The unholy trinity 35 carbohydrate and fat. Let me give you a very brief reminder of what foods you find in these three groups( alcohol being pretty obvious):
• Protein: Basically protein is highest in food that comes from fish and animals whether it be their meat or in the form of dairy products. In the past, protein meant an association with the most problematic of all fats: the saturated animal fats. These days lean meats and low fat dairy products are very readily available.
• Carbohydrates: This is a very large group of foods that all break down into the body’ s prime energy source – glucose. Bread, vegetables( particularly potatoes), rice, pasta and fruit in their many different forms are the more‘ natural’ forms of carbohydrate. Then, of course, we have the highly processed forms: cakes, sweets and sugar. Until fairly recently it was thought that the first group of‘ complex’ carbohydrates were much better for us than the second group of‘ simple’ carbohydrates. As we will see, this has recently been found to be an unhelpful way to understand this complex group of foods.
• Fat: To oversimplify it, fat comes in two groups, thought to be‘ good’ and‘ bad’. 7 Good fats come from plants and fish, while the bad come from the same sources as protein – animal meat and dairy products. Fibre should also get a mention at this point. While it is a food, it is not considered a‘ macronutrient’. It comes with carbohydrate, typically in fruit, vegetables and grains – usually in bread and various breakfast cereals. Fibre is an important part of our diet, not because we digest it but because we don’ t. Much of it stays in our bowel giving it some 7 Recent research is questioning this division between good and bad fats, but for the sake of brevity we won’ t go into this here.