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How do you know that you're getting enough of all the different micronutrients? Humans can eat a deficient diet for a long time and not notice serious side effe

How do you know that you're getting enough of all the different micronutrients? Humans can eat a deficient diet for a long time and not notice serious side effects, so I'm wondering if you have some kind of good way of figuring out whether the different micronutrient quotas are fulfilled properly.

codingdave 8y ago
You are 100% correct. I did get vitamin deficient a few years ago, and worked with doctors to identify the deficiencies and resolve them, and have continued testing to make sure I'm doing OK. This routine is a result of that experience more than anything else. That is also one reason I go out to eat every few days - to get some variety into the mix.
- ksec 8y ago
  >This routine is a result of that experience more than anything else And I would just like to add everyone's body is a little different. People may have different level / type of deficiencies, and for me that is Vitamin B. So I guess you cant really have meal that works for you and works for everyone else. It is important for everyone trying this to do it themselves and test it out with your body. Not to mention you get to think about how to cook your favourite food. I personally did something similar for 6 months, but due to different circumstances I can no longer do meal prep. During that time I had an idea about making a web app that help you select your meal prep. You input foods that you like and loath, input regional location so that we know what you can get and and not, and price range, how much it would cost per meal ( Not everyone is rich and well off ) It will hopefully have a List of Meal prep that you may like, along with instructions and where to buy those ingredients.
- howard941 8y ago
  Did the resolution involve taking an OTC multivitamin? Please ignore if I'm prying.
- MuffinFlavored 8y ago
  I'd be super curious to hear what the 3 meals are.
izzydata 8y ago
I do something similar and after 7 years I discovered I was severely Vitimin D deficient. Thanks to an article that was posted recently about UV not penetrating glass.
- colmvp 8y ago
  Do you experience symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency?
  - izzydata 8y ago
    Yea and I had no idea what it was or that anything could be done. Some could be a coincidence, but it seems pretty likely to be the cause to me. Over the last few months there has been a constant pressure in my lower back that has since gone away. A foggyness in my head has since gone away. Maybe it is some confirmation bias since taking supplements for awhile now, but the change seemed drastic. Getting less than 5 minutes of sun per month and never eating any foods that contains Vitimin D such as fish for several years might be to blame.
    - fcarraldo 8y ago
      Go to a doctor. A simple blood test for vitamin deficiency takes a few minutes. If you are deficient, you'll receive a prescription for a high dose to help combat the deficiency immediately, and a plan to take the correct maintenance dose over time. If not, you will know there is another root cause behind your symptoms. This isn't something you should self-medicate. It's tremendously simple for a doctor to confirm your hypothesis.
      - abosley 8y ago
        You dont even have to go to a doctor...there are online testing services that will test vit D w/out a prescription. IO checked mine quarterly for several years.
      - izzydata 8y ago
        Supposedly it takes almost 60,000 IU a day for a long period of time to cause harmful levels of calcium in your blood. All supplements recommend 1 dose a day and the largest dosage is 10,000 IU. I see little risk in attempting self medication here. I'll consult my doctor at my next routine checkup, but I'm not worried about this.
leesec 8y ago
How does anyone? I have plenty of coworkers who eat fast food for every lunch and not much better or more diverse for dinner. Certainly they are not getting all the different micronutrients?
- wahern 8y ago
  Fast food often uses fortified ingredients. Perhaps the most common is fortified flour. Some chains use iodized salt. Preservatives like ascorbic acid or vitamin E effectively provide fortification. Other than a lack of fiber and ease of consuming too many calories, one could do much worse than fast food--McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. I think it's easier to get it wrong using a so-called whole foods diet. The ingredient diversity of fast foods makes it more fail-safe, particularly if you're disposed to repetitively eating the same kinds of foods. I mean, obviously you can't subsist on french fries, but if the issue is laziness, lack of time, access to good groceries, or lack of money, it can make sense. It's difficult to beat a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger for dietary money-value! Granted, the removal of trans fats has helped. And note that I'm not arguing a whole foods diet can't be better. I'm not recommending a fast food diet ;) But we sometimes underestimate the effort involved in following a good diet and discount the benefits of a good-enough diet.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    Did you know if you only ate McDonalds for every meal of every day... you'd be underweight? A burger, medium fries and diet drink is 588 calories apparently. So three of those a day is only 1764 calories! A massive deficit for almost everyone.
    - SyneRyder 8y ago
      Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here. I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling. If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have your 750 calorie burger, 340 calories fries, diet soda / water, and still have room for small snacks at other times of the day. And personally, I'd be putting on weight at 1764 calories a day. I need to stay around 1500 - 1600, unless I put in a ton of extra exercise. I'm shorter than average. [Edit: FWIW, not actually recommending others do this, do your own experiments. I've been keeping weight & body fat logs for 14 years, so I've got lots of personal data to track & measure against.]
chrisseaton 8y ago
> How do you know that you're getting enough of all the different micronutrients? How do you?
- ip26 8y ago
  The simple hedge of eating a variety of foods, plus medical wisdom around simple things like iodine that have eliminated certain deficiencies. By definition you don't need micronutrients often, so you don't need to eat a lot of them every day, which is what makes the variety scheme work.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
My opinion as someone who's had extremely restrictive diets in order to lose weight: People overthink this. As you've said, our bodies are pretty good at making due with what they get. Aim for a baseline: protein plus some vegetables, some of which are dark green; and then just occasionally indulging in some cravings will probably cover the rest.
- gilbetron 8y ago
  I'm in my late 40s, and I was shocked to find out several years ago that I'm the happiest when I just eat meats/proteins and veggies. While I like fruit, it generally makes me feel crappy, almost as bad as with processed carbs. It helped that I also "discovered" sauteed greens, which really helps boost many of my meals now.
  - manigandham 8y ago
    Fruits are all sugar, they're nature's candy. They've also been genetically modified to be bigger and sweeter than they ever were before industrial farming.
    - samatman 8y ago
      The term you’re looking for is ‘bred’. Genetic modification is a term of art, one which doesn’t apply (yet) to fruits on the market. This will not be true forever, papaya and banana are likely to be the first ones.
      - manigandham 8y ago
        Ah, got it. What are the GMO versions designed to do then?
        samatman 8y ago
        work on GMO papayas and bananas is to render them less susceptible to diseases. Bananas in particular are a triploid, so any given strain is effectively one big clone propagated by vegetative cutting, hence the lack of seeds. This leaves them unusually susceptible to funguses, which can adapt to them, while they can't remix their genome to adapt back.
fudged71 8y ago
Use the app Chronometer to track micronutrients
EthOptimist 8y ago
You can use a tool like cronometer.com, at least that's what I started using when I started eating plant-based

codingdave 8y ago

You are 100% correct. I did get vitamin deficient a few years ago, and worked with doctors to identify the deficiencies and resolve them, and have continued testing to make sure I'm doing OK. This routine is a result of that experience more than anything else. That is also one reason I go out to eat every few days - to get some variety into the mix.

ksec 8y ago
>This routine is a result of that experience more than anything else And I would just like to add everyone's body is a little different. People may have different level / type of deficiencies, and for me that is Vitamin B. So I guess you cant really have meal that works for you and works for everyone else. It is important for everyone trying this to do it themselves and test it out with your body. Not to mention you get to think about how to cook your favourite food. I personally did something similar for 6 months, but due to different circumstances I can no longer do meal prep. During that time I had an idea about making a web app that help you select your meal prep. You input foods that you like and loath, input regional location so that we know what you can get and and not, and price range, how much it would cost per meal ( Not everyone is rich and well off ) It will hopefully have a List of Meal prep that you may like, along with instructions and where to buy those ingredients.
howard941 8y ago
Did the resolution involve taking an OTC multivitamin? Please ignore if I'm prying.
MuffinFlavored 8y ago
I'd be super curious to hear what the 3 meals are.

izzydata 8y ago

I do something similar and after 7 years I discovered I was severely Vitimin D deficient. Thanks to an article that was posted recently about UV not penetrating glass.

colmvp 8y ago
Do you experience symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency?
- izzydata 8y ago
  Yea and I had no idea what it was or that anything could be done. Some could be a coincidence, but it seems pretty likely to be the cause to me. Over the last few months there has been a constant pressure in my lower back that has since gone away. A foggyness in my head has since gone away. Maybe it is some confirmation bias since taking supplements for awhile now, but the change seemed drastic. Getting less than 5 minutes of sun per month and never eating any foods that contains Vitimin D such as fish for several years might be to blame.
  - fcarraldo 8y ago
    Go to a doctor. A simple blood test for vitamin deficiency takes a few minutes. If you are deficient, you'll receive a prescription for a high dose to help combat the deficiency immediately, and a plan to take the correct maintenance dose over time. If not, you will know there is another root cause behind your symptoms. This isn't something you should self-medicate. It's tremendously simple for a doctor to confirm your hypothesis.
    - abosley 8y ago
      You dont even have to go to a doctor...there are online testing services that will test vit D w/out a prescription. IO checked mine quarterly for several years.
    - izzydata 8y ago
      Supposedly it takes almost 60,000 IU a day for a long period of time to cause harmful levels of calcium in your blood. All supplements recommend 1 dose a day and the largest dosage is 10,000 IU. I see little risk in attempting self medication here. I'll consult my doctor at my next routine checkup, but I'm not worried about this.

leesec 8y ago

How does anyone? I have plenty of coworkers who eat fast food for every lunch and not much better or more diverse for dinner. Certainly they are not getting all the different micronutrients?

wahern 8y ago
Fast food often uses fortified ingredients. Perhaps the most common is fortified flour. Some chains use iodized salt. Preservatives like ascorbic acid or vitamin E effectively provide fortification. Other than a lack of fiber and ease of consuming too many calories, one could do much worse than fast food--McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. I think it's easier to get it wrong using a so-called whole foods diet. The ingredient diversity of fast foods makes it more fail-safe, particularly if you're disposed to repetitively eating the same kinds of foods. I mean, obviously you can't subsist on french fries, but if the issue is laziness, lack of time, access to good groceries, or lack of money, it can make sense. It's difficult to beat a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger for dietary money-value! Granted, the removal of trans fats has helped. And note that I'm not arguing a whole foods diet can't be better. I'm not recommending a fast food diet ;) But we sometimes underestimate the effort involved in following a good diet and discount the benefits of a good-enough diet.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  Did you know if you only ate McDonalds for every meal of every day... you'd be underweight? A burger, medium fries and diet drink is 588 calories apparently. So three of those a day is only 1764 calories! A massive deficit for almost everyone.
  - SyneRyder 8y ago
    Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here. I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling. If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have your 750 calorie burger, 340 calories fries, diet soda / water, and still have room for small snacks at other times of the day. And personally, I'd be putting on weight at 1764 calories a day. I need to stay around 1500 - 1600, unless I put in a ton of extra exercise. I'm shorter than average. [Edit: FWIW, not actually recommending others do this, do your own experiments. I've been keeping weight & body fat logs for 14 years, so I've got lots of personal data to track & measure against.]

chrisseaton 8y ago

> How do you know that you're getting enough of all the different micronutrients? How do you?

ip26 8y ago
The simple hedge of eating a variety of foods, plus medical wisdom around simple things like iodine that have eliminated certain deficiencies. By definition you don't need micronutrients often, so you don't need to eat a lot of them every day, which is what makes the variety scheme work.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

My opinion as someone who's had extremely restrictive diets in order to lose weight: People overthink this. As you've said, our bodies are pretty good at making due with what they get. Aim for a baseline: protein plus some vegetables, some of which are dark green; and then just occasionally indulging in some cravings will probably cover the rest.

gilbetron 8y ago
I'm in my late 40s, and I was shocked to find out several years ago that I'm the happiest when I just eat meats/proteins and veggies. While I like fruit, it generally makes me feel crappy, almost as bad as with processed carbs. It helped that I also "discovered" sauteed greens, which really helps boost many of my meals now.
- manigandham 8y ago
  Fruits are all sugar, they're nature's candy. They've also been genetically modified to be bigger and sweeter than they ever were before industrial farming.
  - samatman 8y ago
    The term you’re looking for is ‘bred’. Genetic modification is a term of art, one which doesn’t apply (yet) to fruits on the market. This will not be true forever, papaya and banana are likely to be the first ones.
    - manigandham 8y ago
      Ah, got it. What are the GMO versions designed to do then?
      - samatman 8y ago
        work on GMO papayas and bananas is to render them less susceptible to diseases. Bananas in particular are a triploid, so any given strain is effectively one big clone propagated by vegetative cutting, hence the lack of seeds. This leaves them unusually susceptible to funguses, which can adapt to them, while they can't remix their genome to adapt back.

fudged71 8y ago

Use the app Chronometer to track micronutrients

EthOptimist 8y ago

You can use a tool like cronometer.com, at least that's what I started using when I started eating plant-based