Nutrition and Mental Health Part 3 — Food categories

In order to understand how this started, I will probably write a series of blog posts related to nutrition, mental health, and how they are connected. This time I will speak about food categories:

We usually have 4 categories of food: fruit and veg grains, dairy, meat, fish, and poultry, and we recently added heavily processed food (fast food, sugary drinks, and sweets). We have a macronutrient level, I am talking about carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, related to how much energy your body can use from these meals ( You can read more about this in this book — The No-diet book — Eat healthily and live longer). Also, we have the micronutrient level, I am talking about vitamins and minerals ( You can read more about this in this book — The complete vitamins and minerals pocket guide).

It is a lot of confusion when we start to learn about diets and our relationship with food. The recommended amount is 45–65% carbohydrates, 20–25% fats, and 10–35% proteins (note: children need more good fats for optimal brain development). The overall calories per day are on average 2000 calories for a woman and 2500 calories for a man. Calories-based diets can be wrong, as not all calories are the same regardless of where they come from. Healthy eating guidance is needed, and these guidelines are presented often as healthy eating pyramids, for…