Not everything you eat, however healthy it is, nourishes you. Certain substances in food can “steal” vitamins and minerals from you.
If you feel tired, or angry, your hair falls out more or your nails are more fragile, even if you notice dry lips or have sores in your mouth or red eyes, you may be missing vitamins or minerals, and you don’t know it.
When this happens, it is usually due to an unbalanced diet. However, if the diet is correct, there may be another reason: your body does not assimilate the vitamins and minerals from food.
Table of Contents
1. What Prevents Assimilating Vitamins Well
The culprits, in this case, may be substances present in some foods that hinder or reduce the absorption of their nutrients or those of other foods that are consumed together with them in the same meal.
These substances are known as ” antinutrients, “The result is that your body ends up receiving fewer vitamins, minerals, etc. than you think you are providing with your daily diet.
2. Why Antinutrients Exist-vitamins
Antinutrients prevent bacteria and molds from growing in food since, throughout evolution, plants have learned to generate toxic compounds to defend against these microorganisms and animals.
The problem is that these compounds do not distinguish between harmful microorganisms and proper nutrients.
In this way, they end up also nullifying the beneficial properties of vitamins and minerals in food or reducing their assimilation.
Despite everything, some of these substances are not as bad as they seem, and with the advice that we give you, you can counteract their effect and rebalance your diet quickly.
3. Fire Nullifies Its Effect-vitamins
Even if you are not aware of it, every day, you usually apply many of the resources that serve to “fight” against antinutrients.
And cooking certain foods, using heat instead of consuming them raw, is the way to disable some of these substances.
This is the case with legumes, for example, which contain protease and lectin inhibitors that prevent the assimilation of amino acid proteins and the absorption of minerals, especially iron.
This ate the raw vegetables, we could even suffer symptoms of intoxication. But the lectins are deactivated with soaking and, above all, with the prolonged cooking that the plants need to be tender.
Well-cooked, they are first-class food that you have nothing to fear.
4. They Can Also Benefit-vitamins
Some antinutrients, on the other hand, are double-sided: they can be both bad and good. Phytic acid or phytate is found in bran and the outer shells or skins of whole grains, legumes, seeds, or nuts – such as wheat, lentils, or peanuts.
This compound sticks to minerals and prevents their absorption by the body, which could favor deficiencies, especially iron, calcium, or zinc.
However, for this to happen, you have to consume it in excessive amounts, which does not usually occur. Furthermore, also, in this case, soaking and slow cooking partially eliminate it.
In wheat bread, for example, fermentation also destroys phytic acid. Phytates also have positive effects, such as sticking to toxic metals like cadmium or lead and removing them.
And they also reduce cholesterol and triglycerides, inhibit the formation of kidney stones, and prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and some types of cancer such as colon or breast cancer.
Another aspect that benefits us is that phytic acid is associated with fiber. Most people take less than the recommended amount for proper digestion and health of the intestinal microbiota.
5. Should We Protect Ourselves From These “Thieves”
Will you follow a varied and balanced diet, you do not have even a slight vitamin deficiency. Of course, if your eating is disordered, monotonous, and irregular, you must balance it little by little, taking all kinds of food in moderation.
Antinutrients, as we have seen, are destroyed by heat, by putting them to soak, by mechanical action, etc.,
But it does not hurt to take some measures, uniquely when combining some foods, since they hinder each other and they end up not feeding you what they should.
6. Avoid These Mixes
a. Yogurt and oat flakes
Oat flakes are rich in iron, but when mixed with the calcium in yogurt, both minerals compete for absorption, and the effect of the two is reduced.
b. Coffee with milk
Coffee hinders the absorption of calcium from milk. Coffee alone also reduces the assimilation of iron, phosphorus, and magnesium … Take it better between meals instead of after eating.
c. Bechamel and spinach
The same is true in this case. If we mix the calcium that bechamel contains – due to its milk content – together with the oxalate of spinach, we obtain a “mixture” that is more difficult for our body to assimilate. You can take spinach with raisins and pine nuts, for example.
7. But Dare With These Combinations
- Vitamin C + iron. Kiwis, citrus, or red peppers favor the absorption of iron from meat, legumes, and cockles …
- Vitamin D + calcium. Salmon, sardines, or eggs facilitate calcium fixation provided by dairy, almonds, or vegetables.
- Lycopene + oleic acid. This tomato antioxidant and responsible for its attractive red color is assimilated much better accompanied by olive oil.
