#again I’m reaaaallllyyy sorry this is so long and I can delete it if you hate it

[blonde-reverie]

Hey! I know this post was supposed to be hypothetical rather than a serious inquiry, but I’m actually going to school right now to become a dietitian, and even though I haven’t finished my degree yet, I have learned a ton of nutritional science and I may have a real answer for you!

1) vitamins are either water soluble (vitamin C and B vitamins) or fat soluble (vitamin D, K, E, and A). Water soluble vitamins can’t be stored in the body, so when there’s excess they get flushed out in your pee, but they also tend to be the most abundant vitamins in our food, so it’s very rare to hear that someone is deficient in them. As long as you eat just some fruits and vegetables during the week and at least one (I think) serving of meat or dairy a day if you eat meat, or take a B vitamin complex if you don’t, you really don’t need to be stressed about being deficient in these vitamins.

Fat soluble vitamins on the other hand CAN be stored in your body, so any time you eat more of these vitamins than you need, they get stored in fat deposits in the body and can be broken down and used when they’re needed, so you don’t necessarily need to eat foods high in these vitamins all the time and that’s why we don’t see mass scale deficiencies of these vitamins in the western world at least.

2) you mentioned magnesium, magnesium is a dietary mineral along with others like calcium, potassium, phosphorus, etc stuff like that, and the good news is that minerals are also stored very abundantly in the body! Minerals are stored in our bones, organs, fat cells, water stores, etc, and our body uses such trace amounts of them that most people have sufficient stores that their bodies can dip into when they’re not eating enough of them. In one of my classes, we were looking at health statistics of Americans and the truth is that most Americans aren’t deficient enough in anything to even need a multivitamin, only particular at risk groups such as the elderly, people with serious diseases, or kids with AFRID are the ones who may benefit from supplementation.

So to answer one of your hypothetical questions, no!most people don’t need to eat massive amounts of nutrient rich food everyday because your body is actually pretty good at anticipating and planning for periods where you can’t eat the entire spectrum of vitamins and minerals on a regular basis :) you are correct, the daily recommendations that you see on food labels aren’t really accurate and pretty much nobody can eat the daily recommendation of EVERY nutrient listed EVERY day, but because of the need to streamline basic health advice and labeling standards and blah blah boring stuff like that, it’s unfortunately just how food labels are at the moment.

Now you mentioned that you DID start taking a magnesium supplement and felt a very noticeable difference which honestly is a pretty good indicator that you might’ve been deficient in that mineral. If you really do suspect that you have a deficiency somewhere, I would take a look at your diet and consider:

1. Do I eat regular meals throughout the day or do I eat sporadically? Additionally, when I do eat, am I eating actual rounded out meals or do I tend to just snack a ton here and there and not really have an idea of what exactly I eat in a day

2. Do I eat a variety of foods even just from a week to week basis? Or do I tend to buy and eat the exact same meals/foods every single week? Like I said, the human body is actually pretty good at storing the nutrients that it needs, but this is why it’s a concern when kids have AFRID or other food aversion issues because they’re not cycling through different foods and nutrients to use and store

3. How are my mental health and stress levels? So like all systems in the body, your ability to use, store, and literally absorb nutrients from food is actually affected by your psyche, which is a wonderful thing to hear in our current day world! (sarcasm). Being stressed can deplete your nutrient reserves much faster, which makes you feel worse and sicker, and then you get more stressed, and you get the idea. In this instance, yes, you may actually benefit from supplementing a couple of things. Relatedly, I see that your username is in reference to the most commonly used ADHD medication and I’m gonna assume that you have ADHD or are neurodivergent in some way (which may be incorrect, please tell me if I’m wrong) in the last couple of years as we’ve learned more about neurodiversity, it’s actually come out that ND people use nutrients differently/at different rates AND tend to have their own unique deficiency concerns that differ from neurotypical people, one of them being………….MAGNESIUM! (And zinc, copper, vitamin D, among others) so it’s totally possible that you had an innate tendency to be in a magnesium deficiency and this is the first time in your life that you’ve actually had a healthy amount in your system! If you are ND and this interests you, I would recommend spending some time researching the topic and deciding for yourself if it sounds like it’s worth considering.

If after all of this you still suspect that you have a deficiency, it’s totally possible that you do even if you live in the western world. It might be worthwhile to pay attention to when/where your body feels sick, tired, or just not working right and look up symptoms of common deficiencies and talk to a qualified health professional about if you would benefit from a supplement. (if you can access that of course, I know for many people it’s not easy)

So, yeah! There’s my super long reply that you didn’t actually ask for. I’m sorry if this is super annoying and if you don’t want this on your post, I can delete it if you want, but I’m really passionate about nutritional science and I love talking about it because most people don’t know a ton about their health and about food and this is why scammy health foods and supplements are so profitable, when people know better, they can’t be swayed as easily by Dr. health food who claims that mega dosing will flush ‘toxins’ out of your body and totally not send you to the hospital with a deadly vitamin overdose :)

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR, I HAVE NOT FINISHED MY DEGREE AND I AM NOT QUALIFIED TO GIVE PEOPLE HEALTH ADVICE. SOME OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INCORRECT, SO IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR DIET OR START TAKING SUPPLEMENTS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AND TALK TO SOMEONE WHO IS QUALIFIED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Maybe everyone isn’t as poor as I think they are but how are any of you getting your vitamins? The first time I took a magnesium supplement my entire world changed. I woke up feeling like I was on a cloud with muscle pain I didn’t know even existed gone because I was that low on it. Are you guys literally eating a MASSIVE variety of foods every single second of the day? How is anyone getting the required nutrients? I feel like daily requirements are wayyy too unattainable I’m surprised I don’t have scurvy. Is everyone taking the same handfuls of supplements I don’t know about? Like I’m actually pissed off it’s so much work to not die slowly of malnutrition