A recent study says that certain diets may not only limit the amounts of carbs/fats/calories each dieter consumes, but also the amount of vitamins. When focusing on eliminating one food group over the other, certain vitamins inherent with that eliminated food group also get eliminated. This is one of the flaws of a diet like the Atkins diet. While it is similar to Doug's diet in that it avoids grains, Atkins was mostly after the macro-molecules known as carbohydrates. I heard Kyle Drew phrase it like this, "Atkins doesn't discriminate between 20 grams of broccoli and 20 grams of white bread; they are all looked at simply as carbohydrates." Obviously, if you eliminate foods such as broccoli simply based on their carb content, you're getting rid of good things in your diet.

Interestingly, in the article published on Yahoo that was commenting on the study, a fairly prominent doctor admitted that vitamin deficiencies are a big deal, saying "our bodies work best when vitamin and mineral deficiencies are absent." The lead researcher in the study also claimed that vitamin supplements are a good way for dieters to be sure they are getting the vitamins they need. I hope these two claims becomes the paradigm that modern medicine operates on.

This article obviously didn't review the Phase 1 diet, but I think it would have found that adherents to the Phase 1 diet would be getting more than their RDA of all those important nutrients. The Phase 1 diet encourages all kinds of nutrient dense veggies, nuts, and healthy fruits. If you are eating grass fed meat, you're getting loads of Omega 3, vitamin A, and all the trace minerals found in grass that filter up through the food chain. If you are on the Phase 1 diet, a good multi-vitamin is still a great insurance policy, and I would highly recommend this, this or this one.