I don’t really know if I am getting enough of the RDA from what I eat.

I am familiar with the Recommended Dietary Allowance, but I don’t really know if I am getting enough from what I eat. Is there any way to find out if I am actually taking in the RDA?

One way to know if you are getting the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for all the nutrients you need is to follow My Plate. It provides from 1600 to over 2800 calories per day depending on which foods and the number of servings you eat. The assumption is made if you will choose a variety of foods from each of the 5 food groups (Grain, Vegetable, Fruit, Milk, Meat) then you will probably get 100% of your RDA.

But if you really want to know how much of each nutrient you are eating, I would suggest a thorough nutrient analysis. A registered dietitian could analyze your food intake from your records and report how your eating compares to the RDA with colorful charts and graphs. Their analysis will provide you with the nutrients that meet or fall short of your requirements based on your age and gender. Your personalized report could also include good food sources for the nutrients that are deficient in your diet. They could even analyze for all the fatty acids and amino acids in the food you eat.

Another alternative is to buy nutrition analysis software and do the analysis yourself and add in your supplements.