Basic nutrition

The further I've gone into the wormhole of health and well-being (lol), the more I've come to realize how very little most people in North America know about the basics of nutrition - my former self included! So for this post, I thought I'd just break it down. I'm no expert, but this is some of what I've learned, just in case it's helpful!

What are the essential nutrients that we need? These break down into two big categories: macronutrients (commonly referred to as macros) and micronutrients. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that we need to survive. They're called "micro" because we only need very small amounts of them. Each one has its own chemical function and without any one of them we get rather ill. These are things like iron, sodium (salt), cholesterol (the good kind), potassium, magnesium, calcium, manganese, zinc, the B vitamins, vitamins A, C, D, K, and dozens of others. If you want to know more about these and what they all do, you can read more here.

What are the macronutrients? The macros break down into three basic groups: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. The first thing to understand here is that multiple macronutrients can be present in one food, so the lines can seem a bit blurry at times. Let's talk about the basics, though:

Proteins: At their base, proteins are amino acid chains. There are about 20 different kinds of them, and we absolutely need 9 of them. Without them, we die. Protein is what gives us energy, primarily.

• Foods that contain protein: meat, fish, eggs, legumes (beans, chickpeas, etc), vegetables, dairy. It is completely possible to get the necessary proteins from vegetables only, for instance. The compensation is that those vegetables will be higher in carbohydrates. 

Fats: At their base, fats are fatty acid chains. These are also essential. Our bodies use fat for energy reserves, brain function, metabolism, and tons of other things. There are a lot of different types of dietary fat and it's important to know the differences. 

• The most important fats to eat are the ones high in omega 3 fatty acids, which include: olive oil, fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, trout, albacore tuna, sardines, and others), walnuts, and avocados, primarily. 
• Other foods that contain healthy fats: butter, other full fat dairy products, animal/poultry fat, fish oils, coconut oil, avocado oil, nut butters, and nut oils. 
• Fats to avoid: hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils - canola, safflower, sunflower, soybean, and cottonseed oils, margarine, and pretty much any fats found in processed foods such as crackers, cookies, microwaveable foods, and pre-packaged foods of every kind. 

If you're interested in knowing more about why eating fat is important, I would suggest watching this segment of Dr. Jason Fung's video lecture on the subject!

Carbohydrates:  At their base, carbohydrates are long chains of sugars, either simple or complex. Carbs are the only macronutrient which are not essential for our health. What is essential are some of the things which they contain, specifically fibre and micronutrients.

My friend's girlfriend recently texted him to ask "are sweet potatoes a carb or a vegetable", and (to her irritation), he responded "yes". The answer is that they are both, because all vegetables fall into the macronutrient category of carbohydrates. Let's break it down a bit:

• Unrefined carbs are the better ones. These include: vegetables of every kind, such as: root vegetables like potatoes and carrots, above-the-ground vine vegetables like zucchini, cucumbers, and peas, leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, and kale, fruit of every kind, whole grains such as wheat berries, quinoa, brown variants of rice, seeds such as flaxseed and chia, nuts, and flours such as almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk flour, and others. 
• Refined carbs are not essential at all. These are usually grains which have been stripped of their fibre, making them absorb too quickly, which does provide the body with energy, but it also causes a spike in insulin and increased levels of hunger fairly soon after eating. These include: wheat flours of every kind, including whole wheat and multigrain (the fibre is stripped during the process of making the flour and very small amounts are re-added later, essentially for appearances only), products containing flour such as pasta, breads (including pita, tortilla, naan, muffins, bagels, cake, etc), and any variant of white rice. 
• Worse than refined carbs are sugars in any form. I've already talked about sugar a lot before, but here is the big takeaway: it doesn't matter whether it's in a natural form (honey, agave, maple syrup, fruit juice, etc) or a highly processed one (sucrose, corn syrup, maltodextrin, xylitol, etc): in the end, while some forms may be slightly worse than others, sugar is sugar. Sugar is the big enemy here, not fat. While alcohols are considered by some to be a macronutrient category of their own, the general consensus is that, because they are metabolized as sugar, they might as well be counted with sugars. 

If there is one healthy thing you can do for your eating plan, it would be to cut out sugar in every form as well as refined carbohydrates. Look to increase your intake of fibre, omega 3 fats, don't worry too much about protein (most people eat too much of it!), and avoid processed foods of every kind. Basically any eating plan will tell you this: eat whole, unprocessed foods. You can determine how many unrefined carbohydrates are right for your body's needs. Protein and fats are the essential part, though. :)