Recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals

jxspxr
jxspxr Posts: 150 Member
edited January 30 in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

I want to talk about my next frontier: eating enough vitamins and minerals each day.

So far, in my quest to become more healthy, I have learned to things - how to reduce the quantity of food to lose weight (as you can see below), and I am currently building an exercise routine, which seems to go well.

So, my next mission will be to improve the quality of food I eat. So, my question: how do you make sure you eat enough of every vitamin and mineral each day to stay healthy? It seems to be quite impossible to achieve without vitamin pills.

Thanks!

Regards,
Jasper

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Like calories it's not necessary to hit the mark exactly every single day. But if you average it out over time you should be close to the RDA. Eating a good variety of vegetables and fruits, including a variety of colors, will usually do it.
  • dellaquilaa
    dellaquilaa Posts: 230 Member
    ^^ what they said. Variety.

    Also, depending on where you live, it might be impossible to get the RDA of certain vitamins - vitamin D is the big one, because it's not found in sufficient quantities in food. You really only get it when you're skin is directly exposed to the sun - and from the research currently out there, it seems that you need to be in the sun for 2-4 hours every day (scantily clad and without sun screen!) to get the proper amount.

    I live in Illinois, eat a fairly balanced diet and my vitamin D was in the bucket my last two annual blood draws. So I'm taking 3,000 IUs per day until I move closer to the equator. Which will be never because I hate the heat.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    Blood tests can determine what you are getting in vitamins and whether or not you're deficient. Like dellaquilaa said Vitamin D is the most common vitamin that people are deficient in, especially since the RDA for it is so low. I get close to 7,000 IU's of vitamin D a day -- even in the summer -- and even with that amount I am just about in range according to my blood work.

    I am personally not of the "you can get all your nutrients through food" because there are nutrients your body needs that aren't found in foods and for the most part in order to get close to the RDA you would have to eat mass quantities of certain foods. It's not a bad thing to supplement just make sure that what you're getting doesn't have a ton of fillers in them. A health food store would be your best bet to get vitamins that aren't full of garbage.
  • jxspxr
    jxspxr Posts: 150 Member
    Interesting, thanks for the replies! I've set the goal that for a few weeks I'll try to take as many different fruits and vegetables in a week as I can and track it to break my record every week. I'll start with a minimum of 10 and see how far I can get.

    But I will also consider taking vitamin pills too, will go to health food store to ask for advice.

    By the way, I have ADD, meaning I have problems with focus. I've been diagnosed. Now I realise that other factors have not been tested, such as deficiency of some mineral or vitamin. My blood has never been tested in my whole life. Do you think my ability to focus may increase as I make sure I get enough vitamins and minerals every day?

    Hmm perhaps I will let the doctor take my blood to test this hypothesis.
  • jxspxr
    jxspxr Posts: 150 Member
    ^^What do you think? It's an important question I have, since ADD has a huge impact on my life.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    ^^What do you think? It's an important question I have, since ADD has a huge impact on my life.

    ADD can be affected by diet. It's certainly worth discussing with your doctor. it's a simple blood test to check for deficenceis.
  • jxspxr
    jxspxr Posts: 150 Member
    Thanks, will do that!
This discussion has been closed.

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