Why We Might Eat A Full Meal And Still Feel Hungry
It has become a common experience among many people to eat a full meal and still be hungry soon afterward and in this article we will discover one of the major reasons why. Most people know that food is composed of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, and many people are also aware of the presence of other nutrients such as Vitamin C. An additional component to our food which some people may not be aware of are minerals, which we all remember from the periodic table of elements we studied in school.
Why Our Bodies Need Minerals
There are 118 elements known to man and the human body actually needs around 90 of these elements, most of them in only trace amounts, to properly function. Every second inside the body there are billions of tiny chemical reactions taking place. Take a look at the graphic below depicting the chemical process of cellular respiration. Cells breath just like humans and there are a lot of reaction that take place to make this happen. Don’t worry about the names and the complicated processes, just realize that all of these reactions are happening every second, in all of the roughly 10 trillion cells in the body. That’s a lot of chemical reactions!
The point about this is that minerals are required for these reactions, and all of the other thousands of different chemical processes happening inside the body, so without minerals, our bodies cannot function properly. So where do we get these minerals from? In past centuries we would receive them from our food, however, because of the current soil conditions on the planet, most people are only getting three minerals from their diet. Yes, that’s correct, most people are only getting three minerals in the proper amounts, of the roughly 90 that are required to maintain a healthy human body.
Why Minerals Aren’t In Our Food
How is this possible? There are two major reasons for this and they both relate to the agricultural industry. The tendency in the agricultural industry is to grow one crop at a time on a specific area of land, typically referred to as a mono-crop. Farming mono-crops is easier and cheaper for farmers because different crops need to be planted and harvested at different times, have unique water requirements, and so on. It is obvious that managing many crops at once on the same tract of land would require a lot more work. The issue with this is that mono-cropping completely goes against nature.
In nature we see a vast array of plants and animals living in the same space. There exist complex and symbiotic relationships between all of these species which contribute to soil fertility. Without going into too much detail, each plant, animal, insect or micro-organism, play a part in the system. A simple example of this is that plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and emit oxygen for humans to breath. These types of symbiotic relationships exist everywhere in nature. The point is that when there is only one crop on a piece of land such as corn, and on top of this pesticides are being sprayed which kill insects and microorganisms, the symbiotic relationships which create healthy soil are destroyed. To “fix” the issues created by monocropping, humans invented fertilizers.
Most people know that fertilizers are used on farms to boost productivity of crops and enhance soil. These fertilizers tend to contain primarily three minerals which are N (Nitrogen), P (Phosphorus), and K (Potassium), commonly referred to as NPK. This is because these three minerals alone will make crops look healthy and colorful. The problem is that these three minerals by themselves do not create healthy and natural topsoil and as a result, most crops only end up containing NPK at the proper levels. The conditions for healthy topsoil require a biodiverse environment as well as an abundance of minerals in the soil.
The Solution
So the point about all of this is that even if we are eating a diet full of fruits and vegetables, chances are the crops were grown in soil pumped up with fertilizers containing NPK and nearly void of most of the minerals that our body needs. When we eat a meal and still feel hungry, this is our body trying to communicate with us! It’s saying, “Hey, thanks for that, but where is the rest of the stuff I need? Where are all the minerals?!”
Accepting this fact can be overwhelming and could lead to thoughts like, “Geez! It’s hard enough to eat fruits and vegetables and now I find out that even if I do, I’m still not going to be healthy?!” Relax! There is a simple solution to this problem. There are a wide array of mineral supplements available on the market today. Mineral supplements are different than vitamins and this is an important point. Look for supplements which contain a high amount of minerals derived from a natural source. Soon after beginning to take mineral supplements many people notice a drastic decrease in food cravings. Minerals also facilitate in the absorption of vitamins, and actually without minerals, vitamins are basically obsolete because minerals are needed to facilitate the chemical reactions which allow them to do their job! One of the best one’s I have found is called TRC minerals and can be purchased here on Amazon.com. The bottle will last one month, which equates to a cost of about 50 cents a day!
Stay happy and healthy,
John
