8. Mineral Deficiencies
Do you think your brain just regulates the calories your body takes in? If that’s the case then why are so many people, especially Americans, constantly hungry even though they get plenty of calories?
Being overweight is thought to imply one thing - and excess of calories. This is true but the excess calorie intake may be due to being "malnourished" in essential minerals
Essential minerals are substances essential to your health that your body cannot produce on its own. Humans, and the pets we feed, are the only species on earth that, on average, consume far more calories than are needed to survive and thrive. Maybe it's the quality - not the quantity - of the food that's causing the problem in both these cases.
Your brain is your master regulator. It oversees energy, repair, and recovery. Repair and recovery is arguably more important than getting calories. Ponder this concept next time you have a sleepless night and struggle to function the next day. We must repair and recovery constantly but we don’t have to eat constantly because of our calorie reserves (stored fat).
Repair and recovery needs may actually explain, at least in part, not only hunger, but cravings. Food cravings are considered by many experts to be the body's subconscious way of filling a nutritional need. When the body lacks a specific nutrient, it naturally craves foods that are rich in that nutrient. For instance, chocolate cravings may be related low magnesium levels and pickles in expecting moms for the salt and probiotics. Nutritional studies show that up to 90% of us are either magnesium deficient or insufficient. Cravings for meat or cheese are often correlated with low iron or calcium levels. Iron is important to maintain proper oxygen levels in our body while calcium is needed for every single heartbeat. Thank God for craving - it may be a simple survival response.
Fulfilling your cravings, then, may be an important signal to help your body meet its nutrient needs and correct the nutrient deficiency. However, all too many are getting mixed signals from slick marketing which directs us away from the actual needs of our body.
Mineral Deficiency and its Role in Hunger and Cravings:
Sodium plays a critical role in maintaining the body's fluid balance and is necessary for survival. For this reason, cravings for high-sodium, salty foods may be a response to sodium needs. Looking at this issues from the other direction, studies on people deficient in sodium often report strong cravings for salty foods. Similarly, people whose blood sodium levels have been purposefully lowered, either through diuretics (water pills) or exercise, also generally report an increased preference for salty foods or drinks. How many people that you know are on a salt-restricted diet?
Sodium salt (table salt) is just one of the many “salt” nutrients our body needs and craves when deficient. Potassium may be the actual source of salt cravings. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Potassium is 4.7 grams whereas that for Sodium is only 3.4 grams. Our food supply, especially processed and restaurant foods, is very high in sodium and relatively low in potassium. Excess sodium but a lack of potassium may be the actual source of “salt” cravings and hunger.
Accusing any single mineral, like potassium for example, for cravings and a hunger response may also be a bit naive. In actuality, most of us are mineral deficient in general. The following link discusses, “The 27 Essential Vitamins and Minerals - Deficiencies and Toxicity.” https://huel.com/pages/information-on-vitamin-and-minerals-in-huel-deficiencies-and-toxicity Browsing this may give you an appreciation for the scope of potential deficiencies. I have many mid-Western clients who live in the “goiter belt.” Goiter is a preventable thyroid condition caused by a deficiency in the mineral form of iodine.
Soil and Food Mineral Deficiency
Dr. Maynard Murray conducted a series of agricultural experiments over 60 years ago by growing crops on segregated plots of land with different applied nutrients. He demonstrated, for the first time, that our commercially farmed soils were deficient in essential nutrients - even 60 years ago. All fields had plenty of “fertilizer” nutrients, but were woefully lacking in a diversity of many other nutrients required for humans to thrive, not just survive.
Translation: Even if you eat well including fresh foods grown commercially and sold at your local supermarket, you may still be “malnourished” and chronically hungry.
I encourage everyone to read the works of Maynard Murray. A good summary is found at https://seaagri.com/doctor-maynard-murray/?v=7516fd43adaa.
We all know the reason for and purpose of stored fat, right? We squirrel away calories during “feast” so we can use these stored calories later during “famine.” This is a very natural process. Hibernating animals do just that, putting on pounds of “storage” only to use them during their deep sleep. Too many of us don’t use these “calories in your body’s freezer,” but only store them.
Our bones is another immensely important storage system in out body. Bones are NOT just structural assemblies to maintain our body form. Bones are a source of important immune cells, for example B (for bone) cells. From a long-term survival perspective, however, our bones are a storage reservoir for essential minerals. Historically and Biblically, people fasted for up to 40 days. Fat reserves provided the energy requirements.
However, we are a body electric. How did and do people on a long fast maintain their electrical system, including the beating of their hearts? The answer is, their body pulled calcium and other nutrients from their bones to keep their hearts, brains, and other body-electric components operating. Thus, just like calories, you body want you to consume nutrients in slight excess for the purposes of storage for future emergencies.
Ladies worried about bone health should focus more on taking in sufficient minerals through food and absorbing them with good digestion. Steer clear of the dangerous bone brittling drugs prescribed by traditional doctors. Note, however, our food supply is sufficient in calcium, generally, but is NOT sufficient in nutrients that support the proper distribution and balancing of calcium in our bodies, including vitamins D, K2, and nutrients like magnesium, to name a few. An interesting study showed that people on a calorie-restricted diet lost weight but also lost bone mass even though on a calcium supplement. Calcium cannot find it’s way into your bones without help - called cofactors. These dieters were most likely not only calorie deficient - for the weight loss - but were also nutrient deficient (malnourished) as substantiated by bone loss measurements.
We welcome you to one of our private web pages to learn about the importance of nutrient density in your diet.
This url also provides useful information: https://theartofunity.com/causes-of-common-mineral-deficiencies/
Takeaways
Hunger isn’t driven just by a lack of calories.
Hunger is driven by a lack of nutrients
You cannot fool your brain - It knows what you are lacking and signals you to correct the deficiency.
Even whole natural foods, produced on commercially farmed fields may not have adequate nutrients to allow you to thrive.
The more chronically sick you are, the more you need nutrients - not just calories (repair and recovery on overdrive)
Conclusion
We all need to be aware of the need to consume a nutrient-dense, not a calorie-rich diet. The best place to start is to eliminate processed and fast foods. Because of the quality of our food supply, I recommend going as “organic” as possible and supplementing with essential nutrients. My family eats organic as often as we can and takes cod liver oil (5g/day) and an occasional multi-mineral/vitamin.
Think "repair and recovery" with (almost) every bite!
Be Well...
