lacking needed vitamins

[veggiegirl3]

I just entered my food intake into fit-day, and almost met all the recomendations. Then, I tried to plan out what I thought was a healthy day, and it was deficient in so many things (vit a, vit k, calcium, magnesium, and a couple more!). I know where to get calcium, but I have no idea where to get other stuff. How does everyone get everything they need???

[Veryblue2]

Just a suggestion, but it's sometimes easier to try and plan out a healthy week vs. day.

Do you take any supplements?

The ones you mentioned:

Vitamin A
For: growth, healthy eyes and skin, resistance to infection
Sources: Carrots, Spinach, Parsley, Margarine, Watercress, Dried Apricots

Vitamin K
Essential for: blood clotting, half our requirements can be made by bacteria in the gut
Sources: Broccoli, Lettuce, Cabbage, Spinach

Magnesium
For: building bones, manufacturing proteins, releasing energy from muscle storage, and regulating body temperature
Sources: Artichoke, Broccoli, Spinach

Go for the broccoli and spinach! Yum!

Hope this helps...

[tasha]

Have you had a blood/urine check done? I thought I was eating all of the wrong foods and after a year of wondering, I had a full check up and was surprized to hear that I'm totally normal (by the way, that excludes neurological testing!)

[eve]

Exactly! you're totally normal. Why wonder where you can get the various vitamins and minerals - just eating veges and fruit, with some grainy foods and nuts etc, gives you all the proper vitamins and minerals you need, without going to the bother of taking synthetic vitamin pills.

[j&k]

I take a food based multi everyday just to make sure. It's called VITAFORCE and you can find it at organichealthandbeauty.com. I just prefer to be sure I am getting everything I need, while also maintaining a perfectly healthy diet. Stuff like b-12 and D are just not in a vegan diet, and unless you are close enough to the equator, your are not getting sufficient d from the sun. I say better safe than sorry, and since VITAFORCE is actually made up of foods, you are still getting all your nutrients from food.
Best,
Josh

[absentmindedfan]

Vit D and B12 are in all Alpro soya milks, and the added vitamins one has all B vits and calcium.

15 mins of sun/outside light a day is sufficient to make Vit D in the body, unless you suffer from SAD like me in which case in winter get a lamp

[j&k]

If you live too far north e.g. boston, you will not get your vitamin d from sun for most of the year. Studies suggest there is widespread deficiency of Vitamin D. To get the amount of vitamin D you would need simply from drinking soy milk, would mean you would have to drink a ton of soy milk each day, which in and of itself, is not ideal. To begin to address Vitamin D deficiency, you need to be taking at least 800 to 1000iu's, and quite possibly significantly more. The current recommended amounts are too low according to virtually every new study. In other words, 400iu is not sufficient. So if you do not live in an area where you can rely on the sun, finding a supplement with vegan vitamin D is a very good idea.

[Korn]

I take a food based multi everyday just to make sure. It's called VITAFORCE and you can find it at organichealthandbeauty.com. I just prefer to be sure I am getting everything I need, while also maintaining a perfectly healthy diet. Stuff like b-12 and D are just not in a vegan diet, and unless you are close enough to the equator, your are not getting sufficient d from the sun. I say better safe than sorry, and since VITAFORCE is actually made up of foods, you are still getting all your nutrients from food.

According to yourself, it is not only made of foods, and secondly, you have mentioned this product (which you are the manufacturer of) so many times in so many threads that we consider this product spam. Please stop the spamming of your and Dr. Fuhrman products if you want to remain a member here. We don't need manufacturers who mention their own products - and that they are best - all over the place.

[meggymaggoo]

I just entered my food intake into fit-day, and almost met all the recomendations. Then, I tried to plan out what I thought was a healthy day, and it was deficient in so many things (vit a, vit k, calcium, magnesium, and a couple more!). I know where to get calcium, but I have no idea where to get other stuff. How does everyone get everything they need???

The book 'Becoming Vegan' by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina is the most comprehensive nutritional book I have ever seen. Complete nutritional breakdowns of the majority of foods you're likely to eat. Chapters on every nutrient we should be eating. Excellent. Highly recommended.

[veggiegirl3]

The book 'Becoming Vegan' by Brenda Davis Vesanto Melina is the most comprehensive nutritional book I have ever seen. Complete nutritional breakdowns of the majority of foods you're likely to eat. Chapters on every nutrient we should be eating. Excellent. Highly recommended.

Thank you for that recommendation! I bought the book, and it's excellent!

Good idea about planning out a week instead of a day, Veryblue! It seems easier.

[veggiegirl3]

[quote=Veryblue2]

Vitamin A
For: growth, healthy eyes and skin, resistance to infection
Sources: Carrots, Spinach, Parsley, Margarine, Watercress, Dried Apricots

[quote]

Only dries and not fresh? Why can you get more vitamins in dries? I've heard of a few other things you can get from dried fruit too.

[meggymaggoo]

Thank you for that recommendation! I bought the book, and it's excellent!

Goodness me, that was quick!

I'm glad to have helped

[Veryblue2]

Hey Veggiegirl,

Can't remember exactly where the vitamin info came from. A while back I created a spreadsheet with vitamin sources (excluding the things I don't like / can't eat) from numerous books/websites. This doc is quite a good guide: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/veggie/goveg.pdf (page 5)

I'm not 100% about the fresh vs. dried. I have read that the 'dried fruit group' is an essential element in our diet, but also that the processing reduces the amount of vitamins... The dried recommendation probably has something to do with seasonal availability i.e. dried keeps longer, so is available all year round.

Anyhow, apricots are yum so I say have both if you can get them! Some fresh as snacks or in fruit salad and sprinkle some dried on cereal... can't loose out then.

Oh, and I'm glad you found the week approach a bit easier

[Veryblue2]

The book 'Becoming Vegan' by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina is the most comprehensive nutritional book I have ever seen. Complete nutritional breakdowns of the majority of foods you're likely to eat. Chapters on every nutrient we should be eating. Excellent. Highly recommended.

Hey meggymaggoo!

I don't think I have read this. Have you read Plant Based Nutrition and Health by Stephen Walsh? If so, how do they compare?

Thanks,
Veryblue2

[meggymaggoo]

Hello Veryblue

Both are very good but Becoming Vegan also acts as a great reference book. It has tables listing specific amounts of each nutrient per 100grams, e.g. for something like Iron it compares lots of common foods such as Lentils, Kale, etc. gram for gram, in a chart. Each nutrient is documented this way in different chapters. I find this method far quicker for reference.

It is still the most comprehensive nutritional book I have read.

I have just remembered that they released an update called Becoming Vegetarian (which is also vegan - new title to appeal to wider audience?) in 2003. I apologise for not mentioning this before sorry paws on yer nose veggiegirl3.

They have reviews on www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com (I often look at both sites to see what U.K. and U.S. readers think of the same book).

No, I'm not on comission! I just like to share good information.





I, honestly, can't recommend it enough. I was delighted

[veggiegirl3]

Goodness me, that was quick!

I'm glad to have helped

I didn't read thw whole thing yet, just parts.

(But we can just pretend that I'm a speed-reader!)

[absentmindedfan]

If you live too far north e.g. boston, you will not get your vitamin d from sun for most of the year. Studies suggest there is widespread deficiency of Vitamin D. To get the amount of vitamin D you would need simply from drinking soy milk, would mean you would have to drink a ton of soy milk each day, which in and of itself, is not ideal. So if you do not live in an area where you can rely on the sun, finding a supplement with vegan vitamin D is a very good idea.

Do you have any studies for this? It sounds an awful lot like anti-soy studies that see soy as the enemy and dairy as the 'best' source of Vit D.

[j&k]

Hi Absentmindedfan:

Yes, there are many studies out there, and only more and more are popping up as time goes on. The studies certainly do not seem to be from a pro milk standpoint at all.

Here is the NIH website discussing Vitamin D (many studies referred to there):
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih....s/vitamind.asp

The following are the results of studies reported at the recent IOF (International Osteoporosis Foundation) World Congress on Osteoporosis in Toronto. The most important studies of the year regarding osteoporosis are reported at this event, and below are the summaries of the most important information presented:

1. A recent study out of Belgium indicates that vitamin D levels might be low all over the world, and that people of all ages should be supplementing with Vitamin D to protect against bone fractures;
2. People should be taking at least 800 IU's of Vitamin D a day to protect against bone fractures; and
3. Vitamin D must be taken with calcium to protect against hip fracture risk.

The press release is dated June 5, 2006, and further details can be found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0605194723.htm

There are tons more studies out there, and I can point you to more if you wish, but I figured this was a good start.

Best,
Josh

[eve]

don't think much of your url from the Office of Dietary Supplements - as soon as I saw their listing:
Cod liver oil, Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines, Milk, Margarine, milk pudding, Egg, Liver, beef, Cheese,... what a crock!

As for improving bone density to strengthen against osteoporosis, you can't beat weight bearing exercise.

[Korn]

The vit. D absorption level has to do with how many hours of sun you get. Unlike 'old days', lots of humans are spending most of the daylight hours indoors, which means that they don't get much sunlight in the winter season.

We have a thread about vitamin D and sunlight here...

[j&k]

don't think much of your url from the Office of Dietary Supplements - as soon as I saw their listing:
Cod liver oil, Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines, Milk, Margarine, milk pudding, Egg, Liver, beef, Cheese,... what a crock!

As for improving bone density to strengthen against osteoporosis, you can't beat weight bearing exercise.

I'm curious why this turns you off to the legitimate research done on Vitamin D that the NIH quotes and discusses. Remember, the truth is vitamin D is not really present in the vegan diet -- it is only present in animal foods. Of course, the best source of D is the sun (which is vegan obviously, but not a food source), and only requires 10 to 15 minutes with skin exposed during the day without sunscreen. But, as the studies have shown, and this really isn't controversial, you have to be near enough to the equator during winter months to get a sufficient amount. And many people have a tougher time converting vitamin d than do others -- e.g. older people, darker skinned people etc.

The study reported in the World Congress on Osteoporosis about there being a widespread deficiency of Vitamin D (american studies point to this as well) should be of concern to all of us -- or at least, I am concerned about this.

[insubordination]

I live in Sydney. There's enough sun but I'm stuck in an office 40 hours/week during the best daylight hours.

[FR]

Remember, the truth is vitamin D is not really present in the vegan diet -- it is only present in animal foods.

Vitamin D2 is vegan.

[j&k]

My point is vitamin D is not in the vegan diet. Vitamin D-2 is a supplement, it is not in the diet. But, D-2 is the supplement that I recommend vegans take. And, because d-2 is somewhat less active than d-3 (which is of animal form), it is even more important that vegans take a sufficient amount of d-2.

Best,
Josh

[FR]

Sunshine and d2, can't go wrong with that.

[meggymaggoo]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1853516

WASHINGTON Apr 18, 2006 (AP)— Mushrooms may soon emerge from the dark as an unlikely but significant source of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin that helps keep bones strong and fights disease.

New research, while preliminary, suggests that brief exposure to ultraviolet light can zap even the blandest and whitest farmed mushrooms with a giant serving of the vitamin. The Food and Drug Administration proposed the study, which is being funded by industry.

Exposing growing or just-picked mushrooms to UV light would be cheap and easy to do if it could mean turning the agricultural product into a unique plant source of vitamin D, scientists and growers said. That would be a boon especially for people who don't eat fish or milk, which is today the major fortified source of the important vitamin.

One grower predicted the pilot project, if supported by further research, could give consumers a radically different reason to buy mushrooms, now sought out for being low in fat and calories.

"They eat them for what they don't have, versus what they do have," said Joe Caldwell, vice president of Monterey Mushrooms. The Watsonville, Calif. company is the nation's largest producer of fresh mushrooms.

The ongoing work so far has found that a single serving of white button mushrooms the most commonly sold mushroom will contain 869 percent the daily value of vitamin D once exposed to just five minutes of UV light after being harvested . If confirmed, that would be more than what's in two tablespoons of cod liver oil, one of the richest and most detested natural sources of the vitamin, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Details were being presented this week at the FDA's annual science forum. The FDA proposed the research, which was funded by the Mushroom Council, as the agency looks for ways to increase the amounts of vitamin D consumed by Americans.

"This could be it," said Robert Beelman, a Penn State food scientist who's spent more than a decade working to give mushrooms their own "nutritional identity."

Sunshine is a significant source of vitamin D, since natural UV rays trigger vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Mushrooms also synthesize vitamin D, albeit in a different form, through UV exposure. Growers typically raise the mushrooms indoors in the dark, switching on fluorescent lights only at harvest time. That means they now contain negligible amounts of vitamin D.

Research, including new findings also being presented at the conference, consistently has shown that many adult Americans do not spend enough time outside to receive enough UV exposure needed to produce ample vitamin D. The problem is especially acute in winter.

That worries health officials and not only because of rickets, the soft-bone disease linked to vitamin D deficiency that was a scourge in decades past. Vitamin D is increasingly thought to play a role in reducing the risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and tooth loss, as well as in reducing mortality associated with colon, breast, prostate and other cancers.

Beelman said his research has shown that exposing growing mushrooms to three hours of artificial UV light increases their vitamin D content significantly. That could be easier than exposing fresh-picked mushrooms to light, Beelman said. The only drawback is that the white button mushrooms like people tend to darken with increased UV exposure, he added.

[j&k]

WASHINGTON Apr 18, 2006 (AP)— Mushrooms may soon emerge from the dark as an unlikely but significant source of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin that helps keep bones strong and fights disease.

Yes, I heard about this at the time. I think this is very promising!

Best,
Josh

[meggymaggoo]

Also interesting that wild mushrooms are a good source of vitamin D.

Just be careful that you know what you're looking for!