system. But that’s barely the beginning. Vitamin B1 was discovered in the search for a cure for beriberi. It is a key element in the chain reactions that provide energy for the body. It helps your body convert food, manufacture fat, and metabolize protein. Thiamin is also beneficial for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other mental degeneration and impairment. It may also help improve the mental function of people who suffer from epilepsy. Most … Continue reading →

How Do Vitamins Work?

Lately, I’ve been looking at different vitamins and what they do for the body. Vitamin A helps your vision; vitamin D helps build strong bones. Other vitamins promote healing (like vitamin C and vitamin E) or energy production (the B-complex vitamins). Every vitamin does something different… but how do they work? There are two different types of vitamins. Some vitamins are fat soluble — like vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K. This means the vitamins are stored in the fat tissues in your body — especially in the liver. They wait until your body needs them, and … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin B12?

Vitamin B12 is a little bit different from other vitamins. If you don’t have a certain substance in your digestive system, you can’t absorb vitamin B12! Your stomach produces a substance called intrinsic factor. This substance has to be in the intestinal tract in pretty large amounts for your body to be able to absorb vitamin B12. If you don’t have intrinsic factor in your digestive tract, you’ll eventually develop a vitamin B12 deficiency called pernicious anemia. Liver is probably the number one source for vitamin B12 — but any and all animal foods contain this vitamin. In fact, people … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin B2?

Oh, so many B vitamins… folic acid, B6, B12… And our bodies need them all! Vitamin B2 was discovered by accident in the early part of the 20th century when nutritionists were looking for an enzyme that promoted growth in food. What they found instead was a yellow substance that we know now as riboflavin — also known as vitamin B2! Along with the other B-complex vitamins, vitamin B2 helps your body make energy from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Riboflavin especially promotes the production of energy in the brain! Researchers believe that vitamin B2 may be able to help bring … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is good for us. But do you know why? Vitamin C is essential in the body’s production of collagen. Collagen is a part of the connective tissue through our bodies — it helps connect skin, bones, teeth, tendons, ligaments, organ tissue, and cartilage. Collagen makes up the separating layer between cells. But vitamin C does so much more than that! Vitamin C helps protect fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin E. Vitamin C also helps protect essential fatty acids from oxidation. This vitamin is also useful in treating iron-deficiency anemia. Vitamin C is perhaps most famous for … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin K?

If you think important vitamins stop at the letter E, think again. Vitamin K is an essential vitamin that can’t entirely be produced in our bodies. Only about one third of the vitamin K we need comes from within; the rest must come from your diet. Vitamin K was first recognized in 1929 as a blood clotting agent. A Danish scientist studying chickens found that chicks that lacked a certain factor tended to hemorrhage — their blood formed clots too slowly. The missing piece was identified as vitamin K. Worried about your bones? Vitamin K to the rescue! This vitamin … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Vitamin E?

Vitamin E has been getting a lot of good press in the last few years. This antioxidant vitamin is thought to help promote healing, keep skin hydrated, and much more! Antioxidants are good for you because they help clear free radicals out of your body. Free radicals are the leftovers from your body’s oxygen use that can damage cell walls and cell structures. Too much cell damage can increase your chances of serious diseases; antioxidants help clean the free radicals out of your body. Vitamin E can help protect other compounds (like polyunsaturated fats and vitamin A) from being damaged … Continue reading →

Why Does My Body Need Folic Acid?

Folic acid is actually part of the large family of B vitamins. Folate helps your body form DNA and RNA — the genetic building blocks for our bodies. The name folate comes from the word “foliage” because green, leafy vegetables are a great source for this vitamin! So why is folic acid important? You can’t grow without it. That makes folate especially important for pregnant women. Without enough folate while the baby is developing, you run the risk of serious brain disorders. Since 1992, doctors have suggested that women of childbearing age get four hundred micrograms of folate every day … Continue reading →