23 Signs your body is deficient in nutrients

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by Dr. Eric Berg DC
Video: https://youtu.be/UqLuyop6Xtc 

Video Transcribed below:

00:00

Today we're gonna talk about the 23 different signs that your body is deficient in vital nutrients. Now, the problem with me teaching you this is, you're going to pretty much evaluate everyone you know. So you're going to have to withhold that temptation, because people will be offended if you start explaining why they have these little white specks on their nails, or why they might have erectile dysfunction. Alright, now let me first just tell you the three reasons why people are deficient,

00:29

White Spot on Nail - Zinc

1. Okay, number one, their guts are damaged, so they can't absorb nutrition. So that's called Mt absorption, it's a digestive barrier. Now, it could also be that you're missing a gallbladder or you're lacking bile. And then you can't pull in the fat soluble vitamins, vitamin A, D, E, and vitamin K. Or it could be you're not eating enough of the right foods, or the foods that you're eating are not nutrient dense, which is a big problem. Because the soils unfortunately, are really, really poor quality. So if you're growing food on soil, that's not soil, but it's actually dirt, you might get a really nice looking tomato, but it's going to be tasteless. Why because the flavor chemicals are tied in with the nutrient density. So we get these beautiful looking like vegetables, that tastes like nothing. And then you're going to be craving Doritos and wanting other spices to try to flavor them up, when in fact, they should normally come there with nutrition. So unfortunately, the farmers sell these products based on weight and volume, not nutrient dense type foods. And then the third way that you become deficient is consuming refined foods and sugars that deplete you and rob you of nutrition’s. So let's just go through the list number one white spot on your Now what does that mean? That is a zinc deficiency, but it's not really a zinc deficiency. It is consuming too much sugar that robs you of zinc. So if you look at your now and you see this little white speck about halfway down the nail, you know, about three months ago, you had a lot of sugar or refined carbohydrate. Like let's say you had this huge birthday party and you ate the whole cake. And that depleted zinc from your body creating that little white speck. So you have two options, you can stop eating disorder or you can take some zinc. 

02:27

Oily Skin - Zinc

2. Alright, number two, oily skin. This is usually a problem with the oil glands of your body is called sebaceous glands that make something called sebum which is a type of oil. And that usually occurs when you have an imbalance with androgens, you're producing too many androgens, which is a male hormone. And so one really key nutrient to regulate androgens is zinc, okay, so oily skin can be greatly improved if you start taking trace minerals, specifically zinc. Now if you're female and you have too many androgens, you may have something called polycystic ovarian syndrome. And in that case, that's coming from too much insulin because the carbs are too high. And of course, the combination of that sugar depleting zinc, as well as lacking zinc and having an uncontrolled androgen situation. So with oily skin, you just need to take some zinc and you need to make sure that your sugar is not very high. So as you can see, zinc is involved with quite a few things.

03:26

Cracking corners of mouth / heel – Vitamin B2/B3/D

3. Alright, number three cracking and the corners of your mouth right here or cracked back of your heels. Okay, so that is a vitamin b two deficiency. It could also be a vitamin d3 deficiency, but it definitely involves the B vitamins. So the B vitamins are very, very important in preventing, like these small fissures okay on your skin. And so if you have enough B two or B three, you won't get them. Now you see a lot of people in the winter that get these fissures in their skin. And that normally comes because they don't have enough vitamin D because they're not in the sun. And vitamin D feeds the microbes and your microbes make the B vitamins. So that is a connection between crack eels, crack corners of your mouth, which I used to have as a kid. And it can be very easily handled by taking vitamin D or vitamin B to in the form of nutritional yeast.

04:24

Flaking Skin – Omega 3

4. All right, next one is flaking skin. A lot of times you'll see that around the nose, or even the forehead where the skin is kind of like a scaling flakiness. That is a deficiency of omega three fatty acids. And that occurs because you're consuming too much Omega six fatty acids. And so the essential fatty acids that our body needs, because the body doesn't make it is both Omega three and Omega six. So if your ratios are off because you're doing too much six and under three, that's what happens with the skin becomes dry flaky white little flakes usually around the nose or the forehead. So you need to do two things you need to start cutting down the Omega six fatty acids. That means reduce the amount of nuts or peanut butter or chicken or fried foods or going out to restaurants or fast food. All are very high in Omega six like corn oil, soil cottonseed oil, and you need to eat more fish, sardines and cod liver oil. In fact, cod liver oil will be the quickest thing to handle this flaking skin.

05:35

Yellow eyes – Liver problem / deficiency of bile salts

5. Alright, number five yellow eyes that is a John Deere situation, it's a liver problem. It could be a gallbladder problem where the where the byproducts of your red blood cells are backing up through the system through the liver and into the blood. And the byproduct of these red blood cells have a yellow color, okay? And so if your skin or your whites of your eyes are yellow, that is definitely a backup of the liver and the gallbladder. And that is usually a deficiency of bile salts. Okay, so bile salts, bile salts allow the flow of stuff through the liver and through the bile ducts. And if you don't have enough bile, this thickened cholesterol sludge tends to backup and you develop this these white eyes. So a simple remedy would be to take some purified bile salts to open up this kind of clogged drain plug to allow the body to eliminate the byproduct of red blood cells.

06:35

Chronic cough – Calcium lactate

6. All right, number six chronic cough is someone who has a chronic cough. They usually have a calcium deficiency. So a little calcium, especially at night works like magic for these chronic coughs. Calcium both improves the immune system, but it also relaxes the throat and the larynx just like you might want to take for cramping in your calves. So basically it helps something called laryngeal spasm, or this tightness in the structures of your throat. Okay, so you might want to try that. The type of calcium I would recommend is calcium lactate, okay, not calcium carbonate. And you don't need much, maybe 200 milligrams before you go to bed.

07:13

Bleeding gums – Vitamin C

7. Alright, number seven, bleeding gums or reddened, swollen gums, okay in your mouth, that is a classic vitamin C deficiency. Another term would be subclinical vitamin C, or a very mild version of scurvy. Okay. Now in the vitamin C complex, we have different parts. And one part is vitamin p, which is the bio flavonoids, and they don't call it vitamin P anymore, they that was an older term, but that P stood for permeability and or vascular permeability. So in other words, the blood that goes through the capillaries, leaks, okay, and if it leaks, you get all sorts of issues and one being bleeding gums. And you can also get nosebleeds as well, but bleeding gums or reddened gums is classic vitamin C deficiency. So you need to consume more leafy greens, as well as avoid sugar because the chemistry of sugar is almost identical to vitamin C. And if the body has sugar, any vitamin C that you're getting from foods or a supplement, will not go in the body will always take up glucose or sugar before vitamin C.

08:27

Night vision issue – Vitamin A/ Retinol

8. Okay, number seven, number eight night vision issues. So let's say you can't see in the dark or you're driving when it's raining and you're just having a hard time, you know, seeing clear, that is a classic vitamin A deficiency or night blindness. Now are people usually deficient in vitamin A, well around the world they are so there's a lot of people that have a vitamin A deficiency, simply because they're eating a lot of cereals and refined grains. And they may even be eating plant sources of vitamin A. But those are precursors, like beta carotene. For example, they call it a vitamin A, but it's not the active form of vitamin A cold retinol. Retinol usually comes from animal products like dairy, or butter or fish, fatty fish. Definitely cod liver oil. And animal liver like beef liver, for example has a lot of vitamin A. And so if you're trying to get your Vitamin A from plants, it's going to be very hard for you to convert that into the active form of vitamin A which is retinol. But a really good source of retinol would be egg yolks. Okay, so if you want to have enough retinol, just need some egg yolks and you will definitely get enough and you'll start seeing better. The other thing to look at with vitamin A is your ability to absorb it because maybe you don't have enough Bile or maybe your gallbladder is removed or you have some liver issue because it's like fatty for example, then you can't absorb vitamin A because vitamin A is a fat Seibel Vitamin could be one cause.

08:31

Chapped lips – Vitamin B2

9. All right, next one is chapped lips. The cause of chapped lips is the same cause as cracking in the corners of the mouth or on the heels. It's a vitamin B to deficiency. And so what would create a BT deficiency, it's either you're consuming too many refined grains that are depleting B too, because naturally, the B vitamins, especially b two are normally in grains. But basically, when you find them, they get lost. So one really good thing would be to stop eating grains, and grains. And the second thing you want to do is start taking nutritional yeast with nutritional yeast that would always get it unfortified, you'll get a complete spectrum of the B vitamins, and you'll notice your skin much, much better. I mean, if you take a look at some of the B vitamin deficiencies, like real severe deficiencies, you get conditions like calligra, and with calligra, you have devastating effects on your skin. Because the B vitamins are not just about giving you energy. They're about helping you form normal tissue. So it's not too roughened or cracked. It's nice and soft. A lot of times people will start using chapstick or certain type of lotions or oils on their lips. But what they find is that maybe an hour later, it's right back if not worse, to being chapped because sometimes they put other ingredients into these products like they might put alcohol or mineral oil, which pulls out a lot of the key nutrients or fats that you need to keep your skin the right texture.

11:35

Edema – Potassium

10. Alright, next one is the pitting edema, the top of your foot or your ankles. This is a deficiency of potassium, okay, when you don't have enough potassium, or the ratios of potassium versus sodium, like sodium is way too high, and potassium is way too low. And by the way, refined sugar causes you to retain sodium and deplete potassium. That's why diabetics a lot. Many times have so much sugar in their blood, that they get a lot of swelling, especially in the ankles and the feet. And if you push your finger into the foot or the ankle, it leaves a dent Okay, Now believe it or not, when I had blood sugar issues a long ago in my mid 30s. I used to have pitting edema and I didn't even know what it was I would press into my ankle, I'm like, what is that dent? That was a severe potassium deficiency. So you want to start eating foods high in potassium, okay, and that would be any of the leafy greens, but you need volumes you need large salads, things like that, that will give you enough potassium versus consuming more salt. Okay, salts, okay, as long as you have enough potassium, or you might want to get a quality electrolyte we have a lot of potassium, but that will push fluid out of the ankles very, very quickly.

12:53

Craving ice – Iron

11. Now, next one is craving ice. Okay, if you're craving ice, chances are you're deficient in iron. Okay? You see this with kids. Sometimes you see this with females who are going through their menstruation where they're losing blood and iron and becoming anemic, they start eating more ice or trying to get iron. But unfortunately, ice doesn't give you iron. So you end up still deficient. The best sources of the iron that you need is red meat, you can get it from liver, you can get it from eggs. And for some reason, if you can't eat any of those products, you can also get them in a supplement but not an iron supplement, I would recommend a supplement that is either a grass fed liver extract, or believe it or not, there are spleen extract products that are loaded with iron. Okay, so that's one way to get it.

13:42

Angina – Vitamin E / stop using refined grains

12. Alright, next one is angina that's chest pain. So that is where the heart is cramping, and your heart is having an attack and usually it's referred on the left arm. That is a classic Vitamin E deficiency. There's two things you need to know about vitamin E. What creates a deficiency usually is refined grains. Okay, as in the breads, the pasta cereal crackers, the biscuits, when you consume those products that normally have a good amount of vitamin E in it, but when they add chlorine to bleach it, they oxidize it and they kill all the vitamin E when it sits on the shelf, all that vitamin E is lost. And then when you consume those products, it creates a vitamin E deficiency. The most important tissue for vitamin E is the inside of your arteries. And if you don't have enough vitamin E, you get a lot of rusting and oxidation. And you start getting clots, the formation of calcium, and all sorts of things that come in there. So Vitamin E is very, very important. And so the best way to prevent Vitamin E deficiency is to stop doing refined grains. And if you want a very good Vitamin E I would get the type that's a Toka Trino Not a tocopherol. The tocotrienols work about 50 times stronger than the tocopherols. And so it really is great for angina type chest pain.

15:12

Leg / Calf cramps – Magnesium / potassium

13. Alright, number 13 leg or calf cramps? That is a magnesium deficiency. Okay? Where do you get magnesium? Well, it's at the heart of chlorophyll. Where do you get chlorophyll? From Green plants. Okay, so again, we're coming back to that salad where you get good amount of magnesium. There's also potassium in there, chlorophyll, other things. But when you get leg cramps, chances are you're probably missing magnesium, you need more, and they usually go away. There's other deficiencies that might lead to cramps, like potassium, even sodium, vitamin b1, and I've done videos on that. But the most common one is the magnesium deficiency.

15:49

Irritable / Excessive thinking – Vitamin B1 deficiency

14. All right, number 14, irritability, excessive thinking, feeling nervous tension, even grouchy or angry, is a B, one deficiency. If you take a little nutritional yeast, if you're irritable, boy, it just chills you out, you'll feel really calm, you'll be nice to be around, people will like you a lot better. Also, before you go to bed, do you have access to thinking just take some nutritional yeast before you go to bed and that you can get it in tablets as well. I'll put a link down below for more information. But you talk about turning off that excessive mind thinking solving all the problems of the world, which prevents you from sleep, it's really nice to be able to go to bed and not have to solve a million problems. So you can drift off and sleep.

16:37

Asthma – Vitamin D

15. Alright, 15 asthma, Asthma is a situation where you have inflammation in the lungs. And this can be greatly improved with vitamin D. So if you're deficient in vitamin D, which most asthmatics are boy that can just reduce inflammation and help you breathe. This is why during the summer months, when kids that have asthma, they're outside, they're exposed to the sun, their symptoms go away, there's a very, very important video on a breathing method that can help asthma. I'll put that down below if you haven't seen it. But there's a really important way of breathing to pull someone out of an asthmatic attack, you know, within minutes, so you can check that out

17:17

Loss of outer Eyebrows – Iodine deficiency / thyroid issue

16. 16 loss of the outer eyebrows, okay. This is usually a thyroid problem, or an iodine deficiency situation where they're not able to make the thyroid hormones because when you get to like T four, T three, you're really looking at the number of iodine molecules in that thyroid hormone. T four is an inactive thyroid hormone, T three is the active form because the body strips off an iodine molecule. So if you don't have enough of either T 43, then you could potentially lose the outer eyebrows as one of the symptoms. So if you don't have eyebrows or you don't have the outside, just take some iodine in the form of seek help. That's one of the best sources

17:59

Tightness in right trap – suspect gall bladder/ lack of bile salts

17. 17 tightness in the right trap area right through here. Okay, all the way through here. If you have tightness right there, suspect gallbladder and suspect a lack of bile salts. If you don't have the bile salts, things get all kind of stuck underneath the right ribcage is a little nerve called the phrenic nerve that goes right up to the right side. And so if you take purified bile salts that thins the bile allows the drainage, okay, and all of a sudden your right trap feels loose and it feels better. Okay, I have additional information on that. I will share that in the description, but tightness in the right trap. Nine to 10 times it's totally gallbladder related, because you don't have enough bile and it's getting all stucked and jammed up. It's backing up into the system showing up in your right trap

18:50

Night mares – Vitamin B1 deficiency / reduce refined grains/carbs

18. 18 nightmares. One of the best ways to get rid of a nightmare is to take b1 nutritional yeast, there's this little thing in the brain called the amygdala, which regulates the emotion of fear. Okay, so it's involved in this fear response. And so of course, nightmares involve fear. And its function is very, very similar to what the adrenals are all about, which is like a stress claim. But it's mainly involving that emotion of fear. And there's receptors for thymine. And if you take more b one thymine boy that just chill a person out and they feel better and they don't have nightmares anymore. So if your kids have nightmares, give them a little nutritional yeast. But the real question is, why are they deficient? Because they're consuming refined carbohydrates in the form of all the refined grains, the breads, the pasta, cereal, crackers, those things as well as sugar, so you need to handle that as well.

19:45

Craving salty chips-night – sodium deficiency

19. 19 craving for salty chips at night. If your body is deficient in sodium, okay, you're going to crave salt. But if you're exercising a lot and sweating, the need for sodium goes up. And so one of the symptoms or signs of a salt deficiency or a sodium deficiency is craving for salt. Okay, so if you're craving for saw that night in the form of chips, the next day, I would start to increase the amount of sea salt and not sodium chloride in your diet, okay? So start beefing it up, putting on your food, maybe even putting some in some water and drinking that where you get to the point at night you no longer crave salty chips. Okay, then we know you have enough. And so for years, I had this false idea that salt was bad and I rarely consumed salt. So I always ate foods, lacking salt, lacking fat. Of course, at night, I was downing all these chips and salty popcorn and salty Doritos. But during the day, I was pretty much salt free. So I had no concept of nutrition, or this whole idea that salt was not bad if it was in the form of sea salt. And if I had enough potassium, okay, I didn't know that at the time. But if you're craving salty chips at night, you need to balance out your electrolytes by adding more sea salt, and make sure you have enough potassium as well. But you will find those cravings will go away.

21:14

Stiff / low back pain – Vitamin D deficiency

20. Alright, number 20. Stiff low back, or low back pain is usually a vitamin D deficiency, especially if it's in the winter. And all you need to do is take some good amount of vitamin D. Or you can even make your own vitamin D. I'll put that link down below if you haven't seen my recent video. But vitamin D is one of the best things to get rid of inflammation fast anywhere in the body, especially in the lower back, I would recommend taking at least 10,000 international units per day. And it might be beneficial to take it right before bed or at a meal because if you take a read before bed, it actually enhances your sleep. And if you take it with meals, it's better absorbed. And the type of vitamin D I recommend is my own brand. And of course I'm not biased, but I am sarcastic but my vitamin D I have I put the k two in there, I put the MCT oil so that way you don't have to take extra oil, everything gets absorbed nicely.

22:12

Craving dirt – Iron deficiency

21. Alright, the next one is 21 you're craving dirt. Okay. Now, normally, most people don't crave dirt, but sometimes kids crave dirt, okay, or even women that are menstruating. losing blood and anemic or craving dirt. What they're trying to get is iron. Even if your animals like eating your dog crate starts eating dirt. They need iron, okay, and the best source of iron is red meat. It gives you the best form of iron that's bioavailable versus consuming spinach, things like that. So if you have anemia or you need iron, red meat would be the best thing to take or some liver with onions Of course.

22:52

Erectile dysfunction – low testosterone/ Zinc deficiency

22. Alright, number 22. Erectile dysfunction, that's low testosterone, that is a deficiency of zinc. Zinc is one of the best things to increase testosterone and handle this symptom.

23:06

Depression – Vitamin D

23. And lastly, 23 depression, if someone's depressed, they're usually vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D greatly boosts serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter. And so it's like a natural form of Prozac without the side effects. So if you're depressed or know someone that's depressed, boy, just give him a little vitamin D and just see how fast their mood elevates. Another thing to try as a side note, is to start to do more fasting. That really elevates the mood as well. Now if you haven't seen my video on how to figure out liver problems by looking at someone's foot, check that out. I put it right here.

by Dr. Eric Berg DC
Video: https://youtu.be/UqLuyop6Xtc