Thanks, Jeff.
The occasional recommendations I have seen to check the Cron-O-Meter to make sure we are consistently hitting our RDAs, or at least coming close to doing so, is what has had me concerned in the past, I think.
It seems like your SNAP meals have been designed to fall in line with our daily nutrient needs, even at around 1500 calories total, so I guess we have added insurance there if we were to follow your template.
Interestingly, scurvy, caused by a deficiency in water-soluble Vitamin C, takes up to a month to show symptoms, it appears:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0030286/So while I was a little concerned about Dr. Lisle's assessment that nutritional deficiencies are likely extremely rare due to the body's ability to compensate, even on something as potentially deficient as a mono-diet, it would seem it does take quite awhile for something like that to manifest, even with water-soluble vitamins.
In addition, variety is a key part of your recommendations, even if Dr. McDougall does occasionally seem more non-chalant, so I would think that has a built-in safety mechanism.
I think I get too caught up in the data (since the USDA nutritional information is readily available) and less on the general recommendations that are commonly made (such as for variety, or a certain number of servings, since that's a little less easy to quantify in terms of health benefits or the ability to avoid deficiency issues.)
Nutritional sufficiency, and calorie adequacy, are both also part of your Healthy Eating Placemat, however, so it seems that we should be putting some effort into all of these areas in terms of health. As you mentioned, though, it's just about being good enough, not maximizing everything at all opportunities, especially since nutrient density (nutrients/calorie) and calorie density (calories/pound) seem to often be at opposite ends of the spectrum, especially when looking at whole natural plant foods.
[Healthy Eating Placemat:
viewtopic.php?p=380957#p380957 ]
It just seemed like one could easily go over on the more calorie dense items, like bread, dried fruit, high-fat plant foods, and crowd out the other items. I would think many new McDougallers (and/or WFPB eaters), have experienced issues with that in the past, but likely more in terms of weight, not nutrition, I would think, unless they're really going off the mark and avoiding vegetables and fruits entirely.
As you mentioned, going too low in calories seems like a problem many run into as well, since non-starchy vegetables really aren't a worthwhile energy source, and starvation really isn't compatible with a long, healthy life.
In addition, two slices of Ezekiel bread with 2 Tbsp of almond butter is only about 350 calories, and while very calorie dense, does not seem nutrient poor, nor is it contributing a massive amount to one's daily caloric intake.
Furthermore, both the Healthy Eating Placemat and "Real Dirty Dozen" threads seem to recommend getting the majority of our calories from"a diet based predominately on a variety of minimally processed whole plant foods (fruits, vegetables, starchy vegetables, roots/tubers, intact whole grains and beans)."
[The Real Dirty Dozen: The 12 Deadliest Dietary & Lifestyle Factors & What You Can Do About Them :
viewtopic.php?p=441210#p441210 ]
So I guess as long as we're not getting in the clear majority of our caloric intake from the more calorie dense foods, we're probably in a pretty good place, especially if the diet remained heavily starch-based.
In the Continuum of Evil thread below, you stated that all of these foods are in the A level or B level of your guidelines, so if we included both in our diets, even in significant amounts, we're still getting A's and B's, which you have said is usually more than enough for most people to do well with.
[Continuum of Evil:
viewtopic.php?p=554281#p554281 ]
Thanks for helping me get a better perspective on how to easily and comfortably design a sufficiently healthy diet and lifestyle, even with greater calorie needs. As you mentioned in your creating healthy habits thread, it's very easy to get distracted in the current landscape, so I appreciate your consistent emphasis on effective simplicity.
Please have a wonderful day, and thanks, as always, for all that you do.
Warmly,
Michael