All nutrients have been assigned an RDA, or recommended
daily amount, by the government. Many
heavily processed foods will advertise that they contain 100% the amount of
this vitamin or that mineral, which is really pretty silly since it comes from
fortified nutrients which have much less bioavailability in the body. What most
people don’t know is that the RDA is not a hard and fast number validated by
science. It is essentially an educated
guess on the amount of a nutrient the body needs to avoid clear and obvious
disease.
ENOUGH TO PREVENT OBVIOUS DISEASE
That does not mean anything even close top optimal levels
of nutrients. To compound matters, the
average American’s diet is horribly nutrient deficient due to mass consumption
of processed foods, fast foods and so called “health foods” like protein
bars. Optimal amounts of nutrients are
often several times higher than the RDA.
Similar to the RDA the optimal range of a given nutrient is not the same
from person to person but as a whole people are much healthier when they have
higher levels of nutrients obtained from real foods.
EATING FOR CALORIES VS. EATING FOR NUTRIENTS
Much of the focus on diet is on calories in foods. While this is certainly useful in some cases emphasis
on eating for nutrient value tends to result in much higher consumption of healthy
foods. For example, if I were trying to
eat a meal that is 800 calories I could accomplish this in one fell swoop by
eating pretty much any fast food sandwich.
That 800 calories would consist of mostly refined carbohydrate (bun), sodium
and numerous other preservatives (meat and bun), and fat from the meat and left
over from the cooking process. There may
be some nutrient value in any fresh veggies on the sandwich but overall the
amounts will be fairly insignificant.
With that same 800 calories I could also consume a mixed green salad
with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, ground black pepper, oregano and some
chopped free range and nitrate free turkey deli meat. Add in a hand full of mixed raw nuts and an
apple and you are looking at about the same amount of calories but look at the difference
in nutrient value. You don’t need a
doctor to tell you the second meal is a much better one for you in terms of
eating for nutrient value.
Getting significantly more nutrients out of your diet is
not hard but it does require you being to turn away from packaged and fast
foods. It also requires eating fresh food, especially greens, other veggies
(not potatoes), fruits and raw nuts.
Good, high quality meats are a great protein source. Free range, grass fed animals provide the
most nutrient dense meat. Shifting your
diet towards this style of eating will significantly raise the amount of health
promoting nutrients entering your body and leave the RDA’s for most nutrients
far behind.
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