Zinc

Zinc is essential for keeping a healthy immune system, building proteins, triggering enzymes, and creating DNA. Zinc also helps the cells in your body communicate by functioning as a neurotransmitter. A deficiency in zinc can lead to stunted growth, diarrhea, impotence, hair loss, eye and skin lesions, impaired appetite, and depressed immunity. Zinc is critical in wound healing. It’s also important to have zinc to help build the stomach acid you need in order to pull the minerals from your food to begin with.

Correcting a zinc deficiency can go a long way toward helping the frustrated dieter control impulses to eat something sweet, something fatty, or something devoid of nutrition in an attempt to satisfy an inner compulsion.

You lose zinc as you sweat and through excess urination. So in the beginning of a keto-adapted diet, you will be low in zinc. The average American consumes less than 10 mg of zinc per day, far less than what is required for normal sugar metabolism or the other functions of zinc in the body. A zinc deficiency is a huge issue with PMS and salty cravings, or craving a bite of sweetness after each meal.

Our modern day soil is low in zinc, so the best source of zinc is animal products. Oysters, seafood and organic red meat are your best choices for zinc. So if you are a vegetarian, I suggest adding in a supplement. Certain prescriptions, including birth control, deplete zinc in our body. A zinc deficiency can cause birth defects such as cleft palates.

Source: mariamindbodyhealth.com