# How do you ensure you get your 114 nutrients? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237 "2011-07-07T22:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/21 "2011-07-08T19:30:06Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Please document these claims that “most Americans are nutrient deficient” and that this can be blamed on processed foods, with appropriate citations. You need a citation to show you that vegetables, meat, and fish have more nutrients than Wonderbread, Cheetos, and Pop Tarts? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/22 "2011-07-08T21:41:41Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Please document these claims that “most Americans are nutrient deficient” and that this can be blamed on processed foods, with appropriate citations. > [@Surreal](#): > > You need a citation to show you that vegetables, meat, and fish have more nutrients than Wonderbread, Cheetos, and Pop Tarts? That’s not what I’m asking. Can you document that we are “nutrient deficient” due to consumption of processed foods? ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/23 "2011-07-09T02:25:44Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A pizza with everything has all of them. Another approach is to eat healthy people. But, I don’t wanna eat people. As far as what vegetables to fill your plate with, IMO, dark leafy greens should be high on the list, and in some form every day. This would be cabbage family, kale, spinach, collards, chard, etc. Round out the color on your plate, the more colors the better, with whatever else strikes your fancy. (red, purple, yellow, orange) If you eat meat, no more than 3 ounces (the size of a deck of cards), and if you’re veg, mixed starches like beans and rice round out the protein needed. This is a pretty simple way to keep all nutrients needed in your diet every day. I can dig up some cites, but the above is my own “rule” as adopted through many years being around healthy vegetarians and vegans, and my own research before becoming vegetarian over a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/24 "2011-07-09T02:49:42Z")
If you’re eating those leafy greens, make sure you eat something acidic with them. Greens are high in iron, for instance, but in an insoluable form. Eat some tomatoes with those collards. Except if you are prone to kidney stones. Then the leafy greens are supposedly not good for you, especially with citrus. One thing that strikes me as weird is the emphasis on folic acid for women in the first trimester. Many woman don’t find out that they’re pregnant well into their first trimester, and they often give birth to healthy babies. Either folic acid isn’t that big of a deal, or it’s not that hard to obtain unintentionally. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/25 "2011-07-09T02:52:52Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > But, I don’t wanna eat people. Southern waitress to Dick Gregory: “We don’t serve black people.” Gregory: “That’s alright, I don’t eat black people. Bring me a whole fried chicken.” ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/26 "2011-07-09T03:35:59Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > If you’re eating those leafy greens, make sure you eat something acidic with them. Greens are high in iron, for instance, but in an insoluable form. Eat some tomatoes with those collards. Except if you are prone to kidney stones. Then the leafy greens are supposedly not good for you, especially with citrus. > > One thing that strikes me as weird is the emphasis on folic acid for women in the first trimester. Many woman don’t find out that they’re pregnant well into their first trimester, and they often give birth to healthy babies. Either folic acid isn’t that big of a deal, or it’s not that hard to obtain unintentionally. My favorite way to eat them if they’re alone is with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil mixture reduction. Is that the right kind of acidic? Otherwise I add spinach, kale, or chard to my chana masala (plenty of tomatoes and a dash of lime). No stones here! The folic acid thing, isn’t it added to most commercial breads and cereals? I remember a TV ad a while ago where a husband made a bread-slice trail to the bedroom, and the ad was for folic acid for women and the importance of it in the diet if trying to have a kid. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237/27 "2011-07-12T14:57:50Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > The folic acid thing, isn’t it added to most commercial breads and cereals? Yes, unfortunately. Folic acid is the synthetic version of naturally occurring folate and is the form that’s added to multivitamins, breads, and cereals. It’s also been linked to colon cancer: > **[Colon cancer in Chile before and after the start of the flour fortification...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19190501/)** > > Our data provide new evidence that a folate fortification program could be associated with an additional risk of colon cancer. > [@](#): > > CONCLUSION: Our data provide new evidence that a folate fortification program could be associated with an additional risk of colon cancer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-ensure-you-get-your-114-nutrients/588237.md?page=1)