Get your vitamins from your plate

Our body requires vitamins for its growth and development. Vitamins help to boost immunity, strengthen the bones, heal wounds, improve eyesight, keep skin healthy, and more. Vitamins also play important roles in bodily functions such as metabolism and digestion. Inadequate intake of vitamins makes you feel lethargic, susceptible to infections and other complications. It is possible to get your daily requirement of vitamins through the food on your plate instead of medicines from the drug store. The vitamins that you get from food also provide an abundance of other nutrients and fibre. The best way one can fulfil their requirement of vitamins is by eating a healthy and balanced diet.
VITAMIN A
Vitamin A promotes growth and development, improves the eyesight, promotes immune system health, plays a role in reproduction and also helps in developing healthy hair, nails and skin. However, over-consumption of this vitamin can be toxic.
Food Sources: Green leafy vegetables, green and yellow-orange vegetables such as broccoli, carrot, sweet potatoes, red pumpkin, and bell peppers, yellow-orange fruits like mango, cantaloupe, apricots etc. It is also found in non-vegetarian foods like meat, fish, eggs, chicken etc.
VITAMIN E
Vitamin E is an antioxidant. It protects your cells from damage. It also helps in building up strong immunity and keeps skin and eyes healthy. High doses of this vitamin can cause serious side effects.
Food Sources: Green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli and kale, nuts & oilseeds such as almonds, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds etc.
VITAMIN D
One of the main roles of Vitamin D is boosting calcium absorption. A vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis and has been linked to certain cancers, might lead to type 1 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. It also has a role to play in your immune system.
Food Sources: Little amount of vitamin D is found in fatty fish like tuna, salmon, etc, cheese and egg yolk also provide some vitamin D. However, the major source of vitamin D is sunlight as the body produces its own when exposed to sunlight.
VITAMIN K
Vitamin K seems to play a role in bone health according to some studies. Vitamin K plays a key role in blood clotting.
Food Sources: Dark green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, mustard greens, lettuce, vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Non-vegetarian foods like fish, liver, meat, and eggs contain in small amounts.
VITAMIN C
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps in maintaining a healthy immune system and also protects the cells from oxidative damage. It is also important as it helps in the absorption of iron. Maintaining cartilage, bones and teeth and wound healing are some important functions that this vitamin also plays.
Food Sources: Citrus fruits like orange, strawberries, guava, kiwi, pineapple, and mango etc., vegetables like bell pepper (red and green), broccoli, leafy green vegetables like spinach, cabbage, etc.
B VITAMINS
B vitamins are a group of vitamins like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid and pantothenic acid. These vitamins are essential for converting our food into fuel. Besides this, they also promote healthy skin and hair, etc.
Food Sources: Milk, cheese, eggs, liver, meat, chicken, fish such as tuna, mackerel, salmon, shellfish such as oysters and clams, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, vegetables like beetroot, potatoes, and avocados, fruits such as all the citrus fruits, banana and watermelon, cereals and whole grains, beans such as kidney beans, black beans and chickpeas, nuts and seeds, etc.