You already know that a healthy diet is essential to any weight loss plan. While vitamins and supplements can help you meet your weight loss goals, nothing can substitute for the jobs that these top vitamins do naturally in your body for healthy weight loss.
Considering a trendy new diet where you’re supposed to eat like a caveman, pirate, or astronaut? Just make sure you’re getting enough of these natural vitamins in your diet, and consider a good multivitamin to help supplement.
Here are the top natural vitamins for weight loss plus foods that are high in them.
1. Vitamin B6 – One of the Best Natural Vitamin for Weight Loss
- Foods high in Vitamin B6: Nuts, lentils, oats, meat, fish, poultry, enriched cereal
- Suggested daily intake of Vitamin B6: 1.3 mg (source)
Why it’s good for weight loss: Vitamin B6 is needed for turning food into energy, and another benefit is that it helps with serotonin production; helping you stay in a good mood.
Cutting carbs? That’s a great idea, but you’ll be missing (maybe even craving?) the serotonin that those unhealthy and refined foods contain. If you don’t want your mood to dip on a diet, make sure you’re getting enough vitamin B6 from your multivitamin and in food like nuts and lentils.
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2. Iron – A Great Natural Vitamin for Weight Loss
- Foods high in iron: Red meat, pork, seafood, beans, lentils, spinach, raisins, dried apricots
- Recommended daily intake of Iron? Men: 18mg, women: 14.8mg or 8.7mg over 50 (source)
Why iron is good for natural weight loss: OK, let’s not go out and order double cheeseburgers and call it a diet, but red meat is loaded with iron. If you’re trying to lose weight, you might notice that omitting red meat has left you short on energy at the gym due to the lack of iron in your diet.
Next time you’re at the gym, see if you’re short on energy or even feel light headed. You might need more iron.
Also, if you have your period, you’re losing a lot of iron, so that time of the month it’s extra important to get your recommended allowance of iron.
3. Vitamin C – One of the Best Natural Vitamin for Weight Loss
- Foods high in Vitamin C: Citrus fruit, strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, papaya, peppers, and kale
- Recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C is 75mg for women and 90mg for men (source)
Why vitamin C is good for natural weight loss: Ever look enviously at a pirate’s healthy body? No? Maybe that’s because they don’t get enough vitamin C. If you want to bring out the energizing powers of Iron, make sure you’re getting enough vitamin C. It will help your body use the otherwise hard to absorb iron that’s in fruits and vegetables.
Another great benefit of vitamin C is that it’s an antioxidant, promoting optimal cell function. Think of vitamin C a lieutenant that runs into a tent full of sleeping soldiers, (cells) telling them to grab their guns an go fight free radicals in the battle for your health.
Related: Noom Food List
4. Zinc – Natural Weight Loss Benefits
- Foods high in Zinc: Oysters, beef, spinach, beans, lentils, pumpkin seeds, cashews, pork, chicken, mushrooms
- Recommended daily allowance of ZInc is 8mg for women and 11mg for men (source)
Natural weight loss benefits of Zinc: Looking to lose weight naturally? Zinc is great because it helps your thyroid produce hormones that regulate your metabolism. Zinc is also good for digestion, as it helps produce stomach acids. You might be eating healthy foods, but if you aren’t able to digest them properly, they aren’t getting properly absorbed.
Zinc is a powerful antioxidant, and has also been shown to be good for your skin, hair, stress-levels, and memory. It also helps in the absorption of vitamin A. Also, watch how much alcohol you are consuming, or you might be hurting your magnesium levels and digestive system.
5. Magnesium – Great for Natural Weight Loss
- Foods high in Magnesium: Nuts, seeds, whole grains, bananas, avocados, dark chocolate, soybeans
- Recommended daily allowance of Magnesium is 320 for women and 400 mg for men (source)
How magnesium helps with natural weight loss: Do you have sudden chocolate cravings? You might not be getting enough magnesium. Magnesium is great for weight loss as it helps with digestion and prevents bloating. It also aids in building muscle which burns fat even when you’re not exercising.
Magnesium is needed for healthy insulin and glucose levels, energy production. Magnesium can help neutralize the effects of stress, which has been proven to lead to weight gain.
Get These Natural Weight Loss Vitamins in Food!
You’ll notice that some foods are listed as being high in more than one of these natural vitamins. Foods like spinach, lentils, whole grains, and wild-caught seafood should be part of your diet every week.
Not eating enough fruits and vegetables? Consider making (or ordering) a smoothie in the morning. You can even throw a handful of spinach or kale in and hardly taste it.
Multi-Vitamins Are a Good Daily Supplement
While a good diet high in these vitamins is central to any weight loss plan, a multi-vitamin can serve as a good supplement. In fact, checking the label of Centrum multivitamins shows that it has most or all of the daily allowance of these natural weight-loss vitamins. Doctors will stress, however, that no multivitamin can substitute for a healthy diet.
Also, some multivitamins are created for specific age groups or gender to help get you more of the natural vitamins that you need. Be sure to choose one that’s right for you!
