How adequate in nutrition is the diet we recommend, especially if you do not "count" anything but just follow the basic guidelines?
This issue of "counting" and "measuring" seems to come up often and as you know, I do not recommend that. My recommendation is to follow the principles of Calorie Density and the The Five Pillars of Healthy Eating as outlined here...
https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/view ... 22&t=37450
So, today, I put together a very simple meal plan based on the above principles, using my SNAP meals,
https://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/view ... 22&t=10519
I did not focus on organic foods, super foods and just using readily available frozen and canned foods too. Just a simple, easy, inexpensive meal plan.
Is the diet adequate in nutrients?
Let's see.
Breakfast
1 Cup Cooked Oatmeal
1 Cup Frozen Blueberries
1/2 Banana
1 Tbsp Ground Flax
Lunch
A SNAP Meal (With Beans)
28 oz Diced Tomatoes
1 lb Mixed Frozen Vegetables
4 oz Frozen Collards
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pasta
1 1/2 Cup Canned Kidney Beans (No Salt Added)
Dinner
A SNAP Meal (Without Beans)
28 oz Diced Tomatoes
1 lb Frozen Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrots
4 oz Frozen Kale
2 Cups Cooked Long Grain Brown Rice
===========================================
Nutrition Summary for June 10, 2014
Report generated by CRON-o-Meter v0.9.9
===========================================
General
===========================================
Energy | 2160.5 kcal - 114%
Protein | 94.8 g - 169%
Fiber | 92.3 g - 308%
Vitamins (100%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 55246.6 IU - 1842%
Folate | 1072.0 µg - 268%
B1 (Thiamine) | 3.1 mg - 258%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 2.5 mg - 196%
B3 (Niacin) | 30.9 mg - 193%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 8.1 mg - 162%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 4.6 mg - 273%
Vitamin C | 456.3 mg - 507%
Vitamin E | 18.9 mg - 126%
Vitamin K | 431.6 µg - 360%
Minerals (100%)
===========================================
Calcium | 1285.3 mg - 107%
Copper | 3.8 mg - 426%
Iron | 31.9 mg - 398%
Magnesium | 838.2 mg - 200%
Manganese | 14.5 mg - 632%
Phosphorus | 1978.4 mg - 283%
Potassium | 7651.4 mg - 163%
Selenium | 142.8 µg - 260%
Sodium | 655.1 mg
Zinc | 16.0 mg - 146%
Lipids
===========================================
Saturated | 2.9 g - (1.2% of calories)
Omega-3 | 3.0 g - 188%
Omega-6 | 5.5 g
Omega 6/3 Ratio I 1.88
Cholesterol | 0.0 mg 0%
Some comments.
1) This is a lot of food so you do not have to worry about being hungry or a restrictive eating plan.
2) If you prefer, you could eat this in more or less meals per day.
3) While the nutrition is over 100%, remember, we really only have to average about 70% or more of the RDA/DRI's and not beat 100% every day as the RDA/DRI's have built in buffers.
4) In addition, while the above meals plan exceeds all the RDA/DRI's, remember, as we have discussed here in several threads, some of the RDA/DRI's are high (calcium) and we really can get by safely on less.
5) As there are no RDA/DRI's for phyto-chemicals, I can not rate them.
6) In regard to SOS, the above diet is SOS free. However, if someone wanted, they could add about 1/3 tsp salt, which would still keep total sodium under 1500 mg, up to 2 Tbsp of sugar, which would keep sugar under 5% but add 100 calories (50 cal/tbsp).
7) If one wanted, they could also add in another tbsp of flax seeds (37 calories) or 1/2 ounce of walnuts (93 calories) but not both of them, and still have an excellent diet. However, as you can see, it is not necessary.
8 ) As explained in the discussion on my SNAP meals, the above recipes take no more than 10-15 minutes, have 5 or less ingredients, are based on foods one can get anywhere, involve virtually no special skills, very little prep, clean up or waste and can be done for under $5/day per person.
9) This is only an example and as you can see by how nutrient rich it is, one could easily eat much less food and still have a superior diet. Also, on most diets, one of the major complaints is that there is not enough food to eat and people feel hungry and do not feel satiated. They are also often told to limit the amount of food in regard to the number of meals and/or snacks. Just think, now the problem is, there is so much food to eat. That is a problem we can all live with, and live very well with.
Enough Said.
In Health
Jeff
