Being pregnant I'm fighting the battle of keeping my body loaded with iron which led me to investigate iron sources.
Now,is it possible to achieve your full RDA's, stick within the recommended 1800 - 2000 calories per day and still eat appropriately?
Iron for example appears to be best found in Bran Flakes but only 25% of the RDA is found in a single serving. So I have to add spinach and dried apricots to my daily diet, amongst other things. Spinach also contains B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), Folate, C (ascorbic acid), K, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc, though I've no idea about quantities yet.
So if this is the RDA table, how can a person eat a varied diet and take it ALL in? Not just pregnant women - everyone?


Total Fat grams (g) 65
Saturated fatty acids grams (g) 20
Cholesterol milligrams (mg) 300
Sodium milligrams (mg) 2400
Potassium milligrams (mg) 3500
Total carbohydrate grams (g) 300
Fiber grams (g) 25
Protein grams (g) 50



Vitamin A International Unit (IU) 5000
Vitamin C milligrams (mg) 60
Calcium milligrams (mg) 1000
Iron milligrams (mg) 18
Vitamin D International Unit (IU) 400
Vitamin E International Unit (IU) 30
Vitamin K micrograms (µg) 80
Thiamin milligrams (mg) 1.5
Riboflavin milligrams (mg) 1.7
Niacin milligrams (mg) 20
Vitamin B6 milligrams (mg) 2.0
Folate micrograms (µg) 400
Vitamin B12 micrograms (µg) 6.0
Biotin micrograms (µg) 300
Pantothenic acid milligrams (mg) 10
Phosphorus milligrams (mg) 1000
Iodine micrograms (µg) 150
Magnesium milligrams (mg) 400
Zinc milligrams (mg) 15
Selenium micrograms (µg) 70
Copper milligrams (mg) 2.0
Manganese milligrams (mg) 2.0
Chromium micrograms (µg) 120
Molybdenum micrograms (µg) 75
Chloride milligrams (mg) 3400

I would recommend reading a book by Patrick Holford called something along the lines of The Optimum Nutrition Bible'. He recommends dietry supplements and he has some interesting things to say about RDA's.

Not the answer you wanted i guess, but it's an interesting read!