American Dietary Deficiencies - What are You Missing?

If you're American, there's a decent to good chance your diet is deficient in something, somewhere.

More than a quarter of Americans do not get enough vitamin E in their diet. Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant, meaning that it can help you live longer. It is also healthy for the heart and immune system, and works with Vitamin C in order to help your antibodies maximize their infection-fighting potential.
Vitamin E is found in a lot of oils, nuts, and seeds; Soy nuts, soy seeds, and a variety of vegetables. If you're not getting enough Vitamin E, you're probably not getting enough healthy fat in your diet--or, if you're dieting very closely, you may not be getting enough fat in your diet at all!
If you're trying to avoid the usual fats, there are some cereals that provide Vitamin E. Look for things that say "mixed tocopherols" in the ingredients, as this is probably indicative that the food contains E. Of course, you could always check the nutrition facts.

A little more than a tenth of Americans suffer from an iron deficiency. If you've got this deficiency, you need to remedy it, and quickly; iron helps your red blood cells carry oxygen. Without iron in your blood, you will feel lethargic, tired, fatigue easily, and more. Iron is often not found in multivitamins, as an overdose of iron from a multivitamin can be lethal. Try to include more animal protein in your diet; or, if you're opposed to that for whatever reason, peanuts and many grains contain reasonable amounts of dietary iron.

More than half of us do not get nearly enough potassium in our diets. Potassium is extremely important, especially if you don't like muscle cramps, if you're trying to lose weight, and especially if you're an athlete of any kind. Potassium aids in muscular contractions by working with creatine phosphate and adenosine triphosphate. Potassium also helps balance the minerals in your body when you sweat a lot. Quite simply, you're not getting enough fruits and vegetables. Oranges and bananas are a good pick, as are tomatoes, potatoes, and many foods in the legume family.

Zinc is important to the body, and again, the majority of us are getting not nearly enough of it. Zinc is important for the prostate, cellular recovery, the metabolic processes, and many other things. Lots of multivitamins include a good amount of zinc, so use them. Alternatively, you could choose to eat a fortified cereal--many crunchy cereals contain zinc. Also, some cans of cream of broccoli contain lots of zinc.

If you watch your diet, you can greatly increase your ability to perform. Many American suffer from malnutrition of some kind, and this is a travesty; we live in the land of wealth and decision. This should not be happening.