Minerals 101

Minerals are inorganic substances which means that they cannot be created by living organisms. Our body cannot create them that’s why it is so imperative to replenish minerals every single day.

I find that minerals are not often talked about by health professionals even though they are very fundamental for the body. Minerals have key roles in doing necessary functions such as:
• energy production ⚡️
• blood sugar balance 🍫
• synthesis of hormones and enzymes 🧬
• heartbeat regulation 🫀
• digestion 🍽️
• muscle, brain and nervous system functions 🧠
And so much more! These were just a few examples to gain more understanding of just how much minerals are important.
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Minerals are divided into:
• macrominerals - calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, phosphorus, sulfur
• microminerals/trace elements - copper, zinc, iron, selenium, iodine, boron, molybdenum, manganese, chromium

• heavy metals - antimony, uranium, arsenic, beryllium, mercury, cadmium, lead, aluminium

Macrominerals are needed in higher amounts. When we balance them, usually microminerals will fall into balance as well, without any extra focus on them.

Microminerals are minerals that are needed in lower amounts. Even though they are found in smaller amounts in the body, microminerals are still very important and play a role in our health and wellbeing.

Heavy metals are minerals that have little to no benefit to the human body. They have higher atomic weight which allows them to displace lighter elements like macro and microminerals. They are found in our environment so it cannot be avoided but to have them in our body to a certain extent. Higher accumulation of heavy metals is very toxic to our health and can cause lots of health problems.

The more imbalanced minerals you have, the more vulnerable you are to accumulating heavy metals. Minerals protect us against heavy metals so when you want to detox them, you need to build up your mineral stores first.

I know there are many types of heavy metal detoxes these days but the truth is, they can do more harm than good. Heavy metals are usually not the root cause but only a symptom. The root cause is having mineral imbalances which allowed heavy metals to take place in the body. If you’re just doing a detox without any consideration of your mineral status, then you are just wasting your time and money because the metals are gonna accumulate in the body again.

But if you for example live near a smelter or rocky soil and therefore have constant exposure to heavy metals for extended period of time, you are going to accumulate them in your body no matter your mineral status.