Is there any such thing as a perfect diet?

[Grimbeorn]

I googled but couldn't find one. Basically at least a week long meal plan for all food consumed, for a healthy omnivore (ie not a diet specifically for a postmenopausal woman, or someone trying to lose weight, or gluten free or whatever).

Assume calories around 1800 (increase portion sizes if taller or exercising a lot).
30+ plants a week
5+ fruit and veg a day
Meets ALL the RDAs for vitamins and minerals
Not excessively expensive
Not hugely time consuming to cook (soup and stew from scratch is fine; hunting your own wild mushrooms is not)
No UPFs

Has anyone ever made this meal plan? Is it actually possible?

We massively over eat protein. Your body really doesn’t need anything like we’re told to eat particularly by fitness influencers

Hooray, you get it! I was beginning to think I was going nuts 🤣
Yes, if RDAs are not achievable on a healthy maintenance diet, then they are set too high.

when I had low iron I tried to create a meal plan that gave me my RDA of iron. Impossible without daily liver. I laugh when people suggest you can increase your iron by eating spinach or beef 😂😂😂

I think you're overlooking the smaller amounts of vitamins and minerals in everyday foods. It all adds up. For example porridge made with milk has about 5mg zinc- more than half of your RDA. Fruit and veg contain zinc- again in smaller amounts- but if you are eating a variety over the day then it will add up.

I would suggest putting together a plan that seems healthy to you and includes foods you like to eat, then (if you want) work out how well it meets your nutritional requirements and tweak if necessary. Starting from scratch and thinking you need to eat oysters and beef to get zinc is obviously going to make it seem more difficult.

Having been generally opposed to supplements in the context of a good diet and contrary to other studies, a recent study showed that longevity improved in people who take multivitamins when controlling other variables. I now take one but I am wary personally of taking extra calcium, having read somewhere that a large bolus of calcium all in one go may be detrimental - I have been meaning to look into the research on this for weeks but haven't had the time as a lot going on at present 🙄
I'll see if I can find the article later

I don’t think she is, I think she’s looking at how much she needs to meet the RDA and trying to conduct a plan from that.

I don’t know anything about zinc but I know, for example, the iron or fibre in everyday foods like spinach peppers don’t make an impact on the 14/30mg you need of that nutrient. You need to focus on high iron/ high fibre foods to come close to achieving the RDa

She is if she thinks you need to eat 20 eggs a day to get adequate zinc.

Eating plenty pulses is probably the best option for maximising nutrition without excessive cost. A tin of chickpeas gives you 40% of your protein for the day, is high in fibre, 30% of your daily iron, 30% of your zinc etc etc, and costs pennies.

Ok, so the perfect diet includes eating a tin of chickpeas every single day?

we’ll probably not a tin. A cup would be 25% of your iron, about half your fibre, 15g protein, 23% of your zinc, and more than 10% of a variety of minerals so they are really great.

thats only one food though, OP is asking for a diet. Apart from a daily cup of chickpeas, we don’t have a diet plan yet.

Oats have about 4mg per 100g. I eat 40g of oats for porridge, so that's 1.6mg. Milk is approx 0.5mg per 100ml. I use 240ml of water with just a squoosh of milk, but if I swapped for all milk it would contain around 1.2mg zinc. So total 2.8mg. Not 5mg! But having all that milk would make my breakfast too calorific (I put fruit and nuts on the porridge too for added nutrients) and it wouldn't fit into my 1800cals.

Exactly. Some foods are chock full of nutrients, but you can't eat the same things every day because you also need to hit your 30 plants a week, be able to afford it (oysters and beef are too expensive to be everyday foods) etc. The tin of chickpeas sounds great, apart from the fact that if I ate a whole tin everyday I would soon despise them, but you need variety too.

I did what @Everystripesays and put your list in the OP into chatGPT and asked for 1) a vegetarian week and 2) a week with 2 servings of fish, 1 serving of red meat and 1 serving of poultry.

Here's the vegetarian week:

Certainly! Here's a 7-day meal plan designed to meet your requirements:
🌿 7-Day Plant-Rich Meal Plan (Approx. 1800 Calories/Day)
Day 1

• *Breakfast:*Oatmeal topped with mixed berries, chia seeds, and a dollop of almond butter
• *Lunch:*Lentil and vegetable stew with wholegrain bread
• *Dinner:*Chickpea and spinach curry served with brown rice
• *Snacks:*Carrot sticks with hummus, apple slices, and a handful of mixed nuts

Day 2

• *Breakfast:*Smoothie with spinach, banana, flaxseeds, and unsweetened almond milk
• *Lunch:*Quinoa salad with roasted sweet potato, black beans, corn, and avocado
• *Dinner:*Vegetable stir-fry with tofu, broccoli, bell peppers, and soy sauce over wholegrain noodles
• *Snacks:*Cucumber slices with guacamole, orange segments, and a handful of sunflower seeds

Day 3

• *Breakfast:*Chia pudding made with coconut milk, topped with kiwi and pumpkin seeds
• *Lunch:*Wholegrain wrap filled with hummus, mixed greens, shredded carrots, and sprouts
• *Dinner:*Lentil loaf with mashed cauliflower and steamed green beans
• *Snacks:*Mixed berries, a small handful of walnuts, and a pear

Day 4

• *Breakfast:*Buckwheat pancakes topped with strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup
• *Lunch:*Chickpea salad sandwich with wholegrain bread, lettuce, and tomato
• *Dinner:*Vegetable and quinoa stuffed bell peppers with a side of mixed greens
• *Snacks:*Sliced bell peppers with tahini, an apple, and a handful of almonds

Day 5

• *Breakfast:*Overnight oats with chia seeds, blueberries, and a sprinkle of cinnamon
• *Lunch:*Split pea soup with carrots, celery, and onions
• *Dinner:*Sweet potato and black bean chili with a side of cornbread
• *Snacks:*Sliced cucumber with hummus, a banana, and a handful of mixed seeds

Day 6

• *Breakfast:*Toasted wholegrain bread with avocado, tomato slices, and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast
• *Lunch:*Lentil and vegetable curry served with basmati rice
• *Dinner:*Zucchini noodles topped with tomato and basil sauce, served with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts
• *Snacks:*Carrot sticks with guacamole, a handful of cashews, and an orange

Day 7

• *Breakfast:*Smoothie bowl with mixed berries, spinach, chia seeds, and a sprinkle of granola
• *Lunch:*Wholegrain pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, olives, cucumber, and a lemon-tahini dressing
• *Dinner:*Vegetable stew with lentils, served with a side of wholegrain bread
• *Snacks:*Sliced apple with almond butter, a handful of pumpkin seeds, and a kiwi

And here's the omnivore one:

Here's a practical, nutrient-dense 7-day meal plan that meets your criteria:
🥦 Weekly Meal Plan (Approx. 1800 kcal/day)
🌿 Daily Targets:

• 30+ plant-based foods/week
• 5+ fruit & veg portions/day
• 2 portions oily fish, 1 red meat, 2 poultry/week
• No ultra-processed foods (UPFs)
• Balanced to meet RDAs for vitamins & minerals

🥗 Day 1: Monday

• *Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes on whole grain toast.
• *Lunch: Chickpea and vegetable stew with brown rice.
• *Dinner: Grilled salmon with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.
• *Snacks: Apple slices with almond butter; carrot and cucumber sticks.

🥗 Day 2: Tuesday

• *Breakfast: Oatmeal topped with mixed berries and chia seeds.
• *Lunch: Lentil salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, and olive oil dressing.
• *Dinner: Chicken stir-fry with bell peppers, onions, and quinoa.
• *Snacks: Banana; handful of mixed nuts.

🥗 Day 3: Wednesday

• Breakfast: Greek yogurt with sliced kiwi and a sprinkle of granola.
• Lunch: Whole grain wrap with hummus, shredded carrots, and leafy greens.
• Dinner: Beef and vegetable stew with a side of whole grain bread.
• Snack: Orange slices; celery sticks with peanut butter.

🥗 Day 4: Thursday

• Breakfast: Smoothie with spinach, banana, flaxseeds, and almond milk.
• Lunch: Quinoa salad with roasted vegetables and feta cheese.
• Dinner: Baked mackerel with mashed cauliflower and green beans.
• Snacks: Pear; handful of walnuts.

🥗 Day 5: Friday

• Breakfast: Whole grain toast with avocado and poached egg.
• Lunch: Chickpea and spinach curry with basmati rice.
• Dinner: Grilled chicken breast with quinoa and steamed asparagus.
• Snacks: Apple slices with cheese; mixed berries.

🥗 Day 6: Saturday

• Breakfast: Pancakes made with whole wheat flour, topped with fresh strawberries.
• Lunch: Lentil and vegetable soup with a side of whole grain crackers.
• Dinner: Roast beef with roasted root vegetables and a side salad.
• Snacks: Banana; handful of almonds.

🥗 Day 7: Sunday

• Breakfast: Chia pudding made with almond milk, topped with blueberries.
• Lunch: Grilled vegetable and hummus sandwich on whole grain bread.
• Dinner: Baked trout with wild rice and sautéed kale.
• Snacks: Carrot sticks with guacamole; orange slices.

I have no idea why it's put all those thumbs up and stuff in there!

Anyway you can do the same in ChatGPT - it will also generate a shopping list for you, and recipes with quantities. If you don't like eg. asparagus you can say "redo with no asparagus" or whatever.

That’s really good thanks. I mean, the food looks awful and time consuming to make, but I think it probably does pretty much hit the requirements 😂

@Xiaoxiong thanks for doing that! It looks like a good balanced diet, and could meet the veg, UPF and calorie requirements. But I'm not convinced there is 8mg of zinc each day in there unless you eat huge portions (negating the calorie limit).
I think I'm just going to try to be less annoyed about these things 🤣 First world problems and all that.

I actually googled and found this surprisingly useful answer on Reddit. I think this must apply to most of your RDA questions, not just zinc.

www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3o9zcp/how_can_a_person_ever_not_be_zinc_deficient_if/

The only metal that humans actually store is iron. You could argue that the body stores calcium in bones, since there is a mechanism to decalcify your bones if you are deficient in calcium for a long time, however ultimately this leads to health problems too.
To move onto your example. If you don't get enough zinc on Monday it doesn't mean you wake up zinc deficient on Tuesday. Why?

1. Dietary intake values are time weighted averages. It means that on average you need to maintain these amounts to be healthy over a long time. Acute deficiencies only occur with 'essential' things like water and salt (these things are consumed and excreted at a high rate) and even these take several days to manifest in normal circumstances.
2. While your body may not stores zinc, it can function normally with a range of zinc available. Assuming you have been eating the right amount of zinc for a long time and then stop eating any, you will be 'saturated' with zinc and have more than enough to function normally. It will take a long time before the zinc amount in your body drops to the deficient level, where your bodily function actually suffers. This is because 1) Most trace elements are recycled many times and 2) zinc in particular is a structural meal ion; it forms active sites in enzymes that are relatively long lived (compared to signal ions).

With respect to iron. The body has a protein called ferritin that is basically a big bag that stores iron as iron oxide. It is unique because iron has low bioavailability since most of its salts are insoluble in water, which makes ingesting it difficult.

the food looks awful and time consuming to make

Well, I eat not too dissimilarly to that a lot of the time and quite like it!! I batch cook so it's not so time consuming, and usually keep a portion back from the night before for lunch the next day. I do enjoy cooking though, I have worked on things like my knife skills so meal prep is quick and efficient and find it relaxing. I will do things like prep veg or marinate proteins on the weekend like a restaurant, so it's ready to go in the week.

I agree you don't need to hit the RDA every day. But according to the NHS you need to average this amount over a longer period. Therefore if you don't eat your oysters/beef one day it's a double portion tomorrow.