No deficiency diet insights...

As of this writing, I am finished developing 1 week of meals for my no deficiency diet.  I am sure I'll take the lazy man's way out and just repeat the first week for week two.  So far I have some interesting tidbits.

• I think there is a nutritional reason we like to season our food with spices
• I Didn't get anywhere near the RDA for vitamin D, but that's what the Sun is for
• Vitamin E was the hardest nutrient to attain
• Thiamin is very difficult to get for most people without processed foods fortified in it
• Zinc and calcium are pretty difficult as well
• The only way I'll get adequate sodium is via liberal use of Celtic Sea Salt
• I have a very respectable Omega 3:Omega 6 ratio of 1:2 for the first 2 days
• Iodine is not listed anywhere, had to use seaweed

Here are some macronutrient numbers for the first 2 days...

Day 1

• Calories=1945
• Fat=82.1g
• Carbs=259.3g
• Sugar=38.5g 
• Fiber=56g
• Protein=96g

Day 2

• Calories=1919
• Fat=80.2
• Carbs=257.4
• Sugar=31.1
• Fiber=55.1g
• Protein=100.4g

These numbers are close for a reason, breakfast and lunch on the first 2 days are basically the same.  Breakfast will more or less be the same throughout the week with only one or two diversions.  This also makes it easier to make multiple lunches on a day in the event I end up not having lunch off.


While I have attempted to keep as close to a 1:1 Omega 3:6 ratio during the first couple of days, it is not something I am going out of my way to do.  I will attempt to not let it get out of hand which is difficult, especially when trying to get enough vitamin E at the same time.  One problem with my Omega 3:6 ratio calculation is that these ratios are not available for grass-fed beef and free range chicken.  Since I will be using both as my primary meat sources, my Omega 3:6 ratio is probably better than what is calculated, but I don't know how much better or if it's even significant.

I have also decided to make an effort to get cruciferous vegetables 2-3 times a week for their anti-cancer and detox benefits, but I do not want to overconsume them as they are goitrogenic.  Most of the studies I have read point to the benefit lasting 2-3 days so I will use that as my guide.

The nutrients that appear to be easiest to get on this sort of diet are Vitamins A, C, K, and manganese.  Potassium is also quite high, especially in relation to sodium.  Vitamin B12 would have been very difficult to get without small servings of liver.  Thiamin, a big player in carbohydrate metabolism, was just as difficult to get and I was probably severely low on this nutrient before realizing it.  I've noticed adrenal fatigue/insufficiency seems to be common in the Paleo crowd, I'm guessing thiamin is the culpri, which you can read about here.

Probably the biggest surprise to me was calcium.  I figured it would be difficult to get enough calcium without dairy, but when I searched calcium sources, I found that dairy isn't even the best source of calcium.  By weight, spices have more calcium than dairy by a long shot, almost double.  The only foods that beat spices by weight are processed foods fortified with calcium.  Two tablespoons of ground basil will give you 20% of the RDA for calcium.  I wonder if this is why we like spices so much considering how important calcium is for human physiology(I'm not talking about bone density).

That about covers the update for this week, Monday is go time!