Nutrition in Broad Strokes

PART I

Food consists of four categories of substance: protein, fat, carbohydrate, and fiber.  All of our nutrients come from proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.  Fiber supplies no nutrients, but is important to our health because it enables proper digestive and excretory functioning and enables healthy bacteria which live in our intestines to flourish.  

Much disagreement has existed over the last few decades regarding what constitutes a healthy diet.  The rules have changed dramatically in response to scientific research over the last few decades and my patients have a lot of questions.  How many times a day should I eat?  How much of my diet should come from carbohydrates?  Which fats are healthy?  How important is it to eat organic food?  How many calories are safe to consume each day?  What are GMO foods and are they safe to eat?  Should I be avoiding gluten?  How about red meat?  

I will attempt to answer these and other questions in some detail below, but first let’s take a moment to lay out in very general terms what I have come to see as the basic idea behind a healthy diet.  

Read Next Article in this series on Nutrition:Background Information Informing My Approach to Healthy Eating 

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