Why Health and Healthy Weight Becomes
Challenged When You Don’t Get Enough
Nutrient-Rich World’s Healthiest Foods
The modern American diet is often criticized as being a diet that is
prone to excess. Too many fats, too many sweets, too much fried
food, too much salt, too much meat, and too many calories! Many
health analysts think about obesity in precisely this way—as a problem
resulting from excess and overconsumption.
Yet the opposite side of the equation when it comes to health and
maintaining a healthy weight—the side involving underconsumption
and nutrient deficiency—is equally true. The American diet is just
as much one of deficiency and undernourishment. The average U.S.
adult consumes a daily diet that fails to provide 100% of the Dietary
Reference Intake (DRI) level for:
- vitamin A
- vitamin K
- choline
It also provides less than 50% of the DRI for:
- vitamin D
- folate
- calcium
- magnesium
- selenium
- fiber
- the omega-3 fatty acid, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)
- the omega-3 fatty acid, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)
What happens when we get this low in our nutrient intake? If it’s only
for a few days, usually nothing. When we are healthy, our bodieshave
nutrient reserves that they can draw upon to meet our nutritionalneeds.
But if we are low in nutrients week after week, month after month, this
nutrient deficiency can start us off on the road to chronic disease and
Nutrient-Rich World’s Healthiest Foods Key to Healthy Weight Loss