9 Essential Nutrients An Adult Body Sorely Needs To Be Healthy

The human body is an incredible organism that needs a lot to become and stay healthy. One of the most crucial elements to a healthy body is ensuring that it receives the proper nutrients.

When choosing a diet or a meal, nutrition should be the foremost of your concerns. The nutrients your body needs can be acquired from a wide variety of sources.

The essential nutrients necessary for a healthy body can be classified into micronutrients and macronutrients. The following are the nine essential nutrients that every adult body needs:

Protein is an essential macronutrient that should be in the diet of every adult human being. Proteins and their constituent amino acids provide the building blocks for the body.

A common misconception is that you need proteins only for your muscles. However, proteins are the basic building blocks for bones, tissues, and cells from your hair to your toenails.

Moreover, you need protein to create hormones, antibodies, and other important components of the human body. Protein is the only external source of amino acids essential to the health of a human being.

Carbohydrates are a macronutrient that has received a lot of negative attention in the recent past. Regardless of how you feel about carbohydrates, they are absolutely necessary for a healthy body.

Carbohydrates are especially valuable because they provide energy for the body and its processes to function, especially brain processes. Moreover, they protect your body against certain diseases.

At least half of your diet should contain carbohydrates, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. However, you should get your carbohydrates from whole organic foods as opposed to refined grains.

Fats are another micronutrient that many people have misconceptions about but are absolutely crucial to a human adult body’s health. On the other hand, you should know that there is a major difference between healthy and unhealthy fats.

You can get healthy fats primarily from eating lean meat such as chicken, fish, or beef. Saturated fats such as butter are considered to be unhealthy.

Fats are crucial for certain body processes such as muscle movement, building new cells, and vitamin & mineral absorption. Healthy fats will help regulate your blood sugar and avoid cardiac diseases. They are also vital for brain function.

Vitamins are micronutrients that are essential for healthy human beings. They are especially helpful in helping prevent the body from contracting diseases by strengthening the immune system.

There are so many vitamins that it is almost impossible to get them all from your diet. However, you can visit a vitamin store and get supplements to bridge the gap. You should remember that natural sources of vitamins are always the best choice.

There are at least thirteen essential vitamins that the adult human body needs. They will help with healthy skin, bones, and reproductive health, among others.

Minerals are another group of micronutrients that the body sorely needs. The list of minerals necessary for a healthy body is as extensive as vitamins.

Minerals are vital for boosting the body’s immune system and preventing illness. They are also important for other bodily functions such as metabolism regulation and maintaining water levels.

Common minerals that you should have in your diet include iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and sodium. You can also get mineral supplements if you are unable to get them from your diet.

Omega fatty acids are usually considered part of dietary fats, but they deserve to be a nutrient on their own. The reason is that they serve a very specific function in the body, unlike other dietary fats.

Their function in the body is to promote brain function as these are the main fats contained in the brain. The common types of omega fatty acids that you need in your diet are Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids.

You can get omega fatty acids from plant sources like chia seeds, flax, and walnuts. You can get them from animal sources, primarily fish like sardines, salmon, and mackerel. Omega fatty acids are required in very small amounts; hence supplements will also do.

Though it is not often considered a nutrient, no adult body can be healthy without a sufficient amount of fiber in its diet. It is absolutely essential, especially as it pertains to your digestive tract.

Fiber is to the body what oil is to a car, and both cannot do without either. It ensures that your digestive processes run smoothly and maintain your digestive tract health.

Fiber is mostly acquired from plant sources like fruits and leafy green vegetables. A great benefit is that it makes your bowel movements smooth and will resolve any problems down there.

‘Water is life’ is a statement that we have all probably heard because it is true. You cannot have a healthy adult human body without drinking an adequate amount of water.

Water is crucial to essentially every process and function in the body. It is why our bodies are made up of about 70% water. The body can stay long without food, but it can only survive several days without water.

Water helps the body with temperature regulation, digestion, waste removal, and every cell process imaginable. You should drink at least eight glasses of water every day to have a healthy body.  

Another element that the body truly requires and cannot function without is clean air. On the other hand, it may be considered controversial to consider clean air as a nutrient.

You need clean air for every process in your body. Air is responsible for providing the body with oxygen, which is what allows the body to produce any sort of energy hence conducting any process.

Unfortunately, we have polluted the air in our cities to the point that it is causing diseases, deformities, and even death in some people. However, you can use an air purifier to ensure you are getting enough clean air. 

The nine nutrients above are essential to a healthy body, and no one can do without a sufficient amount of them. You should be getting enough of the above nutrients on a daily basis. If you do, you are all but assured of a healthy body.