How to Get All the Nutrients You Need in One Day's Food



Many people are deficient in vital vitamins and minerals, like Vitamin D, iron, and selenium. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey, states that 46 per cent of girls between the ages of 11 and 18 do not get their recommended daily intake of iron. One in four women also have low iron consumption, and only 50% of women get their daily-recommended amount of selenium. Vitamin D deficiency is also particularly common during the winter months. These deficiencies cause complaints like depression and fatigue.

All the Nutrients you need in One Day’s Food
You can get all of the vital nutrients you need, in one day’s worth of food, by following this simple meal plan.

Breakfast
- One medium sized bowl oatmeal made with 8 ounces of milk and topped with a handful of blackberries.

What it offers
- A third of your recommended daily allowance of B12
- A fifth of your recommended daily allowance of magnesium
- Milk will provide you with a third of your recommended daily amount of calcium and vitamin B2.
- Oats offer fiber and carbohydrates
- Blackberries give you 15 percent of your daily vitamin C allowance, and vitamin E.

Mid-Morning Snack
- 2 ounces of cashews and a small to medium sized banana

What it Offers

- The cashews provide you with a quarter of your daily intake.
- The banana offers magnesium, a sixth of your daily potassium allowance, and vitamin B12, and it provides you with energy boosting carbohydrates.

Lunch
- Chicken salad sandwich, made using 2 ounces of meat, with six cherry tomatoes, 2 ounces of carrot sticks, 2 ounces of almonds and an apple.

What it Offers
- Vitamin B1 and B3            from the chicken and the bread.
- Vitamin A from the carrots
- Vitamin E from the almonds and tomatoes
- Vitamin C from the apple
- A fifth of your daily allowance of zinc.
- A fifth of your daily allowance of iron.
- Antioxidants from the tomatoes, carrots and almonds

Afternoon Snack
- A 5 ounces grams of low-fat yogurt, and add your own fruit if desired

What it Offers
- A quarter of your daily calcium allowance.
- Around a fifth of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin B1, as well as other B vitamins.

Dinner
- 4 ounces of salmon, grilled, with half pound of new potatoes, 3 tablespoons of both cooked spinach and peas, and a glass of red wine.

What it Offers

- Salmon provides vitamin D
- 40 percent of your daily potassium intake
- 40 percent of your daily-recommended magnesium intake. 
- Spinach and potatoes provide 93 percent of your recommended daily allowance of folic acid.
- Peas and spinach offer vitamin A, vitamin B1 and iron.


Overall, this simple meal plan provides you with more than enough vitamins and nutrients to lead a healthy lifestyle, covering all of the major food groups.