Out of 3,800 Minerals, 4 Can Help You Lose Weight

Getting the necessary vitamins and minerals is essential to your health, and it can also help you lose weight. Before we get to weight loss, let's start with some basics about minerals. When people talk about proper nutrition, they rarely mention vitamins without their sidekick, minerals. But did you ever stop to wonder what the difference is between the two? Vitamins are organic, meaning, like all living things, they contain carbon. Minerals, on the other hand, are inorganic. Another very important difference is that all vitamins (there are 13 total) are essential to our bodies, whereas only 15 of the approximately 3,800 known minerals are essential to our bodies.

It's important to understand these differences because it's dangerous to consume a higher mineral count than your body needs. The 15 that are essential are divided into two categories: macro minerals and trace minerals. Macrominerals, as the prefix implies, are those your body needs a large amount of. Here are the 7 macro minerals: Minerals equals Vegetables!

Calcium
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Potassium
Sulfur
Chloride
Sodium

Trace minerals are those your body only needs a "trace," or very small, amount of. These are the 8 trace minerals:

Iron
Zinc
Copper
Iodine
Fluoride
Chromium
Selenium
Manganese
Molybdenum

Now that we've covered Mineral Basics 101, let's take a look at which ones can help you lose weight. If you've seen the recent American Dairy Council ads, then you know that some studies suggest that increased calcium intake can help with weight loss. Fat-free dairy products contain as much as calcium as full-fat dairy products, so reach for the skim milk as an added boost to your weight loss plan. Then there's chromium, which has a legitimate, if a bit complex, relationship to your weight. We need chromium to metabolize sugar, which means chromium is related to the regulation of blood-glucose levels. Because our blood-glucose levels effect our cravings, chromium actually plays a role in controlling hunger.

Next is manganese, which helps regulate both blood-glucose and the metabolism of fat. Manganese is essential to the proper functioning of our thyroid. Thyroids, in turn, are key to maintaining a healthy weight. Finally, zinc, like chromium, plays an important part in regulating your appetite. While all of those on the list are necessary for maintaining good health, these are four you should pay special care not to neglect when embarking on a weight loss program.

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