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Supplements vs. a Balanced Diet?

I'm also on the side of star and frizz with this...I have a few things I've tended to take from time to time, when I knew I wasn't eating well, but most of the time I tend to look at what I'm eating and adjust things there. Many sites (www.fitday.com is one) will take what you're eating and give you a rough estimate of the percentages of daily value you're reaching. I'll look at those guidelines and try to figure out what I can throw in there that's missing.
 
markusgoneawry said:
Frizz,

That is a great site link for this thread. Let me clear up something, when I refer to nutritional supplements, I am NOT just referring to vitamins. I am also talking about protein, creatine, fish oil, etc. etc.. For a serious athlete looking to optimize their performance, there is no way to get enough creatine through diet, and one may find it very difficult to consume enough protein also (it is argued that 1g of protein per lb of body weight is ideal for athletes looking to optimize muscle growth).

Cheers.
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Good point.. I should make clear that I am only arguing that vitamin and mineral suppliments are unnecessary if a healthy diet is consumed. I see many people recommend a multivitamin or a specific vitamin (B-12 for example) for almost everything, when it probably isn't doing a lot.

There many are other "suppliments" that are actually drugs that change the way your body works. These are not needed for a normal person who wants to eat a healthy diet. if there is something specific you are trying to acheive, perhaps a certain suppliment can help, but, in general, i feel theres no need to encourage the use of so many chemicals in the name of "healthy living"
 
Right. Especially with depleted soils, pesticides, artificial dyes, etc.
 
Go to health related web sites, I haven't found any that recommends bellow 200mg, some are even recommending taking 2-5gr per day. They all have different recommendations based on different research, but as far as I can see all agree it should be at least 200mg per day. Anyway it was just an example. And as an athlete you should add some extra antioxidants (likve vit c), since exercise produces more oxidants. You don't have to, your body learns to manage more and more oxidative stress as you excersice longer, but still why not help your body work better.

xxanxx said:
Anyway,
da_sense posted:Secondly it has also be found that taking 200-500mg of Vitamin C per day is definetly a good thing.
Any sources for this info? Just curious as I have never heard this before, and I think those people who pump themselves full of vitamin c are a little off.

Also, I am a very serious athlete and I don't require any extra supplements. The only non-whole foods I take are:
bee pollen
cliff shots energy gels(endurance & recovery)they are also organic

Other than that I get everything I need from fruits, veggies, meats, legumes, etc... [/B]
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^OK, I was just curious as I take around 500mg a day. One of my old doctors told me that anything above 120mg won't help you any more, and is actually quite bad for you!
 
I've read somewhere that 200-500mg is the max your body can use per day. Still that same site suggested taking up to 2 gr per day when having cold or flu.
Anyway Vit C is pretty safe, same people take as much as 5 gr per day for long time with no side effects.
 
MynameisnotDeja said:
How do you know exactly what you are getting with diet though? At least with a vitamin you get guaranteed amounts.

And its WAY impossible to eat organic unless you are rich as hell.
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you dont have to eat organic to eat whole foods.. whole foods are simply foods that are not processed, or minimally processed. Even when foods are processed, they often have the vitamins added back in, which is known as fortification. Unless you are showing signs of a deficiency, you are probably ok. it's vitually impossible to develop severe deficiencies living in an industrialized nation. I guess if you only eat gummi worms and drink pepsi you could benefit from a multi vitamin, but a balanced diet would benefit them more.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are getting enough calories a day, but not getting enough nutrients, you are eating the wrong foods. You either need to vary your diet more, or stop eating tons of junk food.

I used to take a multivitamin every day, and I never really noticed much of a benefit, but i did notice they were expensive, especially the brand name ones.
 
The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences has published the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin and mineral consumption. The RDAs represent the amounts of daily vitamin intake necessary to prevent vitamin deficiency diseases. An average person in the United States should be able to obtain all the vitamins to meet the RDAs from a balanced diet. Therefore, a healthy person eating a balanced diet should not require vitamin supplements.

source


:)
 
Unless you are showing signs of a deficiency, you are probably ok.
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A deficiencey might manifest itself in the form of fatigue, a cloudy head, or a week immune system...things people don't ususally attribute to vitamin/mineral defiencies. While these symptoms might not ruin your life, most people would like to live without them.

Non-organic whole foods are often deprived of vits and minerals because of poor soil conditions. Even if one did have access to all organic foods, getting all of each vitamin and mineral is tricky and very time consuming. Alot of people don't have an extra hour and a half to cook 3 meals a day.
Maybe some people are fine with a balanced diet alone, but for the rest of us, a couple multi-vitamins each week certainly do more good than harm.
 
And everyones body metabolizes nutrients differently. While one person may need 200mg Vitamin C, another may need 2000mg (According to Linus Pauling)
 
frizzantik said:
The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences has published the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin and mineral consumption. The RDAs represent the amounts of daily vitamin intake necessary to prevent vitamin deficiency diseases. An average person in the United States should be able to obtain all the vitamins to meet the RDAs from a balanced diet. Therefore, a healthy person eating a balanced diet should not require vitamin supplements.

source


:)
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This is true, but in the united states, its pretty clear most people do not eat a healthy diet. They should, but they dont. There just isnt time to eat perfect all the time.
 
MynameisnotDeja said:
There just isnt time to eat perfect all the time.
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The average american watches 4 and half hours of TV a day. :)


you don't have to eat twigs and berries for every meal.. i eat plenty of junky food myself, i just make sure to eat a decent amount of foods that have nutrients as well. And I feel better than when I didn't eat anything that I would consider nutritious and took a multivitamin. I think it may be due to the fact that when you eat junky food, not only do you not get nutriets, you usually get sugars and transfats and things that make you feel crappy
 
Jimmy the Gun said:
A deficiencey might manifest itself in the form of fatigue, a cloudy head, or a week immune system...things people don't ususally attribute to vitamin/mineral defiencies. While these symptoms might not ruin your life, most people would like to live without them.
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Unless you know you have a deficiency, there is no point in taking a multivitamin just because you feel cloudy headed or tired, except i suppose for the placebo effect. you could be tired and cloudy headed for any number of reasons.. hell just eating fast food makes me feel couldy headed and fatigued =D

Convincing youself that a multivitamin is equivalent to a balanced diet could defintely do more harm than good.. if your diet consists of a Big Mac with a Centrum for dessert, i wouldn't call that healthy. ;)
 
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