ICTWIE #3

Eating different foods

Up until just lately I have always looked at food from the macro-nutrient perspective.

Macro-nutrient means the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that make up the food we eat.

We all need varying amounts of these macro-nutrients depending on our body composition and performance goals.

I thought I had this figured out. I knew how much of each was required and I was eating these prescribed amounts. It didn’t matter too much where the macros came from, now, I’m not saying it was an ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ type of diet, but I would substitute chicken for turkey or sweet potato for rice quite happily depending on convenience.

But my food sources were limited, and I was missing out one very important factor:

Micro-nutrients.

These are the vitamins and minerals found in food and supplements and I wasn’t giving them a second thought.

I had my daily vitamins; multivit, 1000mg Vit C, Vit D3, Zinc (sometimes) and 1000mg Cod Liver Oil. But these were all in pill form.

I’ve come to learn that obtaining these from whole food sources is ALWAYS better. And the fresher, more organic these foods are, the more chances you’ve got of actually getting hold of the life-giving vitamins and minerals stored within them.

I will cover vitamins and minerals in greater depth in articles to come but a good rule of thumb is to try to include as many different colours of fruit and veg as you can.