How important are micro nutrients??

squirrelzzrule22

I feel like I've had a REVELATION lately. I used to use mfp strictly to count calories. Then I was able to work in tracking macros, but I wasn't always where I wanted to be. Lately I've been feeling sluggish, my anxiety has been worse than usual, I felt more generally achy, a few more tension headaches than normal, and for the first time in my life my belly was responding to stress in unpleasant ways. For the first time ever, I started paying attention to my MICRO nutrients....and it has made a world of difference. Turns out almost every single day I was getting less than 50% DV of iron, calcium, potassium, B vitamins, and fiber (sometimes WAY less- closer to 10-15%.) Not to mention I was chronically underhydrating. Now, I have entirely switched my focus from stressing about calories to hitting my nutrients first, drinking ten glasses of water per day, and working in exercise. In just a week or so I feel a million times better. My nails are less brittle, I have a ton more energy, and my anxiety has totally retreated.

I'm hoping to hear from other people who have focused on their nutrition and how that interplayed with their weight loss. Right now I am not logging my multivitamins and trying to hit my targets through food on a 1200-1800 calorie diet (depending on the day). I take multivitamins, iron supplements, calcium supplements, and occasionally B12 supplements, but I've always believed you get nutrients way better through food so I'm trying to hit that goal through what I eat. I'd love to hear from folks who have been getting the nutrition they need within a calorie budget and how it helped them feel better and lose weight!

cwolfman13

vitamins and minerals are pretty important.

Really, if you're eating a well balanced diet and hitting your macros with primarily nutrient dense food options and hitting your calorie goals...generally speaking, micro nutrients come into line. I don't particularly micro manage my micros...but I have observed over the last couple of years that when I'm eating right and hitting all of my larger goals, the smaller stuff tends to fall into place.

As a matter of weight loss, I don't think it made any difference at all...as a matter of improving a lot of nasty blood work...going from, "WTF are you trying to kill yourself" blood work to pretty much "optimal" on all markers...well, I'm pretty sure proper nutrition made a big difference there.

lemurcat12

I focus on micro nutrients just by trying to eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and fruits, etc., and a wide variety of them. I don't drive myself mad trying to track everything, though, since the fact is that lots of the relevant information is missing from the nutrition data and I'm not going to try and fill it in. So with items like potassium and even iron you are probably going to undercount it.

I tried taking a multi vitamin as insurance for a while, but it didn't agree with my stomach and I decided my diet is probably good enough without it, although I'm open to arguments on that point.

(My vitamin did not include iron and I personally would avoid iron supplements, since I get lots from meat and greens and, more significantly, my mother was diagnosed with hemochromatosis, which can be hereditary, so I'm more worried about excess iron.)

Sam_I_Am77

vitamins and minerals are pretty important.

Really, if you're eating a well balanced diet and hitting your macros with primarily nutrient dense food options and hitting your calorie goals...generally speaking, micro nutrients come into line. I don't particularly micro manage my micros...but I have observed over the last couple of years that when I'm eating right and hitting all of my larger goals, the smaller stuff tends to fall into place.

As a matter of weight loss, I don't think it made any difference at all...as a matter of improving a lot of nasty blood work...going from, "WTF are you trying to kill yourself" blood work to pretty much "optimal" on all markers...well, I'm pretty sure proper nutrition made a big difference there.

Agree, if you're nutrition is good you should be hitting your micro's pretty well. Nothing wrong with using a multi-vitamin though, but fiber and stuff like that should be fine if your diet is good.

squirrelzzrule22

I should add that I'd been advised in the past to take an iron supplement by my doctor.

I don't seem to hit these targets when I just calorie count or even when I focus on macro breakdown. That may just be that I had bad eating habits. But it only seems to get in line if I make a very conscious effort. DO those of you who find it just falls into place tend to eat very clean/ whole foods/ lots of veggies, etc?

Sam_I_Am77

I should add that I'd been advised in the past to take an iron supplement by my doctor.

I don't seem to hit these targets when I just calorie count or even when I focus on macro breakdown. That may just be that I had bad eating habits. But it only seems to get in line if I make a very conscious effort. DO those of you who find it just falls into place tend to eat very clean/ whole foods/ lots of veggies, etc?

Iron deficiency is a different issue and you should probably take that type of supplement for your health. A multi-vitamin should take care of your A, B, C, vitamins for the most part and most multi's have other minerals as well. If you don't get enough sun you may consider take a vitamin D supp as well.

There is no real definition of "Clean" food. My personal definition is low-glycemic complex carbs (i.e. sweet potatoes), green vegetables (i.e broccoli), some fruits (i.e. blueberries), and lean unprocessed meat (i.e. chicken breasts). Some individuals will extend "Clean" eating to mean organic, some organic & non-GMO, some say Paleo is "Clean", so you kind of need your own definition because the industry itself doesn't have a standard definition. A person that sticks to my personal definition should be able get most of their micro-nutrients from food and a multi-vitamin and maybe Fish Oil if you don't eat a lot of fish.

Showcase_Brodown

They are super important, as in bad things can happen if you don't get them.

That sounds scary, but it's very easy to get them if you have enough variety in your diet. Fruits and veggies are usually loaded with them. If you are worried you have a hole here or there, a multivitamin is a good insurance plan. Some blood work at the doctor should be able to tell you if you're deficient in any of them.

lemurcat12

DO those of you who find it just falls into place tend to eat very clean/ whole foods/ lots of veggies, etc?

I honestly never know what "clean" is supposed to mean, and I certainly don't cut things out of my diet, but I do mostly cook from whole foods and try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables (and particularly concentrate on trying to eat vegetables with every meal and not just my standard ones, but a wide range--it's one reason I like to track them, so I remember this).

xiamjackie

Personally, micro nutrients are more important to me than macro nutrients. I'd rather be over on carbs/fat/protein if it meant I was getting my essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc.