While you need all your essential macronutrients- carbohydrate, fat and protein to help you maintain an optimal health and boost your performance during workout, you also need to ensure that you don’t miss out on the essential micronutrients- vitamins and minerals.
However, in a bid to avoid fat/ fatty food consumption and to maintain a healthy diet, many go wrong by cutting down on certain food groups that are actually healthier for you and help you meet your requirements for certain nutrients. This poses a great risk to missing out on the fat-soluble vitamins namely, A, D, E & K.
In this article we share the sources that you can safely include in your meals to bank p on these much needed fat-soluble vitamins.
Vit A:
One of the major reasons for requirement of Vitamin A is for cell growth and maintenance of organs like heart, skin, and lungs along with being important for immunity, vision and bone health.
There are two main sources of vitamin A- animal sources, that contain preformed vitamin A in the form of retinol, and plant sources, which contain provitamin A carotenoids that the body has to convert to retinol. The most important carotenoid is beta-carotene which provides the bright orange color in vegetables like carrots.
RDA for Vit A for adult men is 900 mcg, while for adult women it is 700 mcg.
Best sources of Vit A:
Organ meats (liver)- a standard 85 gm. gives a whopping 444% of the RDA
Sweet Potato- a medium potato gives you about 438% of the RDA
Kale- 1 large cupful gives you 206% of the RDA. It is also rich in Vit K!
Vit D:
It is no news that Vitamin D is an important factor needed for strong, healthy bones. It helps in the functioning of osteoblasts (which work for bone formation), not only that, it is also necessary for appropriate calcium absorption. To add to that, researches in recent years have shown that Vit D has beneficial role to play in heart health, brain function and well as in lowering and controlling diabetes and obesity.
Just like Vit A,Vit D also has two forms: Vitamin D from sunlight is in the D-3 form (also called cholecalciferol). It is also found in animal sources like egg yolk and fish and is the more potent form of Vit D.
Vit D-2 is derived from yeasts and is also fond in certain plant forms like mushrooms.
RDA for Vitamin D is 600 IU daily.
Best sources for Vit D:
Herring fish- gives you a 115% of the RDA along with Vit b12.
Salmon fish- gives you about 162% of the RDA.
Other good sources for vitamin D include cod liver oil, mackerel, milk, egg yolks, fortified foods like yogurt, cereals, juice.
Vit E:
Vitamin E is a name given collectively to the group of fat-soluble compounds called tocopherol and tocotrienols, which function in the body as antioxidants. These antioxidants help in limiting the oxidative stress brought about on the immunity system through free radical activity. By helping manage the oxidative damage, Vit E becomes an important factor needed for a better health, overall. However, with a diet low in fat, majority of people lose out on this wonder Vitamin.
RDA: at least 15 mg/ d for adults
Suggested Read: Good Fat, Bad Fat: Know What Foods Are Healthy For You
Best sources of Vit E:
Sunflower seeds: gives you around 47% RDA per 28 grams
Almonds: 37% RDA per 28 grams
Hazelnut: 32% RDA per tbsp. of oil
Vit K:
We all know Vitamin K as the clotting vitamin that is needed in the right amounts for helping the blood clot properly during bleeding. Certain Vitamin-K dependent proteins are also needed for the right bone metabolism.
RDA for Vitamin K is 120/d for mcg for adult men and 90 mcg/d for adult women.
Best sources for Vit K:
1 cup Broccoli: gives about 116% RDA
Beet Greens: gives 190% RDA per cup
Watercress: gives about 106% RDA per cup
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If you want a detailed nutrition consultation, drop us a mail at nutrition@oziva.in or call us on 9769298556 and our experts will help you with your fitness goal
Last modified: June 23, 2017
