What whole foods do you use for vitamins?

[TonyaW]

If I was to make myself a daily smoothie concoction to take my vitamins and minerals in only food form, what would I use.

I recently read that bee pollen has a lot of good stuff in it. What about Maca?

I know about liver of course and cod liver oil. I have several teas on hand too like RRL, Nettles and Rose Hips.

I want to take something everyday in food form to get most of what I need especially since I will be trying to conceive soon.

[Carlyle]

Ground up flax seed is good for you and works well in smoothies, oatmeal, pancakes, etc. We grind ours in the coffee grinder and add a tablespoon or two to most breakfasts.

[TonyaW]

Originally Posted by Carlyle

Ground up flax seed is good for you and works well in smoothies, oatmeal, pancakes, etc. We grind ours in the coffee grinder and add a tablespoon or two to most breakfasts.

Yes, thank you! I do that too.

[mbravebird]

You could use nettle infusion as the liquid base for the smoothie -- that would go a long way toward giving you minerals, and the taste gets covered up by the fruit in the smoothie.

Wheat germ oil( for E), coconut oil, concentrace, some sea veggies for iodine (or something for iodine -- do some research, as people definitely have different preferences). Acai powder or rose hips for C. Maca is great for TTC. Water kefir in the smoothie for probiotics.

I put nutritional yeast (for B's) on popcorn and toast, and love it that way. Or I add it to gravies and sauces, and it adds a sort of nutty, savory flavor. I guess you could put it in the smoothie, although it has a pretty strong taste.

You'll want a good source of zinc and selenium for TTC -- I think salmon is a good source of zinc? Do you like salmon salad, prepared like tuna salad? Brazil nuts for selenium. These things are obviously not in the smoothie.

Then there's magnesium, which the nettle infusion goes a long way toward providing, but some folks might want even more. Hmmm......Chocolate??

Have fun.

[Koalamom]

Where is Pat (WuWie)? I am trying to find her 101 list of wholefoods.

[FireWithin]

I juice romaine lettuce, cucumbers and celery and add that to my smoothies. For me, it has the nutrients that my body needs. It might not be entirely whole foods, since the fiber has been removed, but my body doesn't need a very high fiber diet.

[FairyRae]

Here are mine: http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...43&postcount=4 I haven't looked at the list in a while so some might have changed, but that's my general list of 'supps'.

This thread may be helpful--WuWei posted on it too. (She's the master of 'supping' w/ whole foods!) Whole Food Vitamin/Mineral/etc Sources

[newcastlemama]

I put raw egg yolks and some coconut oil in yogurt smoothies for my kids. You can add acerola powder too.

My favorite way to get minerals in the winter is longggg simmered beef broth made into all sorts of soups and stews

The nettle infusions are a good idea too--I wish I could do those but they make my blood pressure drop too much.

[PreggieUBA2C]

I am taking some vitamin supplements- prenatals, C and D and have been wanting to change to only foods, but when I was not taking these, years ago, I found that in spite of eating organic and TF, it was not enough for my severely depleted body. I am still recovering from chronic illness and I would have to eat such vast quantities of whole foods to make up what I need daily that I just wouldn't be able to.

I am looking forward to being able to eat just food though. I can't help but be annoyed that each of my bottles is some version of corn.

Anyway, what do you all think of the reality that nutrient-dense really depends on the soil and so much of what is grown, organic or not (excepting the food grown in your own compost-rich soil), is simply not as nutritious as it would be if it were not mono-cultured? Do you have sources for biodiverse, local, compost-rich grown foods for your whole diet?

We eat only organic, but we do rely on industrial organic for sadly, quite a bit of our produce (but we do have pastured meats and eggs). We hope to really change that this year with living on our friends' farm and building a cold storage for the veggies that will keep throughout our loooong winter. I just know that without eating all of our produce from this (biodiverse, compost-rich, synthetics-free) farm, there's just no way grocery produce- industrial organic- would provide us with all that we need.

I rely heavily also, on bone broths and concentrace for days when we don't have any broth ready. I load everything up as much as possible with whole foods, packing in whatever will fit but for me, it's still not enough. Our dc are poster children for TF though, so it must be enough for them, and dh has had some major healing from malnourishment from his childhood, so it seems also enough for him. Just not for me yet.

Opinions? Experiences? Ideas? (Along the line of this thread- not meaning to hijack! )

[mbravebird]

Yes, it makes sense to me that some people, or maybe all of us, need "loading doses" of some nutrients in order to get our bodies back to working order. Especially considering that most of us didn't eat probiotic foods until we were an adult, and huge amounts of nutrient absorption comes from the state of our guts. I think our guts are probably pretty different than they were just a few generations ago, just from the radical shift to having less probiotic, enzyme-rich foods in our diet. And I think that probably is a slow curve to correct, and is different for everyone.

On that note, when I am drinking water kefir I pass the beet test, but when I'm not drinking water kefir, I don't. Interesting, hmm? Probiotic foods stimulate stomach acid, which also helps us digest properly and get all the nutrients from our food. It's another thing that a probiotic pill won't do, at least not in the stomach.

Soo...water kefir in your smoothie?