Minerals ~ The Foundation of All Life

The global collective has become demineralized. We have mined the precious metals, minerals, fossil fuels, and gemstones from the body of the Earth as farming practices have become more and more destructive over the last few decades. These extractive tendencies are reflected in the siphoning of minerals from our bones by modern foods and over consumption of coffee, alcohol, supplements, and pharmaceuticals. Sigh.

Minerals are the foundation of vitality and longevity. We cannot underestimate the importance of minerals in every function of a healthy body, from cellular metabolism, to producing hormones, to mood and mindset.

Don’t fret! As usual, we have more power than we might think, and we can start making impactful shifts right here at home, one body at a time.

Speaking of bodies, I encourage you to listen to yours over “experts”. While scientific and medical research can offer interesting and useful data points, they are by design separated from a whole picture. You are the one who lives in your body, your whole body. Pay attention to how what you eat makes you feel. If you make a dietary shift notice what changes over time. Food is medicine, but it is slow acting medicine, it takes a while for the effects to reveal themselves. Ayurveda holds that it takes 40 days for a given food to process through and culminate its essential qualities in our tissues. 

~Tend the soil to nourish the roots~

Whatever dietary guidelines you choose, there is something here for you.

Strategies for mineral support:

Add trace minerals to your water. It might be an acquired taste, I love it!

Add the 12 cell salts to your water. Homeopathy FTW.

Veggie broth. Keep a gallon bag in the freezer and add all veggie ends, peels and bits. The outer peel of yellow onion has quercetin. The top inch of a carrot has more minerals than the rest of it. The bottom inch of celery, same. Squash seeds are high in zinc. Herb stems are very high in minerals. The layer right beneath the outer peel of all fruits and veggies holds the most nutrition. Save this gold and make a mineral rich broth. Too much brassica (broccoli, cauliflower, kale etc) makes it funky and bitter. Apple, pear, carrot, beet and fennel add sweetness. Ginger peel adds a warming spice. When the bag is full, dump it in a slow cooker, fill it with purified water, optional to add a splash of apple cider vinegar, and cook on low for up to 8 hours. Strain it into widemouth pint jars (can be used nut butter and jelly jars), leave an inch of space, cool in the fridge before freezing with the lid loose, then tighten. Veggie broth expands more than bone stock and will easily crack a jar. I find the pint size much more forgiving and the initial cooling in the fridge is essential. Use this broth for soups, stews, and cooking grains to add flavor, richness, and minerals.

Bone Stock. Also have a bag of bones in the freezer. Pre-cooked or roasted bones with a splash of apple cider vinegar in the slow cooker on low for 8-72 hours. The longer they cook the more minerals come into the stock, it also becomes more aggravating of histamine response. If you have histamine sensitivity do a meat/bone broth instead with no vinegar and a 4 to 6 hour cook time. Make sure bones are 100% grass-fed/pasture raised.

You can combine the veggies and bones. I like to keep them separate for different cooking times and recipes. Avoid freezing liquid in plastic, freezing releases xenoestrogens and toxins into the liquid just like heating food in plastic does. 

Slow cook meat with bones in for the best nutrient profile and bioavailability. Then add the bones to the bone bag in the freezer. 

Liver is high in copper, which is in short supply elsewhere. Copper can be depleted by high levels of zinc and vitamin C. You can buy desiccated liver in capsules or develop a taste for paté. Make sure it's 100% grass-fed/pasture raised.

There is a campaign going on against seed oils because of poly unsaturated fats (aka PUFAs). While it is definitely wise to avoid foods fried in standard vegetable oil (typically soy, safflower, canola, corn, and sunflower), sesame oil is highly regarded in Ayurveda. It is a deeply nourishing food and topical lubricant for the skin and joints, and fine to cook with at low temperatures. Whole seeds are a great source of minerals. I’ll include a recipe for a seed based condiment adapted from the traditional Japanese gomasio at the end of this article. 

Phytic acid is in the bran of grains and the skins of nuts and legumes. It requires minerals to process through the body. If you don’t have enough available minerals, they will be extracted from your bones. Neutralize phytic acid by soaking or fermenting. It’s easy if you plan ahead. 

Whole grains are more nutrient dense, and less bioavailable. Soak or ferment whole grains before you cook them to increase bioavailability and decrease phytic acid.  

Options:

• Rinse then soak in the water you will cook in for 8+ hours. Add a tablespoon of whey* to enhance fermentation.
• Soak and rinse then add veggie broth to cook.
• Cook whole grains in bone stock without soaking.
• If you forgot to soak and don’t have bone stock then cook white rice.
• Add salt and optional fat after soaking, before cooking.

Organic, heirloom sourdough (fermented) is the best option for bread. Heirloom varieties of wheat are more nutrient dense than modern hybrids, and less irritating. Sprouted wheat bread is also a great option. Conventional wheat should be avoided at all costs (look up glyphosate). 

Nuts are best roasted and salted or soaked and dried. Soak nuts in purified water for 24 hours, then strain, rinse and dehydrate on low to retain enzymatic action. You can do this in the oven on warm, with the door cracked open, if you don’t have a dehydrator. Then store them in the fridge because they go rancid more quickly once prepared. Almonds can be soaked for 8+ hours until the skins pop off easily, and eaten just like that, they are a delicious addition to hot cereal or a salad or as a snack.

Beans are best soaked for 8 or more hours, before cooking with a piece of kombu seaweed if possible. Lentils don’t need as long a soak time, up to 7 hours, soaking too long will make them disintegrate. Both should be drained and rinsed and cooked with broth or stock. 

Corn is best prepared with lime (the mineral, not the fruit). Look for lime on the ingredients list of chips and tortillas. Traditional hominy and hominy grits are prepared with lime. 

There has long been a trend of light steaming and eating raw veggies to retain vitamin content. Unfortunately this has been at the expense of minerals, which are made bioavailable by long, slow cooking. This is especially important with the brassica family and the kale smoothie trend. Raw brassicas contribute to hypothyroid conditions, better to cook these veggies until tender.  

A final note. Drink the pot liquor. I love how naughty that sounds! Pot liquor is the liquid left in the pot after steaming, boiling or stewing veggies. It is rich in minerals, drink it!

Cheers to your deep nourishment.

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Gomasio means ‘sesame salt’ and that’s really all it is, sometimes it includes seaweed. This recipe is an adaptation to add protein and minerals to vegetarian dishes. I like it best on salads, rice and veggies, and avocado toast.

1 cup raw brown or black sesame seeds

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon celtic sea salt

Dry toast the seeds, each type on it’s own, in a heavy skillet on the stove top or on a baking sheet in a 300 degree oven. Use low-medium heat and pay attention, don’t let them burn! Let them cool. Use a food processor or pulse in a blender with the salt until it’s evenly ground to a rough powder. Don’t over do it or you’ll cross the line into seed butter! Store in the fridge in glass jars and use liberally.

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*Whey is uncommon. My mom has goats, and makes goat cheese, so she gives it to me and I freeze it in a silicone ice tray to use as needed. Before I had the goat hookup I would strain yogurt through a cheese cloth to collect the whey and make a tasty yogurt cheese spread with herbs. 

~Natalie Rose Martin