Getting your daily dose

With so many people turning to a healthy eating lifestyle to ease the symptoms of processed food, there is a proliferation of magazine articles giving you the lowdown in a nutshell. All this information can be confusing and misleading if you are not informed sufficiently. There comes a point where you wonder whether any of it makes sense. We are told that there is a Recommended Daily Allowance of various vitamins and minerals for optimum health. How did this become known? I have always wondered how the Inuits fit into this picture; they exist on blubber and meat, with nary a leafy green in sight. If they moved and became vegetarians, having become sick of all this slaughter and longing for a salad, how would their bodies react to this change of diet? Do they have different enzymes or liver functions? I would love to know.

I came across some examples of food sources to alleviate the symptoms caused by deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals which made for interesting reading:

Bloodshot eyes: Vitamin B: 400g tinned tuna (if the vitamin deficiency doesn't get you, the mercury will); 4 avocado pears (the fat will pile on before your very eyes); 45 walnuts (your wallet will be empty); 5 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (ditto). I would suggest an early night and less partying.
Muscle cramps: Magnesium: 9.5 tablespoons bran (don't venture too far away from the bathroom); 11 slices wholewheat bread (!); 9 bananas (you'll soon be swinging from the trees); 22 Brazil nuts (unfortunately you will suffer from a severe overdose of selenium). Note: if you eat dairy products or any other calcium-rich foods, the calcium will nullify the magnesium, so all your efforts will be for nought. Who ever tells you that?
Pins and needles: Potassium: 9 bananas (see above); 31 dried apricots (could lead to rumblin' tum); 3 baked potatoes (could cause bloating).
Cold hands and feet: Selenium: 2 Brazil nuts - highly recommended every day for healthy thyroid function and hence metabolism.
Lethargy: Iron: Apart from red meat, the following: 17 dried figs; 51 dried apricots; 12 boiled eggs. The figs will sort out the constipation from excess iron! Note: don't drink tea with this - the tannin inhibits iron absorption. Again, who would know that? And despite what Popeye has taught us, spinach is not the ideal source of iron as it is not in an easily metabolisable (?) form.

So as you can see, you need a great deal of nutritional knowledge to make informed choices. That is obviously why fast foods are so popular - no nutrition involved, so no decisions to be made!