This is a question about nutrition....?

I know that they say you should get so many grains, vegetables, fruits, and such in your diet in one day, but I was wondering if it is possible with all the synthetic stuff made nowadays, if it possible to live healthy off just the main components like say all protein shakes and just meats, bread for carbs and fiber, a few fats, and a multivitamin. Isn't that pretty much all we need to survive? I mean I'm not planning on switching my diet, but it's just a hypothetical curious question I've wondered since nutritionists place so much emphasis on that food chart.

There's no substitution for fruits and vegetables. I know your idea is to take a multi vitamin, thinking that will make up for the lack of vitamins and minerals, but what about all the fiber and antioxidants those fruits and veggies supply your body with? As for protein, it's very important, but shouldn't be the main component of your diet. The whole grains and fruit and vegetables are supposed to be the bulk of your diet. Most nutritionists will tell you that aside from following the food pyramid, you should also take 1 good multivitamin daily, but not use the vitamin to supplement a healthy diet.

I like most of the answers here as they are pretty much telling you that there is no substitute for real nutritious food. That I agree with. However, the rest really depends on your own personal fitness objectives which other answers seem to have discounted.

For example, you asked about protein. If you goal is to gain lean muscle mass, then protein is a critical component of this.

You need a minimum of 1g of protein per pound of lean bodyweight each day. Getting this by eating food is very difficult. This is why people supplement with protein shakes.

To answer your question "hypothetically" yes, it is possible for someone to survive on multiple supplements rather than food. But doing so will likely make you sick somehow.

For example, if you are consuming shakes, fiber pills, vitamins, etc that contain all of the building blocks of a well-rounded diet, sure I think it is possible. Don't recommend it, but it is most-likely possible.

Hope this helps,

-Ray
http://www.FreakyNutrition.com

I suppose it's feasible, but I wouldn't want to take a bland, tasteless, unfilling multivitamin when I can have delicious, beautiful, filling real foods.

I suppose I get all of the recommended stuff daily but that is because I like whole, real foods and I eat what I want when I want. I'm certainly regular, if that's any indication. (No gimmicky magic yogurt for me.) By lunch today, I will probably have had most of the recommended whole grains and fruits and veggies. I already had some protein in my soy milk, and for lunch I'll probably have hummus on whole wheat bread. However, there will still be my afternoon snack (maybe all natural peanut butter toast or half of a PB and all natural fruit spread sandwich), dinner (which will contian protein, veggies, and whole grains and a glass of soy milk), an evening snack, maybe, and the bowl of frozen fruit (two kinds, of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, whatever I'm in the mood for) before bed. I do have orange juice and sugar free apple sauce (good for something sweet after lunch or dinner), which are slightly processed, but since I have other forms of whole produce, like two steamed vegetables for lunch and a couple of veggies for dinner, I figure it's okay and that I could be eating worse. Also, I obviously don't eat animals or animal products, but I dot' think I'm lacking.

I've also heard/read that the stuff in a vitamin may not be fully absorbed by the body or even recognized by the body the way the body would recognize the nutrients from real food. Again, I would rather have the real food.