Our bodies need a healthy balance of different vitamins, minerals, salts, and fluids to maintain good health. Everybody is unique, but we all need the same nutrients to keep us going. These essential vitamins and minerals come from what we eat and drink. It’s ideal to get everything that our bodies need from our diet, but sometimes that is not realistic. Taking supplements and a balanced daily multivitamin can help you retain all of the nutrients that you need. Here are the essential vitamins and minerals you should be taking everyday:

1. Potassium: Potassium is the vitamin that most Americans are missing in their diet. You may see it labeled as “K”. It’s good for maintaining healthy blood pressure. It’s an electrolyte that counteracts salts and sodium, which is why is helps the blood flow. It also helps prevent stroke, maintain muscle mass, keeps bones strong, controls the electrical capacity of the heart, and prevents kidney stones. It’s a vital component in regulating all of the body’s fluids. Without enough potassium, you can experience fatigue, constipation, kidney problems, and weakness. Low potassium can also cause muscles spasms, which is common in athletes. As you sweat, the body expels salts and minerals in your body, which can also include potassium. The top foods that are rich in potassium are lima beans, beet greens, soy beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, tomato paste, and halibut. You can also find it in many daily multivitamin supplements.Magnesium: This mineral is incredibly helpful for women. It’s key to building bones and keeping muscles healthy. It can also contribute to alleviating premenstrual problems as well as migraines. It regulates many enzymes and glucose levels in the blood. Those who have a higher amount of magnesium in their diet are at a significantly lower risk for developing diabetes. Without enough magnesium, you can experience fatigue, muscle spasms, loss of appetite, vomiting, personality changes, and seizures. You can find it in pumpkins, brazil nuts, spinach, brown rice, artichokes, and sunflower seeds.
2. Calcium: Everyone knows about calcium, but are you getting enough? Women can start losing bone mass as early as their late twenties. It’s important to start maintaining good bone health as early as possible. Calcium does more than just make up your bones. It also is an important factor for your nervous system, regenerating muscle tissue, and helps regulate heart health and blood pressure. To get more calcium in your diet, look to dairy products, dark leafy greens like spinach and broccoli, fish with edible bones, beans, and oatmeal. As you age, you need more calcium in your diet to fight against natural aging of muscles and bones.
3. Iron: Iron helps our bodies create more red blood cells. On our red blood cells, we also have hemoglobin, which holds oxygen on it. This is how our entire bodies receive the essential oxygen that we need to live. With more iron, we are able to have more red blood cells, and more hemoglobin on those red blood cells. Without enough iron, you can become anemic, which makes you fatigued, mentally dull, and causes a weakened immune system. You can find iron from eating red meat, white beans, dark chocolate, dark leafy greens, blueberries, and potatoes.
4. Vitamin D: To strengthen our bones, we need vitamin D to bind with calcium. The magnesium helps facilitate bringing the two together, which is why all three are vitally important for everyone’s diet. It can also help in other ways with our brain function and nervous system. There’s also evidence that vitamin D plays a role in our immune health and insulin regulation. Your body can naturally create its own vitamin D from sunlight. When the sun hits our skin, our body’s chemical reaction creates vitamin D, but you can also get this from food. Most seafood and fish contain good amounts of vitamin D, as well as chicken and eggs.

First, look to what you are eating to try and get everything that you need. If you have issues with allergies or issues with accessibility, then look to multivitamins to replace the minerals and vitamins that you aren’t getting. Your health starts with you. Start forming healthy habits in the kitchen.