Nutritional intake on a modified diet
Are you following an elimination diet with the help of a dietitian or other health professional and unsure if you are getting enough vitamins and minerals?
Or do you have an allergy or intolerance that means you are living on a modified diet?
Getting a balanced diet with adequate vitamins and minerals whilst living on a restricted diet can be tricky. This is why you should not undertake a restrictive diet without help from a dietitian.
As a general rule, you need to ensure that you are eating all the five food groups in good quantities daily eg. Dairy, meat or legumes, fruit, vegetables, breads and cereals. If you are eating these in good quantities as recommended in the
RPAH Elimination Diet Handbook, then despite having a limited food variety, you should be meeting your requirements. Thus, you should not need a multivitamin.
However, how good your nutritional intake is, does depend on your level of food restriction, how long you are on a restricted diet for and your individual needs. It is best to consult a doctor or dietitian if you feel you may need a multivitamin. Be aware though, many multivitamins have added colours, flavours or preservatives even if it doesn’t say so on the packaging. You also need to be careful not to overdose on certain vitamins and minerals.
People who have allergies to any major foods or food groups are more likely to need a multivitamin.
For example:
The following is a list of key vitamins and minerals in each of the major food groups which may be lacking in your diet if you are restricting major food groups.
Milk - Vitamin A, vitamin D, riboflavin, Vit B6, vitamin B12, calcium, and phosphorus.
Egg - Vitamin B12, Vit A, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin, iron and selenium.
Soy - Thiamin, riboflavin, pyridoxine, folate, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
Wheat - Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, iron, and folate if fortified.
Peanut - Vitamin E, niacin, magnesium, manganese, and chromium.
Mofidi,S (2003) ‘Nutritional Management of Pediatric Food Hypersensitivity’ Pediatrics2003;111;1645-1653
If you are on a low chemical diet you can get most of these nutrients easily from foods such as:
Vitamin A –from margarine, brussels sprouts, fish, beans, cabbage.
Other B vitamins – use a variety of gluten free grains such as amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat.
B12 – lamb, chicken, fresh beef.
Iron – legumes, wholegrains (if wheat tolerated). Amaranth, buckwheat and soy flours contain the highest levels of iron in gluten free grains.
Calcium – soy, rice drinks with added calcium, soy yoghurt (if soy tolerated).
Folate – legumes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cereals with added folate, wholegrains (if tolerated).
Adapted from RPAH Elimination Diet Handbook.
Disclaimer:
At Allergy Train, we aim to be a source of nutritional and food hypersensitivity information to guide you in your journey through an elimination diet or in learning to live on a restricted diet. However, the information provided on our site is for educational purposes only and should never be used to diagnose food hypersensitivity or other medical conditions. It is very important you talk to a health professional such as a doctor and a dietitian before you undertake any kind of dietary elimination process or restricted diet.
Links To other sites
Our Allergy Train Pty Ltd website contains links to other websites to assist you with obtaining more information. However, we do not necessarily endorse all the content on these sites. Please critique each of these sites yourself before taking on board any of the information found on these sites.