Nutrition experts and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) agree that eating healthful foods in the right amounts will give you all the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you need for good health. But sometimes life makes healthful eating difficult, in which case you might want to consider taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement. Here are some suggestions from the ADA to help you determine if you need a supplement.

Evaluate Your Current Diet
First, you'll need to evaluate whether or not your eating habits are providing all the nutrients you need. See which one of these three methods works best for you:

• The Food Guide Pyramid (see sidebar article below) is a great place to start to see if your eating habits are giving you the nutrients you need.
• Another resource is the ADA's factsheet quiz you can take by going to www.eatright.org.
• In addition, you can consult face-to-face with a registered dietitian in your area to see if you are getting all the nutrition you need. There's a "Find a Nutrition Professional" search-engine feature on the ADA Web site home page (www.eatright.org) in the lower right corner.

When a Supplement Might Be Helpful
Even if you have the best intentions and are very smart and organized about the way you plan your meals, sometimes life just gets in the way and keeps you from following through and eating what you should. In these cases, a vitamin/mineral supplement would help. Here are some other situations that might prevent you from getting the nutrition you need. If any of these describe you, consider a supplement.

• You are a strict vegetarian.
• You are a woman of child-bearing age who doesn't get enough folate from fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains.
• You are elderly and not eating as much as you should.
• You are on a very low-calorie weight loss diet.
• You can't drink milk or eat cheese and yogurt.
• Your hectic lifestyle frequently keeps you from eating the recommended number of servings from the food guide pyramid.

	The Food Guide Pyramid: What's a "Serving? " The United States Department of Agriculture's classic Food Guide Pyramid offers practical advice to help you get the nutrition you need each day to promote health. It's available for your viewing in a variety of graphic styles and sizes at www.nal.usda.gov. Basically, the guide recommends you consume on a daily basis 2 to 4 servings of fruit 3 to 5 servings of vegetables 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts 2 to 3 servings of milk, yogurt, and cheese 6 to 11 servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta use fats, oils, sweets sparingly So, how much is a serving? Here are some visual guidelines from the ADA to help you quickly count servings. The serving size for raw vegetables, yogurt and fruit is one cup, which will fit into an average woman’s hand. A small baked potato is the size of a computer mouse. One ounce of cheese is the size of four dice. Three ounces of cooked meat, fish or poultry is the size of a deck of cards. Two tablespoons of peanut butter is the size of a golf ball.