Fitness is holistic. It involves your mind, body, and soul!
The fitness of the mind involves thinking. Challenge your brain by learning a language, doing puzzles, going back to school, and practicing Lumosity.
The fitness of the body involves nutrients and exercise. Nutrients = food, water, and air. Exercise = activities such as house cleaning, walking/running. DIY projects, sports are playing, dancing, and weight lifting.
Food gives our body the energy and essential minerals that it needs to function. How food is processed, packaged, and delivered affects the nutritional value of our food. Minerals come in two categories: macro and micro.
Macro-minerals
• Calcium
• Phosphorous
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Sulfur
• Sodium
• Chloride
Micro-minerals (or Trace Minerals)
• Iron
• Boron
• Chromium
• Iodine
• Manganese
• Molybdenum
• Selenium
• Silicon
• Vanadium
• Zinc
• Lithium
• Germanium
• Rubidium
• Cobalt
• Copper
Role of Minerals in the Body
-
-
- Minerals act as co-factors for enzyme reactions. Enzymes don’t work without minerals. All cells require enzymes to work & function. They give us our vitality.
- They maintain the pH balance within the body.
- Minerals facilitate the transfer of nutrients across cell membranes.
- They retain proper nerve conduction
- Minerals help to contract and relax muscles.
- They help to regulate our bodies’ tissue growth.
- Minerals provide structural and functional support for the body.
-
Of all of these minerals found in the body, calcium is the main mineral. It comprises almost half of the mineral content in the body. Calcium is only made available for other tissues in the body when the bone is broken down during remodeling. The bone helps to buffer the pH level of the blood through the release of calcium from the bone. (Bone is a significant buffer of calcium and calcium is a substantial buffer of blood pH.) When blood is too acidic, it will pull calcium from the tissues. And when the blood gets too alkaline, calcium can separate and get deposited into the wrong muscles, thereby causing problems if an excess occurs in those tissues. Calcium is also needed for every nerve impulse.
Appropriate fatty acid intake in the diet is necessary for the calcium to transport through the cells’ walls. Fatty acids also help increase the calcium levels in the tissues.
If certain hormones are dysfunctional in the body, this will also affect our bodies’ ability to utilize calcium. The mineralocorticoids produced by the adrenals are very important in regulating minerals, particularly sodium/potassium homeostasis, which has a role in calcium homeostasis as well.
For calcium to be absorbed, it needs an acidic environment. If there is weak hydrochloric acid in the stomach, you won’t be able to utilize the calcium you consume. Additionally, zinc is needed to help create hydrochloric acid.
Water absorbs essential minerals and provides our body with calcium and magnesium. It keeps the body hydrated to ensure that the blood is fluid enough to transport calcium throughout the body to other tissues efficiently. Water naturally have fluoride. Excessive fluoride intake over time may lead to an increased risk of bone fracture. Therefore, the Environmental Protection Agency has set the maximum contaminant level for fluoride at 4 milligrams per liter of water.
Air helps convert minerals into energy when you eat. Your cells need oxygen to convert the nutrients you eat into energy for your body.
Exercise is necessary for body development. The more we move, our muscles become or remain firm. Activities teach our muscles what to do to accomplish a goal.
The fitness of the soul consists of calm and rest. When the body is in a calm state, it is free of the stress that disrupts our life. Calmness causes our response to situations that usually stress us out and make us mad to be more suitable. In other words, we tend not to overreact in a stressful situation.
