THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF THE ROTATION DIET
The Rotation Diet has been designed to approximate the Recommended Dietary Allowances of known major vitamins and minerals over the entire twenty-one-day period that you will use it. The same is true of the suggestions I will make for your maintenance diet.
At the level of 1200 calories and above (including my recommendations for your maintenance diet), the proportions of calories from carbohydrate, fat, and protein are designed to meet the recommendations of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs: 55 to 60 percent from carbohydrate, 25 to 30 percent from fat, and 15 percent from protein.
Crackpot claims to the contrary, there is no known diet that is more beneficial to your health than the recommendations of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs.
When calories are reduced below 1200, such as on the 600/900-calorie rotations, the relative percentage from protein increases to around 40 percent, fat decreases to about 20 percent, and carbohydrate decreases to 40 percent. These changes are necessary on a temporary basis since it is important to include enough protein to make the diet palatable, maintain the body's store of protein, and prevent the loss of your muscle tissue.
In spite of the nutritional value of the Rotation Diet, it may be important for you to use a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement while you are on the diet.
Substitutions during the diet may change your intake of certain nutrients. For example, if you do not include milk in your diet, and do not like sardines and salmon from a can, but instead substitute cottage cheese or some other cheese as a calcium source, you will be relatively low on calcium. Although this is not likely to be dangerous on a temporary basis, it might be in the long run. If you do not take in enough calcium to provide for your daily needs, your body leeches it from your bones, gradually weakening them. Then, when you reach a more advanced age, you may be more susceptible to osteoporosis than you would have been with an adequate intake. Thus, I think it would be wise to include a calcium supplement in the form of calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, or calcium carbonate. The last form - calcium carbonate - can be obtained easily and cheaply by eating one Tums tablet each day. Each Turns tablet supplies 200 milligrams of calcium, which, together with the other sources of calcium in the daily menus, will easily bring your intake up to the RDAs for this nutrient.
There are two other reasons you may need temporary vitamin supplements. First, if you don't care for red meat, you may end up low in some of the  vitamins and iron, since red meat tends to be a major source of these nutrients in most American diets. Substitutions of other meat products or vegetables may not be as rich and lack of these nutrients could leave you feeling weak and lethargic.
Second, while on a reduced-calorie diet, the body's need for vitamins and minerals may change. Although there is no evidence for this effect that I know of, dieting does stress the body, and your need for stress-related vitamins - the B-complex vitamins and vitamin Ñ - may increase. Furthermore, recent research indicates that vigorous exercise may change one's needs for certain  vitamins and iron, and this may occur for you as you change from a sedentary to an active person. A multiple vitamin and mineral tablet will help take care of all of these possibilities.
What brand of vitamin and mineral supplement is best? I recommend that you visit your drugstore and choose the house brand of a multiple vitamin and mineral tablet that contains, in general, amounts that approximate the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) of the major vitamins and minerals. I would not get anything with higher dosages because too much of certain nutrients may also be bad for you, and your diet, with the permissible substitutions, will provide most, if not all, of them - even at the 600/900-calorie rotations. The store brand of a vitamin and mineral supplement is likely to cost about 5 cents per tablet (versus up to 25 cents for specialty brands that are no better in terms of their nutritional contents).
Discuss supplementing your diet with your physician or nutritionist, and get your druggist's help in choosing the appropriate tablet. And don't be concerned if a few of the nutrients are not exactly at the 100 percent level of the RDAs in the information provided on the label. Just be sure that you avoid mega-doses and ask the druggist to guide you in the choice of supplement if you are uncertain.
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