100% of daily needs: can it be done without supplements?

Q. I'm trying to get all the nutrients I need from foods, without having to eat fortified foods or take supplements. I'm afraid that I won't get enough of certain vitamins.  I'm particularly concerned about getting enough iron, zinc, copper, selenium, vitamin A, and vitamin E. Is it realistic to try to get all recommended nutrients for one day without resorting to supplements?

A. Maybe not.  One reason that certain foods (such as milk, bread, table salt, and cereal) are fortified with extra vitamins is that the government is concerned that without fortification, most people wouldn't get enough of certain vitamins, especially vitamin D, E, folic acid, iron, and iodine.  Vitamins C and E are often added to processed foods as preservatives, but in quantities that are not nutritionally meaningful.

If you want to avoid processed foods, including things like cereal and bread, then you may find it a bit challenging to hit the mark on certain nutrients.  Just for fun, I tried to build a one-day meal plan that would hit 100% all recommended nutrients, using only whole foods.

My sample meal plan included oatmeal with apples; a smoothie with yogurt, berries, flaxseed and honey; a spinach salad with carrots, peppers, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, oil, vinegar, and pumpkin seeds; a chicken breast; some Brazil nuts; a piece of tuna, a sweet potato, and brussels sprouts. 

Sounds pretty healthy, right? Yet, when I analyzed my total consumption, I found that my healthy meals were still falling slightly short on iron and zinc, provided only about half of the recommended vitamin B12 and vitamin E, and (here's the real shocker) contained no vitamin D whatsoever.  (See also this recent post and comments on Vitamin D deficiency.)

I'm not saying it's not possible to build a diet containing only whole foods that meets 100% of all the recommended nutrients, but I think it would be challenging to do so on a consistent basis without resorting to a multi-vitamin  or judicious use of fortified foods.

You can try this exercise yourself using our total consumption report.  From your pantry, first hit the "total 0" button at the bottom of the page to clear out any foods that might have been added previously. Then, select the quantities of foods you will eat (adding them to your pantry first if neccesary) and hit the "total+" button at the bottom of the page. This will generate an analysis of that day's meals, including a bar graph that shows you whether you've hit 100% of the recommended allowances for nutrients.

If you see that one of your bars is lagging below the 100% line, you can click on that bar to generate a list of foods that are high in that nutrient. This will give you an idea what types of foods you'd need to add to your diet in order to round out the nutritional picture. 

So, does anyone have a sample meal plan (without or without fortified foods) that does better than mine did at meeting daily requirements?  I'd love to see it!  From your pantry, enter the quantities of each of the foods in your meal plan (adding them to your pantry if necessary) and then, instead of hitting "total +", enter a name for your plan (Max's healthy mealplan) and click on "analyze recipe."

Copy the URL from your analysis page and paste it into a comment below. That allows anyone to recreate your mealplan analysis by going to that URL. (This does not give anyone access to your pantry). Don't forget to save your mealplan to your pantry before closing your browser and you'll have it for future reference.  The analysis (and each individual ingredient in it) can also be saved to the pantry of anyone that views that URL.

For example, Here's the URL for my sample meal plan: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00021Monicaqq7sqq0sampleqq0mealqq0plan-01D20X7-00o20Pl-00X217n-01c32XA-01c30h0-01c20c6-00o20cR-03E216R-01c50TB-01c40p1-01c30BJ-00o20hG-00P20of-02Q201i-01c60ki-0Cu30nr-01c31Ro-02Q20gM-02Q308D-03E30mn.html