Last week I wrote about the factors that most influenced life expectancy and health. One of these was eating a healthy diet, one aspect of which was whether you are eating adequate amounts of vitamins & minerals. Many people are missing out on certain specific nutrients due to their diet. The research shows it is ok to get your vitamin needs across different days as the body stores nutrients but if you can do it all in a day then why not!
You can hit all your vitamin needs being vegan or by eating very normal foods. If you have no specific food restrictions then it is fairly easy to hit all your requirements. To do this make use of the plans below.
I think it is very beneficial to use a food data app to understand more about your current intake. My favourite for vitamin and mineral intake is cronometer. As most people’s food is the same every day ish then once you are aware of any deficiencies you can easily resolve it. It is a great way to become aware of what is in food.
Click here to see three different balanced days that hit all your vitamin and mineral needs. The data is based on 75kg active male. If you adjust your portion size to change the calorie intake for the day it should match what you need whether eating more or less.
Some of the days may be too low in calorie intake. You can add in any food once you have consumed the set plan if need extra calories. Do not replace any foods on the base plans as the vitamin / mineral profile varies greatly between foods and this even applies to similar looking foods such as green vegetable.
What Does This Mean For You
Concerning yourself with vitamin and mineral intake is not something most people ever do, at least not to any great extent. I found it to be a very interesting topic when I first looked into this. I was surprised by how little nutrients were in many of the common vegetables and salad food choices.
Photos – The following plans are examples of how to reach your vitamin & Mineral RDA’s in one day of eating. Calorie and especially micro-nutrient counting are not an exact science with wide range of factors that affect the data. So use this for illustrative purposes and continue to eat a varied and balanced diet. Targets are set for 75kg active male, information from cronometer.com
Notes on Plans –
You will notice the nutrition plans have gone significantly over the recommended intake of vitamin A. This is in part from the sweet potato (>50% of day’s intake). There are two forms of Vitamin A and toxicity issues are largely related to the active form found in animal products over vegetables ones. However, it shows just some of the many aspects and complications to nutrition.
One of the plan also goes over recommended amounts of Vitamin B12, this is mostly from the chicken liver. While it is over the recommended amount there is not much evidence of adverse toxicity from high B12 intake in normal populations nor is all of it absorbed when in such large amounts (1, 2)
Supplements – Vitamin D Could be fulfilled by going into the sun for 10-60 minutes depending on your skin tone. In the USA/UK the sun is too low in the sky for this effect during the winter months. Outside of sun exposure Vitamin D3 supplements can fulfil the need. Many products are fortified with vitamins which offer another way to hit your targets, e.g. some breakfast cereals.
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