It seems nearly impossible with a searchable database to use as a reference. What do people here do about that?
I eat a wide variety of foods every day and don’t worry about measuring what is in them. Different whole grains, variety of different colors of fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds (not the overly salted flavored ones, I just order raw ones from Nuts.com). Mushrooms. I eat a lot of eggs because I love them, I try to get them local whenever I can from people I know. I make my own yogurt and kefir and fermented vegetables. And do my best to source meat from decent places whenever I can. And plenty of spices. Because I eat a wide variety of foods regularly, I don’t worry about the details. I do take a vitamin D supplement because I live in a northern latitude. That’s about it.
The Cronometer app is the best I’ve found. Pick generic foods from the NCCDB database to get the correct list of micronutrients. Some of the other databases on there focus mainly on macronutrients (which is normally what you get if you were to scan a barcode). You’ll see what I mean when you start using it.
It has a free version which is pretty good, but there is also a premium version which I haven’t tried, so can’t comment on.
If you eat based on your country’s recommendations you will likely be hitting micro targets every day. I use Foodworks software to analyse my diet and when I eat to the recommendations I’m barely ever insufficient in anything. The dietary guidelines are designed for this, so people don’t have to worry about managing their micronutrients.
What foods have an abundance of micronutrients?
I eat as many different kinds of them as I can. You’ll likely hear “eat the rainbow” when talking about nutrition (not a skittles commercial). This means to eat as many different naturally colored foods as possible.
Humans have a cool hidden feature that helps them get their micronutrients. They are called cravings. Once you get a hold of a food that has the missing nutrient you need, you’ll be prompted to gorge on it. It’s one of the reasons why we can over eat on junk food (the other owing to the evolutionary rarity of an abundance of salt, fat, and sugar, especially in one package). Junk food has little to no micronutrition, and your body says “I must eat more to get more of x nutrient”. You can overeat and still be malnourished when consuming these foods.
The opposite is true of fruits and veggies. In fact, getting enough macro nutrients can be a challenge when eating a whole foods plant based diet. You’ll very readily get your micronutrition.
Why are you concerned with tracking your micronutrition? Do you feel like you’re not getting enough of something?
I try to keep it simple. just restrict industrialized foods and seek variety in general. explore different fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, meats (different cuts and different animals), grains, cereals, nuts, funghi. prefer locally-sourced food
It helps if you go the the grocery often. I make my own food and have practically nothing that I dislike. I eat anything.
​
My decisions goes like “hmmm havent eaten mushrooms in a while im fry some up” or “havent had bread for a while I guess its banh mi tonight”
Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and veggies a day. There are studies that show 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day decrease all mortality. Eat a wide variety of color.
I have a methylation issue so I take a supplement for that. I also don’t eat fish that often so I take a fish oil.
Honestly? I think they don’t. It is a mix of trying your best with apps/“common sense” (adding variety to your diet, or supplements, or what works for you…) + getting checked once in a while to see if something is missing when they visit a doctor/nutritionist.
Imo, you can’t realistically expect to “nail it” without exams, specialists, etc. If you really care about it, getting it checked once in a while is important.
Use supplements/integrators.
Eat 5-10 eggs a week.
Eat 1-2 portions of omega-3 fish a week.
Eat 10-20g of nuts a day (walnuts and almonds i.e.).
Eat 2-3 portions of seasonal fruit and vegetables every day.
And you’re good to go - as long as the whole of your diet is within the caloric/nutrient split parameters for your organism/lifestyle.
I think trying to focus on micronutrients daily is way to difficult and confusing. The best thing I think is to focus more on macros and eating a variety of colors and types of food. That will ultimately get you where you need to be with nutrients.