Kirsty's Vitality

When we talk about nutrition and a healthy diet, we often classify vitamins and minerals together as one nutrient. This is not entirely surprising, as without minerals we can't get the full benefits of the vitamins that we eat...

A healthy diet means getting a good balance of all of the essential nutrients that our bodies require to perform necessary functions correctly, including all of the vitamins. By ensuring that you're getting these essential vitamins as part of a healthy diet, you'll look good in the outside and feel fabulous on the inside too!...

Bioflavonoids were once known as vitamin P; there are many different types of this important nutrient, all of which we must source from the food we intake as part of a healthy diet, as the body has no capacity to produce them itself. The different types of bioflavonoids include; hesperidin, quercetin, and rutin...

Also known as ubiquinone, coenzyme Q10 is a substance which is similar to a vitamin, whose structure is something like a cross between vitamins E and K - this essential nutrient is vital for a balanced, healthy diet. Coenzyme Q10 is present in all of the body’s cells, but is particularly prevalent in the heart muscle...

It could be said that proteins maketh the man - essential for the growth and repair of body tissue, proteins are often referred to as the 'building blocks of life' - without getting a good balance of these nutrients, you can't acheive a healthy diet. Consisting of compounds known as amino acids, when we consume proteins, our bodies break them down into these amino acids, which are then combined to create a variety of different molecules...

Put simply, carbohydrates give you the energy that your body needs to keep going; without including them in a healthy diet, you'll tire easily and end up on the 'go slow'! However, as with any food group, it's important to keep the right balance for the best results...

When people hear the word fat, they tend to assume that it's a bad thing - but in reality, fat is an essential nutrient that needs to be incorporated into our daily, healthy diet. If you want a healthy complexion, beautiful hair, warmth in the colder weather and vital protection for your internal organs, then you need to make fat your friend! Fat also is also an essential ingredient for a good hormone metabolism and the repair of body tissue...

If you've already read our article about fats, then you'll already have learned that despite their bad reputation, fats are an essential component of a healthy diet. However, it's important to distinguish between good and bad fats, in order to ensure that you're getting the right kind of fats that the body needs...

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 10 years, you can't have failed to notice the amount of references in the media to cholesterol, and how we should all be working to lower the levels of cholesterol in our blood. While it's certainly dangerous to our health to have high cholesterol levels, it's important to understand that cholesterol is also an essential part of a healthy diet. Approximately 20% of the cholesterol in our bodies comes from the food that we eat, with the other 80% being produced in the body by the liver...

Because fibre isn't absorbed by the body and provides us with neither calories nor vitamins, it's not considered to be an actual nutrient. However, fibre still plays an essential role in a healthy diet, because we need it to digest and process the other foods that we intake, and it helps our bodies to absorb the nutrients supplied by these foods. Fibre can also play a key role in lowering your blood cholesterol levels...

We've all heard about the importance of water as part of a healthy diet, and the fact that we need it to stay hydrated and healthy. However, many of us don't really understand exactly why water is such a vital part of a healthy diet, and exactly what purposes it serves aside from quenching our thirst...