Animal, Mineral, or Vegatable?

 The Healthy Staff program is designed to promote balanced nutrition and good eating habits for workers of Little Red Hen. Do you think you're getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs? Enough of each type of nutrient? Too much of one type? If you need to be sure, check Healthy Staff out!

Check out the list below of recommended nutrients you should be intaking every day. Be you vegetarian or not, anyone might need an adjustment to their daily caloric intake to lose a little extra weight or acquire nutrients they are currently lacking.

 According to the USDA, (United States Department of Agriculture), most Americans do not get enough Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, Magnesium, or Vitamins of different kinds. You need to eat a good amount of these to stay healthy. Ask your doctor if you are lacking any of these important nutrients and then eat more of them. We're here to help as well, for we have a list of foods with each of these things. After seeing what you need, try some of the foods we have here on the list under each category. 

Vitamin A can be found in foods like animal products, such as beef, fish, and liver. Dark leafy vegetables, fruits, and dairy products are also filled with it. For Vitamin C, go for Citrus Fruits, Tomatoes, and Potatoes as well as Strawberries, Brussel sprouts, and Cantaloupe. Vitamin D can come from fatty fish, tuna, mackerel, beef liver, and egg yolk. It's also something that we get by going out and walking in the sunlight. So go out and enjoy the spring shine before clouds come again.                                 

Fiber helps regulate the bodies use of sugars, helping to keep hunger and blood sugar in check. It also makes your intestines move faster and lessens the chance you might catch various diseases like Heart Disease, Breast Cancer, or Diabetes. Brown rice, Fruits, Vegetables and whole grain products are excellent sources of it.

 Calcium builds strong bones and teeth, which is very important for kids. But adults need it as well to maintain bone mass. Animal products, seafood, dairy, beans, spinach, oatmeal, and almonds are all sources of Calcium. You don't want your bones or teeth breaking, do you? That would be painful and expensive to get a gold tooth to fill it in. 

 Like Calcium, Magnesium helps bones. It maintains the normal structure of the bones as well as guards against disease, high blood pressure, clogged arteries, stroke, and heart disease. Magnesium provides us with energy which can be used to do athletic activities like running. Chocolate, meats, vegetables, seeds, and nuts (especially almonds) are all sources of magnesium.  

Iron is important too, it plays a vital role in immune system function, treating anemia, boosting hemoglobin, and much more. It's also important if you want to give blood in order to save lives. But if you go down to Blood Source or other donation companies and find you have an iron level too low to be used, you need to get more iron in your diet. Pumpkin, squash, and sesame seeds, meats such as beef, lamb, oysters, clams, mussels, as well as bread, pasta, are all foods that can help in this. You can get iron from a lot of sources depending on your taste. It is very important for both your health and the health of those that might need a bit of your blood.                                  

You need to have a wide variety of foods to get your body to function at its best. Want to live longer so you can do more with your life? Proper Nutrition will keep you in better overall health and give you more energy. Make sure to eat plenty of fruit, veggies, and much more. Vegetarianism can be very healthy, but don't let it deny you the nutrients you may need in the form of protein!