Low calorie diets and micronutrients

BuellerFerrisBueller

QUESTION:
How do those of you on very low calorie diets get enough vitamins and minerals?

BACK STORY:
I've been using Cronometer on a sporadic basis to spot-check my diet.

Two of the days I used Cronometer were unusually hot. (The high temperature was 101 degrees on one of those days and 96 degrees on the other. I live in the Twin Cities, MN. Weather that hot is quite unusual.) I deliberately picked those days to see what my absolute minimum nutrient intake was like. Yes, the scorching heat is the best appetite suppressant of all.

On both of those days, my calorie intake for the day was around 1600 calories under the traditional 4/9/4 formula. (Under Cronometer's special formula, I was in the lower 1500s.) Even in normal summer weather, my typical daily calorie consumption is a few hundred more. In deep winter, I consume over 3000 calories per day.

While I was getting enough of most nutrients (including fiber and magnesium), I found that I was coming up short of my daily target intake on Vitamin B5, Vitamin K, and zinc. My Vitamin B5 and zinc shortfalls were due to my reduced food consumption. (Fortunately, I get these nutrients from supplements.) My Vitamin K shortfall was due to the lack of a Vitamin-K-rich vegetable, such as broccoli. Because I eat less food in general in summer, that means I don't buy as wide a variety of vegetables.

QUESTION:
How do those of you on very low calorie diets get enough vitamins and minerals?

I know that some of you have target daily calorie intakes that are even lower than what I consumed on those two unusually hot days this summer. How do you make sure you're getting enough vitamins and minerals when you're eating so little food? Yes, you could eat more food, but then you'd be overshooting your calorie intake.

And how do people in places famous for oppressive summer heat get enough vitamins and minerals in the face of appetite-destroying weather? The places I have in mind include Phoenix, Las Vegas, Yuma, Palm Springs, Fresno, Tucson, El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.

AnnPT77

Honestly, if it was just a couple of days, I personally wouldn't worry about it, as long as most days are reasonable. Humans are adaptive omnivores, and I don't think ideal every day is essential for health. (I don't want to fall into orthorexia, either.) YMMV.

I don't track on Cron, so maybe I don't get enough B5, K or Zinc either. (I've spot-checked typical days for Zinc and B5, and took a rough look at K - think I'm at least close.) I'm well over the MFP-tracked micros that are on food labels, on average over a week and typically every day as well, and way, way over on fiber. I'm in year 6+ maintaining, eating 1850 plus exercise calories (250-400 most days). That's not "very low" calories, but also not massively above your 1600, and well below 3000. I don't log every single day any more, but do log most of the time. I'll include a weekly average view of nutrients below, not claiming perfection, just as an honest admission.

As background, I'm vegetarian (ovo-lacto), female, age 66, 5'5", a little above my preferred ideal weight right now (129.4 pounds this morning), pretty active athletically but close to sedentary otherwise. I'm not in a hot climate, but it's 85-90F plus here lately and humid (I'm in mid-Michigan), and my main active things in Summer are rowing (boats) and biking (trails), so I'm out working fairly hard in that environment most days. I don't think I eat less in Summer, but I do have different patterns. Heat doesn't necessarily destroy my appetite.

I make it a point to get 100g protein minimum, 50g fats minimum, and some of my protein daily comes from dairy foods, so that covers some of those micros well. I also make it a point to get at least 5 x 80g servings of fruits and veggies daily (varied, colorful), but strive for 10 x 80g servings and usually get there. That's a lot of micros. In addition, I eat oatmeal most days, and some Ezekiel pita/tortillas most days, so there's some whole grain in the mix, adding to the micros and fiber. Blackstrap molasses (carefully chosen brand) adds yum and micros to my oatmeal. Pretty much every day, I eat some nuts, berries, seeds. And so forth.

This is a bigger volume of food than many people might prefer to eat, but I'm sated by some combination of adequate protein and volume foods, so it's good with me. I'm not sure this helps, but I have to admit I'm not totally relating to the question, since I'm more about "good on average most of the time" not "hit every goal exactly every day".

I think I logged only part of Saturday in this week, but it's pretty close: