On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 13:53:03 -0600, Ashley Moran
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I went on World's Healthiest Foods (hoho) at http://www.whfoods.com/
> foodadvisor.php and entered a reasonable weekly diet for me
> (difficult, because they lump foods together which are really
> separate, eg milk and eggs).

I did find their grouping of foods rather annoying, but other than that,
it actually seemed to agree just fine with what I know about my diet.

> Here are my results:
>
>> "Approximately 49% of your total day's calories appear to be coming
>> from foods that are not as nutritionally dense as the World's
>> Healthiest Foods. These other foods may include fast foods, pre-
>> packaged foods, processed foods, fried foods and sweets. To keep
>> your nutrient intake in a generally safe zone we recommend that
>> this percentage be no more than 25%."

Given that their list doesn't even include fast foods, you have to wonder
how they make that assumption.  Maybe it assumed the wrong number of daily
calories, and that threw off the calculations?

On the other hand, if you were entering things by the week -- were the
numbers big enough?  The biggest number of servings they had was "4-6".
There are plenty of things on the list that I eat more times than that in
a week.  I entered most of mine by the day, with only some of them by the
week.

>> Nutrients numbers indicate probability of deficiency
>> 95% copper
>> 94% vitamin a
>> 92% folate
>> 91% vitamin e
>> .. and so on

When I did it, *all* of the nutrient numbers were either 1% or 0%
probability of deficiency.  I'd agree with that except for one thing --
it's probably assuming that "milk and eggs" means I get some vitamin D
fortified milk, which I do not. My daily dietary intake of vitamin D is
near zero.  In the winter, I take a vitamin D tablet for that.  In the
summer, I don't worry about it (your skin manufactures vitamin D from
sunlight exposure, something I get plenty of if it's even remotely warm
outside).

> Well I didn't think I'd be deficient of protein with 4-6 daily
> servings of meat, but apparently I'm deficient of most of the B-group
> vitamins, calcium and iron(!).

That seems fairly unlikely.  ;-)

> I'm apparently deficient of that
> critical nutrient, vitamin D, which is a shame because I like to lock
> myself indoors wrapped in dark robes over the summer months.

If you're relying on diet alone for vitamin D, you probably *are*
deficient.  Unless of course you get some sun.  Apparently all it takes is
15 minutes a day in summer, and of course more in the winter, since
there's less skin exposed.

> Does anyone fare any better?

Mine came out right where I would have expected it to.

> Or does anyone know any other diet
> analysers where paleo fails just as comically?

No, but I bet you could find plenty -- most are probably going to assume
you "need" to have dairy, grains, and probably legumes.

--
   Robert Kesterson
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