Meryl Brandwein RD/LDN: Nutrients in Our Food-Do You Know What You’re Eating, and Why?
Walk into any bookstore and you will find hundreds of diet books lining the shelves. Surf the web and your likely to find thousands of diet tips, various questionable nutritional recommendations, as well as a myriad of individuals, some professionals some not so professional, all of whom profess that their plan offers the solution to your nutritional prayers.
It is no wonder that we are confused. It seems as though we have nothing left to eat anymore. Our goal at The Nerdel Company is to set the record straight and declare that all of the macronutrients: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats play a vital role in our diets. The focus here is to learn how to strike that balance between all three.
Let’s start with the basics. Proteins are known as the building blocks of life. A protein is formed from many smaller amino acids. These amino acids are what make up our muscle tissue, organs, immune system and hormones to name a few. There are a total of 20 amino acids. Eight of them are essential. This means that we must obtain them from our diets. The rest of the amino acids can be made from, or synthesized by the body from those eight essential amino acids. All animal proteins contain the necessary amino acids our bodies need to produce all of the other amino acids. These are known as complete proteins. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains all contain some amino acids, but they are not complete; and must be combined together to form a complete protein. This is not to imply that animal protein is better than vegetable proteins for instance. Different doesn’t mean bad or good, it’s just that – different. Vegetables and whole grains in combination will provide the body with the appropriate amino acids to make up a complete protein.
Carbohydrates are the body’s primary energy source. Carbohydrates are made up of many types of sugars. In an effort to keep it easy, let’s group carbohydrates into two categories, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are metabolized by the body quickly and cause a fairly rapid rise in blood sugar. This is not a good thing for the body as it can cause many health problems. Simple carbohydrates can be found in candy, cakes, ice cream, processed and packaged foods just to name a few. Complex carbohydrates take longer for the body to digest, and therefore, do not cause a sharp rise in blood sugar levels. Complex carbohydrate foods such as fibrous vegetables like: broccoli, green beans, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and kale as well as whole grains like brown rice, and quinoa, which all have fiber, vitamins and minerals are beneficial to your body’s health.
Fats are an area that has generated unnecessary fear in millions of people. We need fats in our diets. Fats are crucial for energy utilization, hormone production, and components of cell function and necessary for the absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. There are a few classes of fats, and each will be addressed in subsequent articles. We need an ample amount of the good fats which are primarily the balance of Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids. Salmon, green leafy vegetables, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil and corn oil are some great sources of the Omega fatty acids.
The key is to keep it as fresh and natural as possible and to incorporate foods that contain moderate amounts of protein, generous amounts of complex carbohydrates and fiber and modest amounts of fats and oils. Your body will be much healthier if you limit processed and packaged foods and instead substitute fresh delicious foods. Unprocessed (in a more natural form) foods contain many more vitamins and minerals and less preservatives and chemicals than their processed counterparts.
Focus on eating at least one fresh, whole food based meal per day, and cut down on the pre-prepared snack foods as well. Most of them contain high amounts of sugar and few vitamins, minerals and fiber. If you follow these guidelines, you’ll eventually find yourself having more fresh foods over time and less and less processed and packaged foods.
You’ll be amazed at how much better you will feel, and how much energy and vitality you will have!
Posted in: What's In the Food
