Discover how to look and feel younger naturally

Minerals: Calcium

April 13, 2008

Most people know that calcium is essential to building strong bones and teeth. What they don’t know is that there is more calcium inside our body than any other mineral, and that almost all of it within us is in the teeth and bone areas.

There are many things about calcium that most people don’t know though. Calcium is a natural tranquilizer that will help you sleep for instance, and this is why some people drink warm milk before bed.

Calcium also helps the metabolism work properly though, and it is essential to the muscles functioning properly in your body too. In fact, getting extra calcium will help relieve muscle cramps and charlie horses.

Calcium needs to have enough vitamin D in the body to be absorbed and used though, and calcium is absorbed less as you get older.

Calcium loss is slowed down by exercise though, which is why people with osteoperosis and other bone related diseases are told to get more exercise.

Emotional stress can actually cause your body to lose calcium quickly though, because the stress simply flushes it out of your system.

Calcium is actually an excellent pain killer too though. It has been used in conjunction with Vitamin D to relieve dental pain for instance, and it’s been used in injection form for treating pleurisy.

Calcium will help relieve headaches, muscle pains, and menstrual cramps too. It also helps relieve stress, and it helps you sleep at night too so it’s excellent to use for insomnia.

Calcium also helps lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, regulates the heart beat, and helps the body’s proper blood clotting functions.

If that weren’t enough, calcium also helps the body aborb and use Iron, it helps the functionality of Vitamin C, it helps prevent skin problems, and it can help reduce some of the signs of aging.

If your body doesn’t get enough Calcium, or it’s not being utilized properly, some of the signs can include insomnia, poor growth, growing pains, teeth and gum problems, weak muscles, painful joints and arthritis, and muscle cramps.

You can get calcium into your body naturally by eating foods such as cheese, soybeans, sardines and salmon, peanuts and walnuts, sunflower seeds, green vegetables, and various milk products.

There are also herbs which are high in calcium naturally, and these can be taken as a daily supplement if needed. Some of the best herbs for calcium include Alfalfa, Black Walnut, Capsicum (Cayenne), Camomile, Dandelion, Fennel, Garlic, Ginger, Kelp, Parsley, Rosemary, and Sage.


Tagged with:

An Introduction To Minerals & Their Health Benefits

April 11, 2008

Minerals are very much like vitamins: They are essential for the proper functioning and health of the human body. Vitamins need to be replaced regularly though, where as minerals stay in our body and make up the actual structure of the body too.

Minerals “turn over” though, meaning a little of them must be replaced or renewed continuously in order for us to stay healthy.

Minerals are essential for our bodies to activate, assimilate, and use vitamins properly though. Minerals are absorbed by plants through the soil, and animals and humans get the minerals from those plants. There are many essential minerals we know about, can identify, and know what their importance is. There are also trace minerals though, which are found in plant life too, and these are also needed by our bodies even though scientists don’t have much information on them yet.

In most cases, vitamins and minerals work together within our body. Calcium and Vitamin D are excellent examples, because the body needs enough Vitamin D to be able to absorb and use calcium.

Chelated (key lated) minerals are required for our bodies to be able to use them. Chelation happens when a mineral is wrapped in molecules of protein, and chelation is needed in order for the blood stream to accept the minerals. If a mineral is not chelated, then both it and the vitamins associated with it will pass through the body without providing any benefit.

This is one of the reasons it’s usually suggested that you take a vitamin or mineral with a meal. Because the proteins from your meal will help your body chelate the minerals and absorb and use them properly, along with the vitamins too.

Before the body can chelate a mineral though, it must dissolve it first. Once it has dissolvedĀ  the mineral, it then uses protein to chelate it for proper use. Now, if you don’t eat enough protein of course, you’re going to have a problem utilizing both minerals and vitamins in your body. And if you take vitamin supplements, they may be in a form which is difficult for your body to dissolve properly, which of course would make them unusuable as well.

These are reasons to use natural herbal supplements for adding vitamin and mineral content. Herbal sources contain high amounts of both vitmains and minerals, including the trace minerals too. Herbal supplements are often purchased in crushed or powdered form too, so these are much easier for the body to readily dissolve and put to use within us.


Tagged with: