Page 77 - The Skinny On Your Diet Plan

A multivitamin is not a substitute for fruit and vegetable intake

It can’t be over-emphasized that a poor diet with a multivitamin is

still just a poor diet. There are a multitude of biologically active and

beneficial compounds within the matrix of foods that are not in and may
never make their way into a multivitamin/mineral supplement. It’s important

to think of micronutrition not just in terms of essential vitamins & minerals,
but also in terms of phytonutrients & zoonutrients; compounds that are not

classified as vitamins or minerals but can optimize health and prevent
disease. Therefore, attaining a variety of foods both within and across the

food groups is important for covering all the micronutrient bases.

Other Important Notes on Micronutrition

Dieters are at greater risk of micronutrient deficiencies than just

about anyone else. Those dieting (i.e., in a caloric deficit) are at greater risk
of having some kind of micro nutritional deficiency.

Recalling the findings of Calton, JB. ‘Prevalence of micronutrient
deficiency in popular diet plans.’ from the June 2010 Journal of the

International Society of Sports Nutrition, regarding specifically the Atkins,

DASH, South Beach, and Best Life diets:

• All four diet plans failed to deliver 100% sufficiency for the
selected 27 essential micronutrients, based on RDI guidelines,

when followed as recommended by their suggested daily menus
using whole food alone.

• Six micronutrients (vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin D, vitamin E,

chromium, iodine, and molybdenum) were identified as

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