Vitamins Are Important Too

When we think of dieting, we think of limiting calories. But when we limit calories, we are also decreasing the amount of vitamins and minerals we are eating too. If you just stop drinking soda or stop eating candy, your intake of vitamins and minerals will stay the same. But if you eat the same foods and just limit portion sizes, you are also limiting everything that comes in that food including carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently reported on a study by Stanford University. The researchers placed 300 overweight or obese women on one of four diet plans (Atkins, Zone, LEARN or Ornish). Periodically, the women were asked what they were eating. The food was analyzed for 17 different nutrients. Not only did the women cut their daily caloric intake by 500 calories/day but they also cut their intake of 12 of those 17 nutrients. When cutting calories, it is very important that those calories you do eat are healthy calories so that you continue to receive the vitamins and minerals you need. If you are worried about not getting enough vitamins and minerals, you can take a multivitamin (choose one with 100% of most nutrients, stay away from those with very large doses.

An interesting note to this study is the intake of vitamins A, E, C and K went up on those on the Zone diet. This serves to show a diet with milk carbohydrate restriction which also includes beans and vegetables can still be healthy.