Meal Plans (Part 1)

Well, it took me long enough, but in last week's blog I finally got around to the boring maths part of helping us to calculate and have a good idea of our macronutrient ratios and caloric breakdowns. However, as important and useful a tool as the important values are (total caloric demand, protein/carb/fat demand etc), I think that seeing a few examples of muscle-gain menu plans will make things less confusing.

On my part, I make no secret of the fact that I use the former Governor of California's diet plan guidelines - the man has forgotten more about proper diet and nutrition than I'm likely to learn, and I believe His qualifications make this an appreciable example to follow. Since it is not recommended to suddenly introduce such large volumes of food into your system that your body may not be able to handle, the program for your muscle-gain diet is constructed on three levels, to be followed in this order:

1. Begin eating according to Level I, and continue on this level until you stop gaining weight, then go to Level II


2. If after 3 weeks you are not gaining weight on the Level I diet, go on to Level II


3. Once eating on the Level II diet, continue on it as long as you continue to gain weight. When the weight gain ceases, go on to Level III


4. If after three weeks on Level II you don't experience any weight gain, go on to Level III
   

Stuffing a lot of calories into your system is not a good idea, as I have mentioned in previous blogs. The digestive system simply can't handle this volume of food. So to eat a lot more, you have to eat more often. This is why it is recommended to eat more than three meals a day in order to spread your caloric intake out. It would be better to eat four meals, and to supplement your food intake with high-protein drinks - drinks that contain large amounts of easily digestible amino acids.

Muscle-Gain Menu Plan

I've talked about the need for sufficient protein to support muscle growth and how slow gainers also need an overall increase in calories to support their very fast metabolisms. However, while this kind of eating plan is primarily for those who tend to be ectomorphic, I want to caution again that just because you tend to be very lean doesn't mean that eating a lot of junk food and empty calories is good for you. Train hard and eat more, fine. But try to eat clean, to eat nutritious meals. After all, you can't gain muscle if you lack energy and don't have the nutrients you need in your system.

Of course, those who are already heavy eaters may be surprised at the following muscle-gain recommendations, but ectomorphs are generally very lean, not only because of their fast metabolisms, but also because they tend to be big eaters in the first place. However, if you are an ectomorphic type yet find that the Level I diet or even the Level II is actually a lot less than you normally eat, obviously you are going to have to increase your food intake even further and go right on up to a higher level. Adjust caloric intake up or down to suit your individual needs. Just make sure that the food you eat is wholesome and nutritious.

If you eat according to the menu plans that are detailed in my upcoming blog, and supplement your meals with the recommended protein drinks, you will be getting more than enough protein and shouldn't give it another thought. For ectomorphs, who have a great deal of problems adding body weight, the key is hard training and a lot more calories, not any lack of protein. To demonstrate this, I will be including the approximate protein content of each of the suggested meals.

To be continued...

Meal Plans: Number Crunching

Many bodybuilders, young ones in particular, start out relatively under-weight. Their immediate thought process centers on what supplement stacks should be taken with a view to quick, immediate results. My Diet Fundamentals chapter should help to alter that mind-set - that eating and training to gain lean, quality muscle mass is a long-term, sustained effort. It requires consistent dedication and the ability to truly analyse, recognise and implement changes that will alter your physiology. For these younger, under-developed bodybuilders, gaining muscle will involve:

Stimulating muscular growth by heavy, intense, consistent bodybuilding training.

1. Eating a sufficient amount of protein to fill the demand for amino acids created by the training.


2. Increasing overall caloric intake to a sufficient degree to support the demands of intense exercise, but not so much as to create an unwanted gain in body fat.


3. Keeping your aerobic training to a healthy minimum, no more than 30 minutes a day, 4 or 5 days a week.

Now, let's review the crucial formulae for establishing our macronutrient values:

• RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) your base line caloric requirement:

RMR = LBM (Lean Body Mass, lbs) / 2.205 x 30.4

LBM = Total Bodyweight - Total Body Fat (bodyweight x body fat percentage)

Therefore, for a 200lb bodybuilder at 15% body fat:

RMR = (200LB - [200 x .15]) / 2.205 x 30.4 = 2344 calories

Now, we factor in an activity multiplier approximation based on your individual lifestyle. Below are some generally accepted values for the following activity levels:

Lightly Active = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)

Moderately Active = 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)

Very Active = 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week)

Extremely Active = 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job), or 2x day training.

Therefore, for a very active individual, their total daily caloric requirement is estimated at:

TOTAL CALORIC DEMAND = 2344 x 1.725 = 4043

• PROTEIN DEMAND = LBM x 1.14 ranging to 1.5 most efficient range for active, healthy adults looking to increase lean muscle. Try a mid-value, i.e. 1.3

Therefore, using the above example; 170lb x 1.3 = 221g.

We now also know that 1 gram of protein = 4 calories

Therefore;

PROTEIN CALORIC DEMAND = 221 x 4 = 884 calories (22% of daily intake).

• FAT DEMAND (using 1-2-3 ratio guide-lines for Fat, Protein, Carbs). This a simple but effective way to utilise macronutrient breakdown. Basically, dividing your total caloric requirement including exercise into 6 parts, and then multiplying appropriately. Though protein demand values can vary wildly, fats seem to have a general consensus value.

Therefore;

FAT CALORIC DEMAND = 4043 / 6 = 674 calories (17% of daily intake). We now know that 1 gram of fat = 9 calories, therefore, fat intake is approximately 75g

Therefore, the remaining calories are allotted to Carbohydrates;

CARBOHYDRATE CALORIC DEMAND = Protein (884) + Fat (674) = 1558. 4043 - 1558 = 2485 (61% of daily intake). We now know that 1 gram of Carbs = 4 calories, therefore, carb intake is approximately 620g

Diet Fundamentals: Final Thoughts

My 'Diet Fundamentals' blogs have covered a lot of territory, and it's about time we start putting it all together to create our own meal plans. My thinking was to provide a sufficient amount of background information on diet and nutrition, so that those new to physical training and bodybuilding could be made aware of the importance of a meal plan, and be willing to design and follow through on a meal plan on their own. It would also serve to remind more experienced individuals, and suggest some alternatives that may not have yet been considered.

But that, amigos, is next week...or perhaps the week after. I wanted to conclude the fundamentals chapter with a few final thoughts.

Remember that no matter what your body type, you will lose body fat if your energy expenditure is consistently greater than your energy intake - if you burn off more calories than you consume. In other words:

1. your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) + calories consumed in activity = calories expended


2. food eaten during the day = calories consumed

So, when 1 is consistently larger than 2, you lose body fat. And when 2 is consistently larger than 1, you gain body fat. The more active you are - the more you walk, run, ride a bicycle, ski, swim, play sports - the more calories you burn and the more easily you are going to be able to control your fat weight. This is why most serious bodybuilders increase their overall level of activity over that involved in their gym training by doing some kind of cardiovascular or aerobic exercise.

But what you eat is also important, along with how much. The more you restrict your calories, the more certain you have to be that you are getting the most nutritional density possible - the most "bang for your buck" (or English version, "punch for your pound"). A bodybuilder who consumes 3,000 calories a day of mostly lean protein and a variety of vegetable, fruit and starch carbohydrate sources is going to be able to train more intensely and build more muscle than somebody whose 3,000 calories intake consists mostly of processed fast foods, high in fat and sugar, all adding up to too many empty calories devoid of much nutritional value. "Eating clean" is what the bodybuilding diet is all about. "You are what you eat", is the old saying. And if you eat junk your body will become - well, you get the point.

When you eat, you take food energy into your body. All of those food calories - whether from protein, carbs, or fat - will make you fat if your body doesn't use that energy for some specific purpose. What your body does with the food you eat depends a lot on what kind of demand you create by the amount and type of training you do. For example, aerobic training tends to burn a lot of calories, and therefore depletes your body of glycogen - which is the primary source of energy for physical activity. As a consequence, when you eat carbohydrate after an endurance training session, the body turns that carbohydrate into replacement glycogen as quickly as it can, and little of that carbohydrate is likely to be diverted to become stored body fat.

On the other hand, intense weight training - working your muscles against heavy resistance - creates a major demand for replacement protein. Protein eaten soon after a workout, or on the same day as an intense gym workout, will be used by the body to rebuild muscle tissue at a much higher rate than on days when you are not doing that kind of training. Again, when the body is in this high state of demand, it is unlikely than non excessive amounts of ingested protein will be stored as body fat to any great degree.

So, in general terms, when your goal is to direct protein into your muscles, you need to train with weights. When your goal is to burn off excessive energy, you need to do increased amounts of aerobic training.

Diet Fundamentals: Know Your Body (Part 2)

Continued from 'Diet Fundamentals: Know Your Body (Part 2)...

Mesomorph Training

The mesomorph will find it relatively easy to build muscle mass, but will have to be certain to include a sufficient variety of exercises in his program so that the muscles develop proportionately and well shaped rather than just thick and bulky. Therefore, for the mesomorph, the following recommendations are applicable:

1. An emphasis on quality, detail, and isolation training, along with the basic mass and power exercises. You build muscle easily, so you can begin working on shape and separation right from the beginning.


2. Mesomorphs gain so easily that they don't have to worry much about conserving energy or over-training. A standard workout of 16 to 20 sets per body part is fine, and you can train with as much or as little rest between sets as suits you.
   
3. A balanced diet with plenty of protein which maintains a calories level that keeps your physique within 10 to 15 pounds of your ideal weight all year long. No bulking up 30 or 40 pounds and then having to drop all of that useless weight for a specific sporting event or competition.

Endomorph Training

Generally, the endomorph will not have too much difficulty building muscle, but will have to be concerned with losing fat weight and then being very careful with diet so as not to gain that weight back. Therefore, for the endomorph, the following recommendations are applicable:

1. A higher proportion of high-set, high-repetition training (no lower than the 10 to 12 rep range), with very short rest periods so as to burn off as much fat as possible. Doing a few extra sets of a few extra exercises while you are trying to get lean is a good idea.


2. Additional aerobic exercise such as bicycle riding, running, jump-rope, or some other calorie-consuming activity. Training in the gym burns calories, but not as much as cardio exercise done on a continuous basis for 30-45 minutes or more at a time.


3. A low-calorie diet that contains the necessary nutritional balance. Not zero anything, but the minimum amount of protein, carbs, and fats, with vitamin and mineral supplements to be certain the body is not being deprived of any essential nutrients.

Although we have previously discussed BCA (Body Composition Analysis), one interesting point is worth mentioning. In tests conducted at IFBB and NPC contests, using a variety of methods, it was shown that the bigger the bodybuilder the higher the fat percentage when the competitor is really ripped. So a massive bodybuilder might be ripped at 12% body fat, while a lightweight amateur might look great at 7-8% body fat.

Why is this? Because what we traditionally think of as fat is not the only fat in your body. There is also intramuscular fat, which is the fat in the muscle itself. So if a really big body builder continues to diet past a certain point he is likely to just shrink rather than getting more cut-up. So while BCA is useful, don't forget to use the mirror or photographs to keep track of how you look. For those like me who have aspirations to compete in body building and fitness contests, always remember that the judges don't take BCA into consideration during a contest. They go on what they see - and you need to do the same thing.

Age and Body Fat

Many teenagers, especially the ectomorphic and ecto-mesomorphic ones, have such fast metabolisms that they can seemingly eat anything, even high-fat and sugar junk food, without getting fat. These are the ones who benefit from "weight-gainer" products. However, even these individuals will likely see some changes in their bodies as they get older. In fact, studies have shown that the adult metabolism tends to slow down by about 10 calories per day per year after the age of 30. This may not seem like much, but it does account for why many individuals of 40 and older find themselves gaining weight even though they have made no change in their exercise and diet habits.

The slowing of the metabolism with age is not an insurmountable obstacle. It just means watching your diet a little more closely, and doing an extra 10 minutes a day or so of cardiovascular training. However, one factor that contributes to a slowing metabolism with age is slow, gradual loss of muscle tissue. So if you continue to train hard and keep your muscles big and strong, this tendency to get fatter as you get older will be much less of a problem for you.

Diet Fundamentals: Know Your Body (Part 1)

Well, we're getting closer to the goal of creating, understanding and sustaining a realistic meal plan with the goal of increasing lean muscle mass and and keeping body fat composition to a minimum. I've touched on several important calculations that are designed to give you a better understanding on how to tailor your body's unique nutritional requirements to suit your body composition. But one thing I have yet to mention is the importance of knowing your body type, and the specific demands that your body type will place on your diet and nutritional requirements.

Human Beings are born with a variety of different physical characteristics. Some are taller or shorter, lighter or darker, wider or narrower in the shoulders, longer and shorter in the leg; they have higher or lower natural levels of endurance, and so on. One popular method of categorising all these various body types recognises three fundamentally different physical types, called Somatotypes.

The Ectomorph

Characterised by a short upper body, long arms and legs, long and narrow feet and hands, and very little fat storage; narrowness in the chest and shoulders, with generally long, thin muscles.

The Mesomorph

Large chest and, long torso, solid muscle structure, and great strength.

The Endomorph

Soft musculature, round face, short neck, wide hips, and heavy fat storage.

Of course, no one is entirely one type but rather a combination of all three types. This system of classification recognises a total of eighty-eight sub-categories, which are arrived at by examining the level of dominance of each basic category on a scale of 1-7. For example, someone whose body characteristics were scored as ectomorphic (2), mesomorphic (6), and endomorphic (5) would be an endo-mesomorph - basically a well-muscled jock type but inclined to carry a lot of fat.

Although the fundamentals of bodybuilding training apply to all the somatotypes, individuals with different body types often respond very differently to training, and what works for one type may not necessarily work for another. Any body type can be developed by proper training and nutrition, but individuals with different body types will find it necessary to initially approach their training with different objectives, even though they may share the same long-term goals.

Understanding your own body type can save you a lot of time and frustration. An ectomorph who trains like an endomorph is likely to overtrain and not grow. The endomorph who thinks He is more mesomorphic will grow, but will always have trouble keeping His body fat down. Certain principles of training are the same for everybody. But how you organise your training and how to integrate it with diet and nutrition can be profoundly different depending on what kind of body type nature has given you.

Ectomorphic Training

The extreme ectomorph's first objective is gaining weight, preferably in the form of quality muscle mass. He will not have the strength and endurance for marathon training sessions, will find that muscle mass develops very slowly, and will often have to force himself to eat enough to ensure continued muscle growth. Therefore, the following recommendations are applied to ectomorphs:

1. Include plenty of power moves for a program that builds maximum mass. Your program should tend toward heavy weight and low reps (in the 6-8 rep range after proper warm-up).


2. Learn to train intensely and make every set count. That way, you can keep your workouts relatively short and still make substantial gains (perhaps 14-16 sets per major body part rather than 16-20). Make sure to get enough rest between sets and give yourself enough time to recuperate between workouts.


3. Pay careful attention to nutrition; take in more calories than you are accustomed to, and if necessary, use weight-gain and protein drinks to supplement your food intake.


4. Remember, you are trying to turn food energy into mass, so be careful not to burn up too much energy with excessive amounts of other activities such as aerobics, running, swimming and other sports. Some cardio exercise is both desirable and necessary for good health, but anyone who spends hours a day expending large amounts of physical energy outside the gym will have a lot more trouble building muscle while in the gym.

To be continued...

Diet Fundamentals: Energy (Part 2)

Continued from Diet Fundamentals: Energy (Part 1)...

At the end of last week's blog, I was talking about Lean Body Mass (LBM) - how to calculate it, it's importance to your training and why you should keep track of it to determine the progress of your exercise regime. One thing that I haven't yet mentioned is how to determine your body fat composition. As this is the crucial element to your LBM calculation, it's worth spending a little time on. Most people now understand that to have a healthier body is to have a leaner body, regardless of muscle-gain and fat-loss objectives.

There are a surprising number of methods to Body Composition Analysis (BCA). Many are entirely impractical for you or I to utilise on a day-to-day basis. However, below are two ways to help determine body fat percentage that are accessible to the average joe, and not Universal Soldiers:

Calipers (Anthropometry - Skinfold Measurements).

Using hand-held calipers that exert a standard pressure, the skinfold thickness is measured at various body locations (3-7 test sites are common). Then a calculation is used to derive a body fat percentage based on the sum of the measurements. The caliper method is based upon the assumption that the thickness of the subcutaneous fat (found just under the skin) reflects a constant proportion of the total body fat (contained in the body cavities, and that the sites selected for measurement represent the average thickness of the subcutaneous fat. Skinfold measurements are made by grasping the skin and underlying tissue, shaking it to exclude any muscle and pinching it between the jaws of the caliper. Duplicate readings are often made at each site to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of the measurements.

Generally speaking, skinfold measurements are easy to do, inexpensive and the method is portable. Overall, results can be very subjective as precision ultimately depends on the skill of the technician and the site measured. The quality of the calipers is also a factor; a constant specified pressure is required. Models available for home use have a tendency to be inaccurate compared to professional versions, and obese subjects prove a challenge, as it is difficult to pinch the skinfold correctly. Bottom line: easily accessible, more of an estimate than a measurement.

BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance)

The only method that is based on measuring something, not estimating anything, is Bio Impedance measuring. BIA is a way of measuring electrical signals as they pass through fat, lean mass, and water in the body. Through laboratory research, we know the actual impedance or conductivity of various tissues in the body, and we know that by measuring current between two electrodes and applying this information to complex proven scientific formulas, accurate body composition can be determined. The fact that the measurement is based on a reading of lean mass and not an estimate of fat mass, lends to a much more comprehensive testing method and results. The good news? BIA scales are becoming increasingly common in gyms and health clubs, although due to the repetitive wear on the equipment, the values should still be used as a guide line. (The last time I tried to measure my body fat percentage, I was at 16% yet I had visible veins in my abs!). Still, regardless if the value is true or not, the consistency in the measurement should still allow you to keep a fairly accurate track of your gains and losses.

Eating And Training

Many young bodybuilders ask for advice about what and when they should eat in relation to their training program. The muscles require an ample supply of blood during training, since a lot of the pump you experience is from blood swelling up your muscles. But if the digestive system is also using excess amount of blood to digest a big meal, there won't be enough to go around and your muscles will suffer for it. When you eat too heavily before training, you are setting up a conflict in the body, a demand for excess blood in too many places at once. This is why your parents were always righ when they told you not to go swimming soon after eating; a lack of adequate blood supply to the muscles used in swimming can lead to problems like severe cramps. Training with a full stomach can be a very unpleasnt experience. You feel bloated, sluggish, and slow, and a really hard setcan make you feel nauseated.

The body metabolises food at different rates. It takes from 2 to 6 hours for the stomach to empty its contents. Foods rich in carbohydrates digest frst, followed by protein foods; fatty foods are the last to leave. When you wake up in the morning and haven't eaten anything for 8 to 12 hours, your body is depleted of carbohydrates. Since carbs are needed to produce the glycogen the muscles need for intense contraction, it makes sense to eat a high-carbohydrate breakfast before going to the gym to train in the morning.

A light meal of fruit, fruit juice, or toast can be eaten before you train and will give you energy without slowing you down. Howver, a breakfast that includes eggs, meat or cheese - all high in protein and fats - will take longer to digest, so you would do better not to eat foods like these before you train.

It is not a good idea to eat a big meal immeadiately after a workout either. You put your body under great stress when you train and you need to give your system time to return to normal, for the blood to leave the muscles and the stress reaction to dimminish. A protein or protein/carb supplement drink after a workout supplies needed nutrition to satisfy the demands created by training in a form that is easy on your digestive system. Check out Explosive Nutrition's range of post-workout products. By the time you shower, get dressed and leave the gym your system will return to a more normal state and you can sit down to a nutritious balanced meal of 'real food'.

To be continued...

Diet Fundamentals: Water, Vitamins & Minerals

Water

Water, a major component of the body, is often overlooked as a vital nutrient. It acts as a means of transportation for the various chemicals in the body's system and is the medium in which the various biochemical reactions among the basic nutrients take place. The body is made up of 40-60% water. Muscle is composed of 72% water by weight, whereas fat weight is only 20-25% water. This means that diets or activities that result in excessive fluid loss have a significant effect on muscle size. Furthermore, without sufficient intake of water, you become dehydrated. Your body begins to retain water to protect itself, and much water is stored subcutaneously (below the skin), which smooths out muscular definition dramatically.

Retained water becomes contaminated because your kidneys can't filter out contaminants properly when you're dehydrated. The liver is then called upon to help process these waste products, which interferes with one of it's main functions, breaking down body fat. So without sufficient water in your body you're likely to end up water-logged, bloated, and obese - which is disastrous for an individual working for maximum muscle definition.

This also leads to problems with sodium. When you're dehydrated, sodium can't be adequately flushed from the body, causing further water retention, and any additional sodium ingested in your diet simply aggravates the problem. For anyone involved in intense exercise, the need for water is at least eight 12-ounce glasses per day. To save you doing the math, allow me:

96 ounces of water = 5 pints (or just under 3 liters)

Some bodybuilders drink even more than this, and I would suggest the above as a minimum. And remember that water in solution doesn't count - you need pure water, not juice, soft drinks, coffee, tea, or some other substitute.

Vitamins

Vitamins are organic substances that the body needs in minute amounts and that we ingest with our foods. Vitamins do not supply energy, nor do they contribute substantially to the mass of the body; rather, they act as catalysts - substances that help to trigger other reactions in the body. The two basic categories of vitamins are water-soluble and fat-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body, and any excess amounts are flushed away in your urine. Fat-soluble vitamins are dissolved and stored in the fatty tissues of the body. It is necessary to take in water-soluble vitamins on a daily basis, but fat-soluble vitamins can be ingested less often.

Water-Soluble Vitamins:

B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), B12 (Cyanocobalamin), Biotin, Folate (Folic acid), Vitamin C (Absorbic acid), Vitamin A (retinol)

Fat-Soluble Vitamins:

Vitamin A, D, E, K

Minerals

Minerals are inorganic substances that contain elements the body needs in relatively small amounts. There are 22 metallic elements in the body, which make up about 4% of total body weight. Minerals are found abundantly in the soil and water of the planet, and are eventually taken in by the root system of plants. We obtain minerals by eating the plants are the animals that eat the plants. If you eat a variety of meats and vegetables in your diet, you can usually depend on getting sufficient minerals. Minerals in the body play an important part in a variety of metabolic processes, and contribute to the synthesis of such chemical compounds as glycogen, protein and fats. Following is a basic guide to the most important minerals the body needs in substantial amounts

Calcium

Essential for strength of bones and teeth. Found in milk products; vegetables such as Kale, turnip greens, and mustard greens; tofu; and seafood such as sardines, clams and oysters. Lack of calcium can cause muscular cramping and, in the long-term, osteoporosis. RDA: 1200mg for males 11-24; 800mg for males 25+ (not to appear sexist)

Phosphorous

A component of every cell, including DNA, RNA and ATP. Found in whole-grain cereals, egg yolks, fish, milk, meat, poultry, legumes, nuts. Essential in the regulation of body pH. RDA: 1200mg for males 11-24; 800mg for males 25+

Magnesium

Present throughout the body, an activator of enzymes involving most processes in the body. Found in green vegetables, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts, meat, milk, chocolate. RDA: 400mg for males 15-18; 350mg for males 19+

Sodium

Regulates body fluid levels, involved in activating muscular contraction. Sodium is available in common table salt and in most foods except fruit, particularly in animal foods, seafood, milk and eggs. Excess sodium tends to increase water retention and is associated with elevated blood sugar levels. Lack of sodium can cause muscular weakness and cramping. Personally, I recommend taking in no additional sodium other than what is already found in your food. These days, the old saying "Ignorance is Bliss" has never been more true, but especially with sodium: ALWAYS READ THE FOOD LABEL - the nutritional information of many seemingly healthy foods and meals can reveal a deceptively high amount of sodium. Beware of sauces, soups and marinades in particular. RDA 1,100mg to 3,300mg.

Chlorine

A component of digestive fluids and functions in combination with sodium. Found in table salt, meat, seafood, eggs, milk. RDA: 1,700 to 5,100mg

Potassium

Involved in protein and carbohydrate metabolism, functions inside cell (in combination with sodium outside) to control fluid osmosis. Found in meat, milk, cereals, vegetables, fruits, legumes. Deficiency can result in muscular weakness. RDA: 1, 875mg to 5,625mg

Sulphur

Needed for synthesis of essential metabolites. Found in protein foods such as meat, seafood, milk, eggs, poultry, cheese, legumes. No RDA recommendation.

Other minerals are important to the body, but at levels of only a trace amount per day. These include: Iron, zinc, copper, Iodine, manganese, Fluoride, Molybdenum, Cobalt, Selenium, Chromium.