It’s helpful to familiarize yourself with the various vitamins and minerals, understanding why they matter, what foods they are found in most plentifully, and, in turn, which Thrive Diet recipes are rich sources of each. Vitamins and minerals are an integral part of anyone’s diet, regardless of activity level. However, many active people, and in particular competitive athletes, are often concerned that their diet does not supply enough nutrients. A program based on the principles of the Thrive Diet will provide all the nutrients needed for optimal health and peak athletic performance. The recipes I have created are a good source of all the nutrients a person needs to thrive: Fresh fruit, vegetables, pseudograins, legumes, nuts, and seeds are overwhelmingly present, providing healthy doses of vitamins and minerals.
Vitamin A helps the body resist infection, which it is more prone to after physical exertion, and allows the body to use its reserves for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue (instead of fighting infection)—leading to quicker recovery. Vitamin A helps support growth and repair of muscle and maintains red and white blood cells—crucial for performance.
Best Thrive sources: orange and dark green vegetables, including carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, winter squash, broccoli, kale, parsley, and spinach; apricots, mango, papaya, cantaloupe.
Vitamin B1 helps the body convert carbohydrate into energy. Maintaining high energy levels depends in part on maintaining adequate vitamin B1 in the diet. People who eat healthy rarely have a problem getting enough vitamin B1; it’s plentiful in many foods. Also, because active people expend more energy than the average person, they need more vitamin B1. Again, this is usually not a problem, since with increased activity comes increased appetite.
Best Thrive sources: legumes, pseudograins, nuts, brown rice, nutritional yeast, blackstrap molasses.
Vitamin B2 helps break down amino acids (protein) for the body to use. Utilization of amino acids is a key factor in quick muscle recovery and regeneration after exertion. Like vitamin B1, B2 helps the body convert carbohydrate into energy.
Vitamin B2 aids in the formulation of growth hormones, a primary factor in muscle health and development. It also contributes to healthy red blood cell production. Red blood cells are the carriers of oxygen to working muscles, making them an integral part of performance.
Best Thrive sources: legumes, pseudograins, nuts, brown rice, nutritional yeast, blackstrap molasses.
Vitamin B3 is essential for the body’s breakdown and utilization of carbohydrate and protein. As with other B vitamins, vitamin B3 plays an integral part in the conversion of food into energy. Vitamin B3 has an important role in keeping the digestive system healthy as well. A healthy digestive system will allow the body to get more out of its food, reducing hunger and the amount of food needed. Also, a healthy digestive system will extract trace minerals from food, essential for performance.
Best Thrive sources: beets, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast.
As with other B vitamins, vitamin B5 helps the body convert food into energy. As well, vitamin B5 facilitates the production of steroids—an integral part of the regeneration process after exertion. This vitamin is found in a wide variety of healthy foods, and deficiency is uncommon.
Best Thrive sources: seeds, pseudograins, avocados.
As a B vitamin, B6 too participates in the release of energy from food and in the formation of red blood cells. Vitamin B6 aids in the production of antibodies—essential for warding off infection and maintaining the ability to recover from exertion quickly. Vitamin B6 contributes to cardiovascular health, helping the heart efficiently circulate blood in a greater volume as demanded by the active person.
Best Thrive sources: pseudograins, bananas, brown rice, walnuts, avocados, oats.
Vitamin B12 is essential for a healthy nervous system, aiding in coordination and smooth muscle movement. As with other B vitamins, B12 plays a role in the production of red blood cells and conversion of food to usable energy. Unlike other B vitamins, B12 is not plentiful in foods. Special attention must be paid to ensure dietary B12 needs are met, particularly if the diet doesn’t contain animal products and exercise level is moderate to high.
Best Thrive sources: chlorella, miso, nutritional yeast.
Biotin works in concert with the B vitamins as a converter of food into usable energy.
Best Thrive sources: nuts, nutritional yeast.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, meaning it plays an integral role in reducing damage to body tissue and muscle done by physical activity; it is therefore essential for active people. Cellular damage that occurs as a result of environmental factors such as pollution will be minimized by daily ingestion of vitamin C. The ability to minimize environmental stress will greatly improve the body’s ability to ward off infection and allow it to recover from physical activity considerably quicker. Iron absorption is improved when iron is ingested at the same time as vitamin C–rich foods.
Best Thrive sources: most vegetables and fruits (especially citrus fruits).
Vitamin D allows the body to absorb calcium more efficiently—a key factor for proper bone formation (and healing) and smooth muscle contractions.
Best Thrive sources: nutritional yeast, exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin E, like vitamin C, is a powerful antioxidant. Active people need higher levels of vitamin E than sedentary people, as vitamin E, in concert with others, reduces the constant stress exercise places on the body.
Promoting cardiovascular health by maintaining an optimal ratio of “good” to “bad” cholesterol is another role of vitamin E. The ability to maintain the ideal ratio is a key factor for proper growth hormone production—the cornerstone of muscle rejuvenation post-exertion. Vitamin E also combats the effects of harmful free radicals produced by physical activity.
Best Thrive sources: flaxseed oil, hemp oil, pumpkin seed oil, and especially raspberry seed, cranberry seed, and pomegranate seed oil; nuts, avocados.
Vitamin K plays a significant role in blood clotting. It also provides the heart with nutrients it needs for optimal function.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, pine nuts.
For most people, bone strength and repair is calcium’s major role. Active people, however, have another important job for the mineral: muscle contraction and ensuring a rhythmic heart beat. Upward of 95 percent of the body’s calcium is stored in the skeleton, and a decline in calcium levels may take years to manifest as osteoporosis. But a decline will be noticeable as an irregular heart beat and muscle cramps—the responsibilities of that remaining few percent. Since calcium in the bloodstream is lost in sweat and muscle contractions, a higher dietary level for active people is recommended.
The body orchestrates the effective combination of calcium and vitamin D to maximize calcium absorption.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, unhulled sesame seeds, tahini.
Chromium works with other vitamins and minerals to turn carbohydrate into usable energy.
Best Thrive sources: pseudograins, nuts, nutritional yeast, black pepper, thyme.
Like vitamin C, copper assists iron absorption in the body. With iron, copper plays a role in the transport of oxygen throughout the body—imperative for optimal performance. As a member of the body’s defense network, copper works in concert with antioxidants to reduce effects of environmental and physical damage, providing the body with a strong platform to regenerate and build strength.
Best Thrive sources: legumes, seeds, pseudograins, raisins, nuts.
Folate is a B vitamin that is found naturally in foods; when in supplement form, it is called folic acid. Folate works in tandem with vitamin B12 to help produce oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Folate plays an integral role in helping the body make use of dietary protein, facilitating muscle repair. The heart relies on folate, in part, to help it maintain a smooth, rhythmic, efficient beat—and a higher tolerance for physical activity.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, legumes, pseudograins, orange juice, nutritional yeast.
Iodine is integral to thyroid hormone production. Thyroid hormone assists the cells in the fabrication of protein and the metabolism of fats—essential for energy maintenance. High levels of iodine are lost in sweat, making active people’s requirements higher than those of less active people.
Best Thrive sources: sea vegetables (especially dulse).
The main role of iron is to fabricate hemoglobin to facilitate red blood cell health. An adequate iron level is of paramount importance for the active person. A well-maintained iron level ensures the body is able to deliver oxygen-rich blood to the hard-working extremities, maximizing efficacy. Also used to build blood proteins needed for food metabolism, digestion, and circulation, dietary iron is essential for proper functionality.
Best Thrive sources: spinach, legumes (especially split peas), pumpkin seeds.
Critical for muscle function, magnesium helps the heart beat rhythmically by allowing it to relax between beats, which allows all other muscles to relax. Magnesium also assists in calcium’s bone production.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, string beans, legumes, pseudograins, bananas, nuts, avocados.
As an activator of antioxidant enzymes, manganese contributes to an expedited process of recovery, essential to all those who are physically active. Manganese is a cofactor in energy production, metabolizing protein and fats.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, legumes, pseudograins, nuts, brown rice.
A trace mineral, molybdenum’s chief role is as a mobilizer, moving stored iron from the liver into the bloodstream—of particular significance to active people. An aid in the detoxification processes, molybdenum helps the body rid itself of potentially toxic material, minimizing stress.
Best Thrive sources: legumes, pseudograins, nuts.
Critical in the maintenance of the body’s metabolic system, phosphorus allows the body to use food as fuel. Phosphorus works with calcium in the production, repair, and maintenance of bones.
Best Thrive sources: pseudograins, most tropical fruit.
Potassium, an electrolyte, helps the body maintain fluid balance and therefore hydration. Being properly hydrated is essential for efficient movement. Proper hydration will maintain the blood’s light viscous flow, increasing the amount the heart can pump and improving performance. Smooth, concise muscle contractions are one of potassium’s responsibilities. Nerve impulse transmission and cell integrity also rely, to a degree, on potassium. As a result, smooth motor function, heart beat efficiency, and the ability to strongly contract a muscle are dependent on adequate potassium intake. As with other electrolytes, potassium is lost in sweat, so active people need more.
Best Thrive sources: leafy green vegetables, most fruits (especially bananas and kiwis).
In concert with vitamin E, selenium preserves muscle tissue elasticity, allowing fluent, supple movement. A trace mineral, selenium combines with other antioxidants to shield red blood cells from damage done by physical exertion. It also improves immune function. As with other antioxidants, selenium offers protection from environmental stress encountered by most people on a regular basis.
Best Thrive sources: Brazil nuts, walnuts, brown rice, nutritional yeast.
Zinc’s major role is to allow the body to use dietary protein as building blocks, for the regeneration of muscles. As well, zinc plays an integral role in the preservation of proper immune function.
Best Thrive sources: pseudograins, pumpkin seeds, nutritional yeast.
Carbohydrate is abundant, present in most foods to at least some degree. For nonactive people, a regular diet will supply the body with all the carbohydrate it needs. For active people, however, increased dietary carbohydrate is essential for maintaining energy levels and replenishing muscles post-exertion. Carbohydrate also assists in the digestion and utilization of all other foods.
Carbohydrates are made up of three components: sugar, starch, and fiber. When grains are refined, the fiber is removed, increasing the percentage of starch and sugar. These are the “bad” carbohydrates. Unfortunately, they are the ones most plentiful in the typical North American diet of refined carbohydrates. White bread, pasta, doughnuts, and other such foods make up the vast majority of the average North American’s carbohydrate intake. Fiber-rich whole grains and fruit in particular, on the other hand, are “good” carbohydrate, needed by the body in order to be healthy and function optimally. And as you know, optimal health leads to optimal, lean body composition. In addition, refined, processed carbohydrates cause inflammation to develop in the body. Inflammation is the precursor to visible signs of premature aging. In contrast, carbohydrate derived from raw fruit helps reduce inflammation, contributing to quicker recovery from exercise and slowing of biological aging.
The first symptoms exhibited by people who limit healthy carbohydrates for a prolonged period are mental lethargy and increased general fatigue. If a carbohydrate-restrictive diet is maintained for an extended period, it can lead to internal organ damage and, ironically, a reduction in lean muscle and the accumulation of excess body fat. Complex carbohydrates derived from whole grains are an excellent source of fuel for the muscles and brain.
Best Thrive sources: vegetables, pseudograins, fruit.
When the body is engaged in a low-intensity activity, fat is its primary source of energy. (Carbohydrate takes over once intensity increases.) Fat ensures that fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are delivered and utilized in the body. Fat-soluble vitamins play a major role in overall health; dietary fat helps activate and transport them.
Best Thrive sources: flaxseed, hemp, and pumpkin in seed and oil form; avocado.
Essential Fatty Acids Omega-3 and omega-6 are the two essential fatty acids (EFAs), essential meaning that the body cannot produce them—they must be ingested, by eating foods rich in EFA. EFAs are a type of fat known as long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
EFAs are an important dietary component of overall health. Lending support to the healthy function of the cardiovascular, immune, and nervous systems, EFAs also play an integral role in promoting cell health. Repair and regeneration of the cellular membrane is vital for keeping the body biologically young and enabling it to retain mobility and vitality throughout life. Contributing to our cells’ ability to receive nutrition and eliminate waste, EFAs help keep the cellular regeneration process moving. Our body’s ability to fight off infection and reduce inflammation is in part dependent on having an adequate supply of EFAs in the diet. Healthy and efficient brain development in children has been linked to a diet rich in EFAs.
A balance of omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs is vital for skin health. Dry skin is commonly treated topically with a moisturizer, leaving the cause of the problem unaddressed. A diet with adequate EFAs will keep skin looking and feeling supple.
Best Thrive sources: omega-3: flaxseed, flaxseed oil, all hemp products (protein, flour, seed, oil), walnuts; omega-6: hemp products (protein, flour, seed, oil), seeds, most nuts, vegetable oils (including extra-virgin olive oil), avocados.
Protein assists in the fabrication of hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. Well-formed hormones are essential for a vast number of functions; muscle repair and preservation during exertion are just two. One task of enzymes is to extract nutrients from food so that the body is able to make use of them. Shielding the body from bacteria and viral infection (such as the common cold) is the responsibility of antibodies, which are formulated once dietary protein is ingested. Protein is most praised for its ability to supply broken-down muscles with the building blocks needed to rebuild even stronger. Combined with carbohydrate, protein is able to infuse a tired muscle with more energy than carbohydrate could by itself.
Best sources: leafy green vegetables, legumes, pseudograins, seeds (especially hemp).