Re: What type of food gives the most complete nutrients that your body needs?

This is a very interesting question. I am going to answer it using my gut feelings because there aren't any references I can site.

I guess for the first step you need to decide what nutrients you want to get from what: protein, carb, fat, vitamins, minerals, water. The protein, carb, fat and water are relatively easy to come by but it is more difficult to get the vitamins and minerals in with just two foods.

I think for the beverage I would go with something like a juice blend (vegetables and fruits included) - this gives you a lot of vitamins and minerals, plenty of water and some simple carbs.

Then we have to think about protein and fat - for this I think I would go with eggs. They are a great source of complete protein and, by eating the yolk, you can get your fats. (When I was in school, they were thought to be the perfect food - then cholesterol became a big issue and eggs fell from favor).

When I first started thinking about this question, I agreed with you on the milk. It contains plenty of water and has good protein, plus some other good things. And, if you used whole milk you would have fat. But, there is a significant portion of the population that cannot easily digest milk protein so that wouldn't work for them. Milk, coupled with an egg, would give lots of protein and fat, but would be short on vitamins and minerals. That is when I changed my mind and went with a juice blend.

While this is an interesting exercise, I think that it points out very clearly what RD's and other health professionals have been saying for years - there is no one (or two) perfect foods - you need a variety to satisfy all of your daily nutrient needs.

So, that is what I think - but you could probably poll 50 different RD's on this question and get 50 different answers.

Thanks for the mental exercise.

Jill Irvin, RD, LD

Ohio State University