Can anyone provide a diet plan that provides even minimal daily RDA of vitamins and minerals?

Tony, this is a reasonable, and fair question. First, studies show that providing one eats a VARIED and balanced diet, the vast majority of people (there are exceptions, of course) get most, if not all of the nutrients they require for the body to function adequately. We use Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI): The RNI is the amount of a nutrients that studies show are adequate to meet nearly everyones requirements (97.5%). By varied and balanced, I mean that a daily diet should include a combination of all the food groups: carbohydrates, protein (e.g. meat and fish), fruit and vegetables (about 5-7 portions per day), and milk and dairy foods. Nutritional requirements alter during a lifetime and the COMA panel review the evidence on which the current estimates of nutritional requirements are based. I don't see why it's hard to include the foods I mentioned into a daily meal plan. Here's an example off the top of my head: Breakfast: Wholemeal bread toasted. Peanut butter, bran-flakes cereal with milk 5 prunes and 1 banana. 1 glass of fresh orange juice. Lunch: Ham and cheese salad, including cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce (sprikled with olive oil), coleslaw, french stick with butter. Apple and yogurt. Glass of milk. Dinner: Grilled chicken, medium jacket potato with skin, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweetcorn. 1 kiwi. 8 cherries and Jelly for dessert. Snacks in between: dried fruits, apricots, raisins, mixed nuts (esp brazil nuts for selenium). Hard boiled egg. Salt and pepper and spices (which contain iodine and Chromium) to season food. That gives you a combination of at least 5 portions or fruit and vegetables (which we get the vast majority of our vitamins and nutrients from), dairy, carbs, sodium, saturated fatty acids, protein, potassium, cholesterol, fats and fibre is included there too. I estimate that this should meet the RNI, I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong! I think you'll find what I suggested includes "Biotin, Folate, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Boron, Chromium, Iodine, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Potassium, Selenium, Vanadium, and Zinc." Obviously with the vegetables, one as to be careful not to over-cook them as one of the other posters mentioned. And I agree there may be an argument to say we need more vitamin D. You've raised this is a point many times in the past. I've had a look at various links you provided in the past and none produce any convincing evidence that current medical advise is incorrect and that we are unable to get most if not all the nutrients we require from a balanced diet. However, I do agree with one of the other posters that many of us lack vitamin D and some of the RDA may need tweaking. I also agree, that many people don't have adequate nutrition, however this is largely down to their choice of foods. However, even if people don't have adequate nutrition this is still no argument for supplements, but rather an argument for better nutritional education and better food choices. The advocacy of supplements in otherwise health people (who can obtain adequate nutrients from a balanced diet) is a bad idea simply because people will use this an excuse to eat more crap and just take vitamins. I worked with the cardiac rehab team for awhile, and when giving advice to patients about what lifestyle changes to make following a cardiovascular event (e.g. MI, stroke) the moment we say exercise and a balanced diet, most of them switch off. People want a pill to fix everything, so it isn't really the medical professionals who aren't educating patients about nutrition, its also the patients responsibility. You need to see the other side of the coin too. If you want to provide evidence that counters what I have said, please provide the links and I'll have look. ============================ EDIT @ KTC: I've only just seen this question, SkepDoc is on vacation, and the others are probably working or haven't see it. We do have lives you know. We don't answer each and every question, in fact I only saw it because Gary, one of my contacts, starred it. @ Tony: I've added you so I don't miss any of your future airings. @ thenoseknows: " Maybe the med schools are up to 2 nutrition lectures now? " Doctors and Nurses are taught adequate nutrition. It took me about 5 minutes to think up a daily meal plan that includes all of the RNI. So...can't be that bad can it? "Don't expect them to go over to the "dark side" and learn about phytonutrients, micronutrients, or (gasp!) antioxidants" I included foods high in phytonutrients, micronutrients and antioxidants. "All these years of mainstream "expert/scientific" advice, and people are fatter and sicker than ever." This is down to peoples choices, lifestyle and quantity of food as well. For someone who claims to be an expert in nutrition, you haven' really thought about other factors involved here have you? We give advice, but that does not mean people follow it. @ OnlyMatch4u: Tony asked for a diet that provided the RDA and thats' what I gave him. Regarding your problem with toasting bread, OK, don't toast the bread, problem solved. The rest of what you said about the quality of food and contamination is more or less scientifically unsupported.

Tony, you are NOT going to get this from medical people because they do not even understand the very basics of nutrition. But the real difficulty is not just naming some foods, etc., but to find any food that is grown in America that has sufficient nutrients to provide even the most basic minerals in a quantity that will nourish the body. The animals are sick and being fed grains and garbage to be fattened up, not to be made nutritious. We have lost 50% of our antioxidants in the last 25 years. So to construct a diet that gives us nutrition even to provide the RDA is not easy. Additionally, most Americans have very poor functioning organs and process the food they eat poorly, no matter how good it is. It is simply pathetic to hear medical people say "just eat a balanced diet." Like you, I would love to hear what they mean. Obviously they know something the rest of us don't and they need to share their knowledge with us so that we might see the light and become another statistic taking drugs. I'm just not sure what drug I'm deficient in though; maybe they can help us determine that. The correct way to approach a good diet for someone is to test them to see what nutrients they are lacking, determine what they are currently eating, and then recommend the diet plan and helping them to select highly nutritive foods and to instruct them on how to prepare the foods. Most of the time people need supplementation to augment their diet initially to get them up to speed. EDIT: "PraoWolf" I looked at the "Usana.com" site to see what they are offering and it is NOT good. In fact, it contains lots of synthetic garbage that will actually damage your body. They are using soy, calcium carbonates, stearic acid, and lots of excipients and tagalongs that damage the body. There are far better products on the market. The "B" vitamins are synthetic chemical activators, not true vitamins and made from the petroleum distillate, coal tar. I would never recommend this product to people. EDIT: Bravo Rhianna, you finally made a commitment and gave us your opinion without a bunch of personal whoop-da-la. There are many problems with your diet and people that eat what you have mentioned are NOT building health eating that. Let's just take breakfast you mentioned: 1. Wholemeal bread toasted. When you toast bread that has been made commercially, they heat it to over 350 degrees and destroy the essence of the nutrients. Overcooking the foodstuff definitely alters the blood formula causing the body to have a pathological reaction called “digestive leukocytosis.” Leukocytosis is a raised white blood cell count above the normal range. Each foodstuff has a critical temperature at which it creates this problem. What makes this phenomenon so interesting when associated with overcooked foods is that it is also very commonly found in acutely ill patients. It occurs in response to a wide variety of conditions, including viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infection, cancer, hemorrhage, and exposure to certain medications or chemicals, including steroids. Now, when you toast that bread, it creates the Maillard reaction. This is a carcinogenic reaction when the proteins in the wheat combine with the sugar at high temperature. It is what causes the bread to appear brown and take on a different flavor. Additionally, we know that GRAINS, SUGAR, and CORNSTARCH create the pattern B- LDL cholesterol that is the problematic guy in cholesterol that HDL cannot clean up at the injured site. It is not only gluten that causes people problems with any food containing grains. It is what is done with grains that determines the health outcome. 2. Peanut butter. If the peanut butter was made commercially, it contains hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils that contribute greatly to heart problems, as well as many liver and gallbladder issues. The peanuts are sprayed with insecticides and along with the rat hair that is in small acceptable quantities according to the FDA, the peanuts are radiated and most likely pasteurized. Most of the nutritive value, if properly analyzed, will show very little actual nutrition. The salt they put into that is typically the salt that has been heated to 1,100 degrees, added dextrose (genetically modified), and not something you want to put into your body. 3. Bran flakes cereal. Again, the processing used to make this junk is atrocious. Bran is removed from the wheat to make white flour so bowevals will not eat it in the grainery. Like the wheat bread, because they do not soak the grains overnight before processing, it contains lots of goitrogens that cause your thyroid to slow way down. And since 85% of all corn is now genetically modified, you get another treat when you buy it from typical grocery stores. In the U.K., you may be able to find it non-GMO, but certainly NOT in America because it is NOT LABELED here, thanks to the FDA. 4. Milk. Most likely you are using pasteurized milk that comes from GRAIN fed cows. These are sick cows that live 1/4 their lifespan and create human pathogens in their milk, so they have to pasteurize it. In America over 70% of the milk has rbGH (genetically engineered growth hormone) in it. Since they pasteurize the milk, they destroy all but about 2 - 3% of the human pathogens and also the lactobacillus bacteria that digest lactose. Your body has to work very hard to digest this junk as a result. The casein (milk protein) has been altered by the high heat and has now become carcinogenic! This milk is NOT nourishing for your body. 5. Prunes. Most of the fruit you find in stores have been radiated and sulfured. The food value has been greatly reduced and in most cases lots of insecticide residue is found in the prunes. 6. Orange juice. Commercially prepared orange juice has lots of high fructose corn syrup. This dehydrates the body as well and usually contains ascorbic acid some people call vitamin C that is not vitamin C. Like many of the so called "fortified" vitamins, it is a chemical activator, not a vitamin at all that damages the body, especially the DNA of your cells. Ascorbic acid is a component of the true vitamin C complex. Vitamin C was discovered by the Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Albert Szent-Georgi in 1937. As part of his research on vitamin C, he found that he could not cure scurvy with the isolated ascorbic acid as a single element. The complete complex of vitamin C includes ascorbic acid and contains ascorbinogen, bioflavonoids, rutin, tyrosinase, Factor J, Factor K, and Factor P. In addition, mineral co-factors must be available in proper amounts. If any of these parts are missing, there is no vitamin C, no vitamin activity. When some of them are present, the body will draw on its own stores to make up the differences, so that the whole vitamin complex may be present. Provided that all other conditions and co-factors are present, the vitamin activity will take place. Ascorbic acid is described merely as the "antioxidant wrapper" portion of vitamin C; ascorbic acid protects the functional parts of the vitamin from rapid oxidation or breakdown. The other so called "fortified vitamins" are complete junk and also damage the body in many ways. The "B" vitamins are made of the petroleum distillate, Coal Tar and the body rejects this junk due to it's toxicity. Look at your yellow pee and smell the stench in the toilet after taking this junk. 7. The banana. Most bananas are gased and unless you can find a good organically grown one, good luck. Just to give you a perspective on this so called "balanced diet," the actual nutrition you derive from this is also going to be dependent upon your body's ability to digest it. If you are like a huge number of people today with bad digestion, all the good food you put into your mouth will not do you much good. Taking the antacids being prescribed everywhere is stopping the digestive process and you have to factor that into this equation. You are NOT what you eat, but what you DIGEST. Studies that were done in the early 1930's of cultures all around the earth showed that primitive people had more than 10 times the minerals in their bodies than people during the 1930's. They had NO cavities, good resistance to disease, etc. That was in the 1930's, but our food supply has lost over 50% of the antioxidants in the last 25 years. Your balance diet and minimum daily requirements are nothing more than lip service when you start looking at the details and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Medical science is NOT going to fix this problem without some major changes to the way we put junk into our mouths each day. good luck

DASH eating plans are constructed across a range of calorie levels to meet the nutrient needs of various age and gender groups. Following a DASH diet should get you your minimal RDAs within your calorie requirement. http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/chapter2.htm

Excellent question, and I'd bet real money that you won't get anything more here than platitudes. I just checked out the DASH diet suggestion: a fictitious 78 year old woman is told to eat 6 servings of "grains" and only 4 of vegetables (just love the icon of the white bread). Are you kidding me? If this is the best that mainstream can do, I can only suppose they're in bed with the wheat marketing board.Take the last two letters of DASH and add IT. Unless practitioners are in a holistic health field, they are woefully short on nutrition knowledge beyond the protein/carbs/fat thing. RDA?. Maybe the med schools are up to 2 nutrition lectures now? Don't expect them to go over to the "dark side" and learn about phytonutrients, micronutrients, or (gasp!) antioxidants. GMO's anyone? Noooooo!!! This is the same mainstream diet advice as Veterinarians flogging nutritionally balanced and complete cardboard after their 2 nutrition lectures from the pet food industry. All these years of mainstream "expert/scientific" advice, and people are fatter and sicker than ever.

There isn't one and you know it. On top of if - the DASH recommendation has some very big holes. If we do not need supplementation of vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes, minerals, amino acids, long chain polysaccharides etc.etc...... than why even the Dash is recommending the supplements as an addition to daily food for people over 50 years old? @Extract from the actual DASH diet: People over age 50. Consume vitamin B12 in its crystalline form (i.e., fortified foods or supplements). Women of childbearing age who may become pregnant. Eat foods high in heme-iron and/or consume iron-rich plant foods or iron-fortified foods with an enhancer of iron absorption, such as vitamin C-rich foods. Women of childbearing age who may become pregnant and those in the first trimester of pregnancy. Consume adequate synthetic folic acid daily (from fortified foods or supplements) in addition to food forms of folate from a varied diet. Older adults, people with dark skin, and people exposed to insufficient ultraviolet band radiation (i.e., sunlight). Consume extra vitamin D from vitamin D-fortified foods and/or supplements.

Great question Tony. I really don't think you are going to find that diet. Even if it were - at first glance - look good on paper....if the person thinks that by eating canned fruits or vegetables they are getting the same nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables they would be wrong. Nor would they if they take a beautiful fresh vegetable and cook it to death. In addition, the RDA is the MINIMUM requirements to avoid certain known nutrition deficient diseases, not for optimal health. The RDA is not set in stone (although many people think it is the final say) I've got news for them, their 'final say' not that long ago increased the minimum requirements for Calcium and are now looking at increasing the requirements for Vitamin D which at the present time is pitifully low based on the newest findings. Great answers by some others here. Maybe and Red Angel - you rock! EDIT: Do you hear the crickets chirping Tony? You know, you asked a very good question and yet the skeptics have nothing to give except to gather up their cronies and/or activate their multiple accounts to give thumbs down to the members here that are backing you up with some very good information of their own.

Considering that a vast percentage of people in the world are lactose intolerant and have an enormous amount of trouble digesting milk and dairy AnD do not address it ~ I would hesitate to say that it would be nigh on impossible to gain adequate nutrition from a healthy varied diet of fresh foods ~ for those people. Particularly if you factor in the FaCT that not addressing food intolerances will simply leach precious vitamins and minerals right out of your body. And thats not including the people who are coeliac, intolerant or allergic to various chemicals, preservatives, flavorings like msg (which is in nearly everything) etc., fructose intolerant, salicylate intolerant and NoT addressng it. I'm sure there's many more that i've not listed that people suffer with and don't address it, thus leaving themselves wide open to being predisposed to being deficient in main vitamins and minerals like the b complex (as they're water soluble), vitamin C and calcium magnesium supplies. For the rest of the world, who don't have a food intolerance or allergy in site, perhaps it might be a bit easier to gain adequate nutrition from food alone.... if they grow it themselves in RiCH fertile soil. No mate, I can't come up with an adequate plan that contains minimal required nutritional amounts for you because on top of all that you would need to factor in the mass worldwide addiction to processed fake food and processed sugar, and we all know that processed sugar is rife throughout our "food supply" and positively destroys nearly all nutrition in food. x

I eat whole, organic, vegetarian food every day, and take whole food based supplements. Especially important are digestive enzymes, probiotics and flax seed oil. I've been vegetarian for 20 years now, and even though I'm 45 years old, people say I look 35. I attribute that to my vegetarian and organic diet.

With food the way it is now, nothing is guaranteed, even the vegetables you buy are technically fake (picked while green and then ripened with ethalyne gas) it's the illusion of food. Corn-fed meats cause all kinds of problems, if you ask me the obesity epidemic is down to genetically altered foods and corn fed meats. When the hell did cows stop eating grass anyway??? You HAVE to have a nutritional supplement if you're looking at maintaining a healthy body, our foods just don't have it anymore, and certain minerals are not commonly found like Chromium. Usana.com is the best nutritional supplement on the market, take a look. They are pharmaceutical grade, not FDA (which is crap by the way) don't trust the USDA or FDA to look out for you because the whole gov't has been bought out by food interests who want nothing more than to sicken us and pollute our bodies.