There’s a good chance that you already know it’s important to take your vitamins since most of us simply aren’t getting enough of them in our diets.
You don’t need me to preach this to you.
But there’s four vitamins in particular that should be on your radar and I’ll explain why that is along with showing you the exact ones to focus on in this guide.
The Importance of Fat-Soluble Vitamins and What that Actually Means
You may have heard the term “fat-soluble vitamins” before and wondered what that meant.
As the name suggests, fat-soluble vitamins are dissolved in fats and oils.
This means that they need the presence of dietary fat to truly be absorbed into the body. So, if you’re not eating dietary fat while ingesting foods with these vitamins in them, you won’t be absorbing them properly even if you are including them in your diet.
One good thing with fat-soluble vitamins is that they can be stored in your body’s fatty tissue which is helpful to keep your stores at their optimal levels.
I’ll explain why you want to do that in just a moment.
The reason I want to put these four fat-soluble vitamins on your radar is because they play a critical role in how your metabolism functions and they ensure that your hormones are working as they should too, among other things.
These two factors are important whether you want to lose weight or stay healthy so you can live longer, which is why they’re so important to think about.
Let’s dive into them now that you know more about their shared characteristic.
The 4 Fat-Soluble Vitamins that Can Drastically Impact Your Health
Here’s everything you need to know about these four fat-soluble vitamins:
1. Vitamin A
You may have heard of vitamin A as it relates to retinol.
That’s because vitamin A is a group of compounds known as retinol, which includes retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid.
This vitamin in particular is an important antioxidant that’s made from beta carotene and similar compounds known as carotenoids.
They’re important to note because they’re crucial for keeping your vision and immune system functioning strong and they can help with developing in a healthy manner (which is important for growing kids).
Because of that, deficiencies in vitamin A can lead to vision problems and even blindness.
To get enough vitamin A in your diet, you’ll want to consume the following foods:
- Carrots
- Squash
- Butter
- Eggs
- Kale
- Cod liver oil
- Some cheeses
These foods are packed with beta carotene and should be consumed throughout your week.
2. Vitamin D
Vitamin D is connected to bone formation and calcium metabolism but it’s also crucial in keeping your immune system functioning properly, which we could all use right now with the Covid pandemic still wreaking havoc.
Major deficiencies in vitamin D can lead to rickets but, even though that may seem impossible to develop in your lifetime, it’s important to note that upwards of 36% of young, healthy adults are low in vitamin D.
So while rickets may not be in your near future, low vitamin D levels are a real possibility.
This is especially true if you’re not getting enough sun exposure or, when you do, you’re loaded with sunscreen or you wear SPF protecting clothing.
Working and spending most of our time indoors has led to needing to supplement with vitamin D.
This vitamin in particular is also one that has the highest deficiency rate in the world, so it’s crucial to get your levels checked before you start experiencing unwanted symptoms.
On top of getting vitamin D from the sun, you can also find it in the following foods:
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Salmon
- Sardines
- Tuna
- Mackerel
- Many fortified milks and cheeses
3. Vitamin E
You may know of vitamin E thanks to marketing messages relating to skin health.
Vitamin E, similar to A, is a class of compounds. This time they are tocopherols and tocotrienols, such as alpha, beta, gamma, and delta.
Vitamin E is important because it’s one of the main antioxidant molecules in the body and it can help protect our cells from oxidative damage that comes from our environment.
It does this by reducing the breakdown of our cell membranes and other critical cell structures.
While you may think of vitamin E when it comes to skin health, it’s actually connected to neurological disorders, which can cause slurred speech and uncontrolled movements, so it’s definitely important to get enough of.
Speaking of that, you can find vitamin E in:
- Nuts and seeds (especially almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds)
- Salmon
- Butter
- Avocado
Consuming several servings of these foods each week will help you reach optimal vitamin E levels.
4. Vitamin K
Last, but just as important is vitamin K, which is another family of compounds known as phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and menaquinones (vitamin K2).
Vitamin K is crucial for maintaining blood homeostasis and ensuring that your blot clots as it should.
It also plays an important role in bone formation and it works synergistically with vitamin D.
Deficiencies in vitamin K lead to blood clotting disorders where your body struggles to stop you from bleeding (yikes!).
And, since it’s connected to bone health, deficiencies can also lead to osteoporosis.
To avoid those issues from happening, consume foods such as:
- Dark leafy greens like kale, swiss chard, collard and mustard greens
- Romaine lettuce
- Brussel sprouts
Because vitamin K is often not on people’s radars, it’s important to consume these foods several times per week so you don’t get too low on vitamin K.
Final Thoughts on These 4 Fat-Soluble Vitamins
If you’ve made it to this point in my guide (thanks!), you now know just how important these four fat-soluble vitamins are to your health.
Unfortunately, deficiencies are more common in these vitamins, especially vitamin D, as compared to water-soluble vitamins, so it’s important to make an effort to eat the foods mentioned in this guide.
While supplementing with these vitamins can help keep your levels optimal, you don’t want to go overboard since vitamin toxicity is a real consequence of doing so.
To avoid that from happening, you can ask your doctor to run your blood work to see how your levels are before supplementing.
And, in the meantime, ensuring that you’re eating fatty fishes, nuts and seeds, and dark, leafy green lettuces and vegetables each week can ensure you keep your levels in an optimal range.
Enjoying these foods with dietary fat, such as with butter, olive oil, and avocado, also ensures that you absorb as much of the vitamins as possible.
I hope you enjoyed this guide and that you’ll take these vitamins seriously so that your health can benefit from all that these vitamins have to offer.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! (Email me direct at devan@behappynothangry.com).
You can also drop a comment below to share your thoughts.
Sending you lots of love today and every day,
Devan
P.S. The information contained in this guide came directly from my NASM Nutrition Coach course and I used that resource for my research in creating this article.