Basic Food GroupsHow Much Of Each Is Best?The basic food groups are:
This makes eight basic food groups, but there are many variations on this list, with anything from 4, 5, 6 or 7 food groups. Fruits and vegetables are often grouped together. Pulses are sometimes included with vegetables, sometimes with meat as a protein food. This can be confusing, which is why I prefer to list foods by the type of nutrient they provide (see my five food groups ). Lets look at each of the basic food groups. How much do you need of each every day? Are all these food groups necessary for good health? Let's see which you should have most of and which you should avoid.
WaterWater is often left out, but it’s the most important of the basic food groups. You can live for weeks without food, but only two or three days without water.Water has no calories but it still gives you energy – you’ll never get fat from water, but just see how quickly you get mentally and physically tired when you’re dehydrated. Your body is 70% water. Every function of your body depends on it. Your blood is largely water, digestion needs lots of it, your joints are cushioned with it. Your brain is more than 90% water. Water is so important to health that whole books have been written about it. For a straightforward book that covers all the basic facts, see 'The Essential Guide To Water And Salt', published by
Credence.org.
Rule 1 of good natural health – drink lots of water. Cereals/grainsThis means anything made from the seeds of grass-type plants. It includes wheat, rye, barley, oats, maize (corn) and rice. Quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth are usually included here, but these plants are not grasses – they’re more closely related to spinach.Grains probably form the bulk of most people’s diet, whether it’s bread, pasta or rice. Then there’s porridge, pastry, biscuits, cakes, meusli, and packaged breakfast cereals. When was the last time you went a day without some form of grain? Or even had a meal without grains? Grains are usually considered to be the biggest part of a healthy diet. They are high in carbohydrates for energy. Nowadays not everyone agrees with this. There’s a growing body of health experts saying that we need little or no grains in a healthy diet. My own experience confirms this – the longer I go without any grains, the healthier and more energetic I feel. There’s plenty of energy value in other foods, including vegetables. Let’s look at different types of cereal foods. Wholegrains and wholemeal flour are high in complex carbohydrates for slow release energy; they are rich in digestive fibre for healthy bowel function and give you B vitamins and some protein. Traditionally the basis of a healthy balanced diet. Refined, white grains – white bread, white pasta, white rice, anything made from white flour – have no place in a healthy diet. They have the outer layer (bran) and the inner kernel (germ) removed, taking away most of the fibre and vitamins and much of the protein. They have barely any nutritional value – other than calories. Basically, refined grains will fatten not feed you. Over consumption of refined grains leads to constipation and is linked to bowel cancer. A diet high in refined, white grains is the quickest way to a slow death from arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and cancer. Gluten containing grains - wheat, rye, barley and oats. Gluten is very difficult for many people to digest. People with celiac disease or Crohn’s disease need to avoid it altogether. There are many 1000s of people who are gluten intolerant without realising it. Gluten can cause a wide range of digestive and other health problems. If you think gluten might be the cause of your poor digestion, try a
gluten free diet
for a week and see if you feel better.
Rule 2 of a healthy diet – if you eat grains, eat only wholegrains.
VegetablesThis is the most important of the basic food groups. Vegetables, in all their variety, give you vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, digestive fibre, enzymes and phytonutrients - even water and protein. In short, everything you need for natural health. It’s the most important food group, but the one most often neglected.You could live very well on just vegetables for a long time, if you eat a good variety and much of it raw. In societies where the diet is mostly vegetables, people often live to well over 100 years without any illness. By contrast, people who try to live without vegetables often live only half that, with lots of illness. I can’t over emphasise the importance of vegetables. Almost every illness you can get is caused by poor diet, and the first step to recovery is eating more (raw) vegetables. Vegetables aren’t boring. They are the most colourful and diverse of the basic food groups, the tastiest and the most important for health. Here are two recipe books that aim to help you find out how delicious vegetables can be – as well as being good for you. The first is cheaper, but the second seems to be more popular.
Rule 3 - eat your greens (and reds, orange, yellow, purples, white, etc.) FruitFruits are often grouped with vegetables, but I prefer to discuss them separately.Fruits are amazing sources of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and fibre – but they also have quite a lot of sugar. Though this is fructose – fruit sugar – not glucose or sucrose, it’s still sugar, and not good to have too much of it. In fresh fruit, the sugar is balanced with the nutrients, water and fibre.Dried fruit and fruit juices aren’t balanced like this and should be eaten or drunk in moderation only. Best to dilute fruit juice with plain water, at least 50/50. Fresh fruits, especially berries, are amazing sources of anti-oxidants. These are nutrients that combat the aging effects of free radicals. Red grapes are a rich source of resveratol; blueberries, cranberries and other colorful berries are high in anthocyanins. Because fruits are digested quickly, they’re a good source of quick energy first thing in the morning and as a snack between meals. It’s not good to eat fruit after a meal, as it will ferment in your stomach rather than pass swiftly through your digestive tract as it’s meant to. If you eat fruit with a meal, have it first - e.g. a fruit salad as a starter rather than as a desert.
Rule 4 - enjoy fresh fruit every day, but separately from other foods.
These are four of the basic food groups. Of these, vegetables are the most important. If you base your diet largely on vegetables, especially raw, you'll avoid many health pitfalls. For the other four, continue to
Basic Food Groups part 2.
See a different approach to the Five Food Groups
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Natural Health Consultant
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