Don't Sacrifice Health: Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods!
With so many people eating a highly processed diet today, it’s safe to say they're not thinking about how nutrient packed their food is. That’s unfortunate, because whole foods are the surest way to get health and weight loss goals on lock.
Guidelines such as the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), Adequate Intakes (AI), and Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) were all created to prevent deficiency diseases. They do not promote satiety or optimal health.
This article will give you the necessary information to receive all the micronutrients you need from your food.
First, let’s define nutrient density. The term refers to the amount of essential micronutrients per calorie in a food or meal. Nutrient dense foods are jam-packed with all the essential vitamins, minerals, EFA’s, and amino acids your body needs, so they’re typically more satiating, making it harder to overeat.
Back in the day, nutrient density wasn’t so much a concern. Our food had all the good stuff in the right amounts, but now with the way we produce food, we're getting robbed blind.
Supplements can help, especially with so many people having a diagnosed deficiency. But they’re no match for nutrient-dense meals. So it’s always best to get your essential needs from dietary sources.
Nutrient Loss
According to data from the USDA Economic Research Service, the amount of sodium, potassium and magnesium in the US food system has decreased in parallel with the increased use of fertilizers and large-scale agriculture.
Since the introduction of the Dietary Goals for Americans in 1977, dietary vitamin A and B12 have also dropped to alarming levels because of the unnecessary fixation on reducing saturated fat and cholesterol. It just so happens that the foods containing more saturated fat and cholesterol also contain more vitamin A and B12.
The table below shows the number of calories you now need to consume from foods to get your recommended intake of various nutrients:
Calcium - 5400 calories
Potassium - 5200 calories
Magnesium - 4400 calories
Vitamin A: 1,000-1,500 calories
Vitamin B12: 2,000-3,000 calories
Vitamin C: 1,200-1,500 calories
Vitamin D: 2,000-3,000 calories
Vitamin E: 800-1,200 calories
Vitamin K: 600-800 calories
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020.
That means we have to eat a lot of calories (of the Standard American Diet) to meet nutrient needs. Unfortunately, these foods are also a mix of cheap vegetable oils, refined starch, added sugars, salt, flavors and colors to make them even taste good. And look at the frightening 50 year obesity trajectory that came along with this stuff.
While cheap to produce, these foods tend to be inferior sources of micronutrients. Once you learn to fill your plate with nutrient-dense foods, you probably won’t have room or cravings for bad foods that are so easy to overeat.
Nutrient Density Is Critical
First and foremost, nutrients are important for overall good health. But if you’re trying to lose weight, it's extra important to focus on getting the good stuff. Even though you're cutting back on calories, you still need enough nutrients to keep yourself going.
Just trying to eat less of the garbage foods won't do you any good. You'll just end up feeling hungry and craving more food. Then, you end up binging and putting on more weight than you lost. If you really want to drop some pounds, you have to keep your appetite in check by making sure you're getting more nutrients for every calorie you eat. This is the real secret to slimming down! You’ll eat enough to be satisfied, consume fewer calories, and easily achieve your weight loss goals.
Shifting your perspective to focus on nutrients instead of calories can be a significant transformation in the way you approach nutrition. Rather than feeling deprived, you learn to view nutrition as a means of nourishing and sustaining your body, without undue restriction and willpower.
High Nutrient Dense Foods
The modern food industry has become increasingly reliant on marketing shenanigans to make their products appear healthier than they really are. These deceptive tactics involve emphasizing one or two supposedly healthy ingredients, while ignoring a sea of processed components. This can lead to consumer confusion when choosing foods.
In addition, the industry also uses “health washing” tactics to make a product seem healthier than it is, such as by using words like “natural” or “whole grain” to describe foods actually high in sugar and sodium. Ultimately, it’s important for consumers to look beyond marketing language when evaluating the nutritional content of a product.
And as I’ve written about before, Tufts University’s Food Compass nutritional profiling system includes various negative ranking factors for ‘bad’ food properties instead of focusing on essential nutrients. Unfortunately, this also leads it to arrive at some bizarre results that further muddies consumer understanding. See chart below:
As a nation, we need to emphasize more whole foods, getting away from the processed fare, while ignoring diet gurus that promote extreme eating. For example:
Vegan or vegetarian diets - If our diet overly emphasizes plant foods, there will be a lack of B12, omega 3 and some amino acids.
Carnivore diets - If we overly focus on meat eating, we’ll be too high in protein.
It’s the ratio that’s important, especially when we consider alkalinity and acidity of foods. I’ve written about the subject here.
Without an alkaline diet (75-25 percent ratio), we will suffer nutrient deficiencies and acidity related diseases. Both are important to address in finally finding relief from aches, pains, diseases and undue weight gain.