Saturday, May 1, 2021

as of friday morning, my zinc results have been mailed, but they aren't here yet. i need to do some shopping this weekend, anyways - i can't wait. what changes can i make?

first, i'm now eating the fruit bowl every day for breakfast and either eating pasta or eggs for supper. two meals is all i can take.

fruit bowl

i still don't know if the wheat and phytates are blocking metal absorption in the fruit bowl. i know that the calcium & magnesium seem to be fine. zinc results will be useful, and after that i'll need to check copper & selenium, particularly. so, for now i'm going to stick with it:

fruit & vegetables 
- 100 g strawberry  (c,s...cr,se + flavonoids)
- 30 g guava  (b8,c,s)
- 70 g kiwi (b8,c,k1...b,cr)
- 150 g avocado  (b5,b8,b9,b16,b20,c,e,f1,k1,s...b,na,s,k,cr,zn,se....h,l,k,m,c)
- 120 g banana (b5,b16...cl,k,se....h)
- 45 g raspberry (c,s...b + flavonoids)
- pinch of cinnamon (s, mostly)*
- 1 tbsp of paprika (pseudo-a + lutein & zeaxanthin)
+
- cherries (from yogurt, ice cream)  (extra pseudo-a,c,e,s + flavonoids)
- 45 g of blueberry or blackberry or cranberry (or multiples of them)  (extra c,e,s + flavonoids)

"dairy"
- 400 ml fortified soy milk (a, b5,b7,b8,b16,b20,d,f1...b,na,p,s,k,ca,fe,co,cu,zn,se,mo....h,i,l,k,m,c,v)
- 82.5 g of cherry ice cream (a,b5,b12,b13,b16,b20,k2...na,s,zn,se....i,l,k,m,v)
- 50 g cherry yogurt (a,b16,b20...na,s,co,zn,se....i,l,k,m,c,v)

cereal
- 40 g of vector (a,b3,b5,b7,b9,b15,b20,e,f1...na,cl,fe,zn,se,i)
- 45 g of all bran (b5,b8,b15,b16,b20,f1...na,mg, p,s,cl,k,mn,fe,zn,se....h,i,l,k,m,c,v)
- 14 g raw wheat bran (b8,b15...s,cl,zn,se....c)!

seeds
- 8 g of raw, hulled sunflower seed (e,f1...s,se....c) 
- 12 g of ground flax seed  (b16,f1,f2...b,si,s,ni,zn,se....c)

fungi & protists
- 5 g of nutritional yeast (b1,b2,b3,b4,b6,b7,b9,b12,b16...s,cr,se....k,c)
- 5 ml of algal oil (b12,16,f3,f4)

* i should be out of fake cinnamon this month, and will look for real cinnamon this week
! - doubling the wheat bran for selenium & betaine & inositol may not be good for iron, and i'll understand that when i get zinc results, but the iron pills might, in the end, be the best workaround.

so, that's breakfast and it is complete, up to understanding the effects of interactions.

pasta bowl

so, to start with, this is what seems to be sufficient in the pasta bowl:

- vitamins: beta-carotene, b1, b2, b3, b4, b6, b9, b12 (total), b13, c, d, e, f2, k2
- minerals: na, mg, p, k, ca, mn, co, cu, se

this is what seems to be lacking, after adjusting to the 50% requirements, from the 33% ones:

- vitamins: retinolb5b7, b8b12 (natural), b15, b16, b20, f1, f3, f4, k1, s
- minerals:  fe, zn, mo

and this is what has not been measured at all:
- minerals: b, si, s, cr, ni, i
- all amino acids
- lutein
- lycopene
- chlorophyll
- flavonoids

this is what i've done to adjust:

- i've boosted the cheese by a few grams to increase the amount of a. adding some fish should also increase a levels. i've also increased the yogurt by a tablespoon. that should be sufficient.
- the added tomatoes & broccoli together should get the b5 up from 90 to over 100, on paper. the extra tablesoon of yogurt is a few more percent. fish is also high in b5. adding further items will likewise get it up a tad more. this should be fine when i calculate it.
- the nutritional yeast is undercounted in that chart, and about 30% less than it ought to be, taking me to closer to 150% for b7. i'm also going to increase the amount of soy to a full cup. but, fish is high in biotin. i think this is ok, given that i get a ton of biotin from the eggs.
- i'm going to add green beans for inositol. it should help a little with iron, too. with the broccoli & tomato, together, along with the soy, i should be up to close to 500 mg.  that should be fine.
- the fish, cheese & yogurt should get the natural b12 up a bit more. that should be fine.
- the size of the beets is undercounted, here; i'm actually generally eating more like 100-120 g of beets which is a 25-50% increase. realizing that gets me about half of the way there. but, i'm going to add about 10 g of spinach, which is even higher in betaine, to firm it up. 
- the choline & carnitine should come up with the fish, specifically. so should the omega-3 and omega-6s.
- the broccoli & spinach, together, should be sufficient for k1. in fact, with the tomatoes and green beans, and spices, it may be a little too high. but, i'm going to ignore that, for now.
- the oregano alone should get me over 5 mg of salicylates in this meal.

- i would appear to need 7.5 mg of iron to get to my 50% target. tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, garlic & spinach, together, should add something like 1.4 mg. a tablespoon of paprika and teaspoon of cayenne would together have roughly 1.75, a tablespoon of oregano would have 1.5 mg, and a tablespoon of hulled hemp & sunflower seeds would have about 1.0 mg, together. so, that's about 5.5 g. leading me to only need 2.0 mg more. i should get around 1 mg more with fish.

as can be seen, these spices are supposed to be high in iron, along with salicylates and antioxidants. what other spices can i look at?

thyme - 5.3 mg in 1 tbsp
cumin seed - 4.0 mg in 1 tbsp
celery seed - 2.9 mg in 1 tbsp
basil - 1.9 mg in 1 tbsp

i know i like thyme & basil, and i used to put celery in my salt. these are easy, cheap adds. i can try some cumin, but i'm not sure if i'll like it. i'll just try a tsp to start.

these spices are going to increase my k levels and i'm going to ignore it for now.

- for zinc, i would appear to need 5 mg to meet my goal, but i want to wait to see what my serum level is, first. i'm probably going to need the fish to meet this, as spices and vegetables appear to be poor sources of zinc
- i'm not looking at molybdenum right now. soon.

so, the extra adds are:

0) 1 tomato for lycopene and extra c. it also tones down the spiciness and there's a bit of k1 & b8.
1) broccoli for sulfur, k1 & extra c. it's also high in lutein and adds about 10% of b5 and a little b8.
2) more cheese & more yogurt for a, b5 & b12
3) more soy for a, b5, b7, b8 & b16.
4) some fish for a, b5, b7, b12, b16, b20, f1, f3, f4, iron although i'm not sure what type yet.
5) 50 g of green beans for inositol & k1
6) 10 g of spinach for betaine, k1 
7) thyme, cumin, celery and basil for iron. i'll have to decide if i like it or not.

& this is the total outcome, for now

fruits & vegetables:
- 1 beet (>100 g) 
- 1 garlic clove (~5 g)  
- 1 lime, including the peel (~67 g)  
- 110 g of carrots 

+

- 1 tomato (~100-150 g) 
- 40 g of broccoli 
- 50 g of green beans 
- 10 g of spinach


capsicum
- 1 red pepper (>150 g) 
- 1 tbsp paprika  
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper  
- several dashes of frank's red hot sauce 

+

spices
- several dashes of ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tbsp thyme 
- 1 tsp cumin seed (to start)
- 1 tbsp celery seed
- 1 tbsp basil

seeds
- 1 tbsp hulled hemp seeds
- 1 large tbsp of hulled sunflower seeds
- 1 small tsp mustard seed

protists
- 1 large tsp of nutritional yeast

"dairy"
- 250 ml of fortified vanilla soy milk
- 3 tbsp of fortified pro-biotic yogurt
- 70 g of cheddar cheese

cereal
- 55 g of fortified al dente durum wheat pasta 
- 10 tsp of pasta water

meat
- some fish of some sort to determine after zinc levels are clarified

eggs meal

the eggs only seen to be missing a few things:
- b15, k,.....mg, k, fe, zn, cu.

but, the mg and k are undercounted and probably close to ok.

i can add a little bit of spinach for an easy and near certain dose of b15 & k, which should increase magnesium and potassium as well. that leaves the beneficial metals, which i'll need to look into after i get the zinc results.

ok. that's good for now.