Basic nutrition

There is so much confusing information about what we should eat that it helps to know some of the basics. Armed with this information, you can then put a lot of what you hear about diets and healthy living in perspective.

First, you must eat enough food to provide energy to keep you alive and that means carbohydrates. The amount of energy you need varies according to age, sex and the physical demands made on you. If you sit around all day you need less energy than if you are active - simple as that!

To get a good supply of energy you need to eat a diet rich in carbohydrates but you need the right sort. You need the carbohydrate in things like bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes, vegetables and fruit. Sugar is also a carbohydrate but this is the sort that you don't want and should be eaten in moderation otherwise it will make you fat. Think of carbohydrates as the fuel you need and try to eat a lot of them.

For complicated reasons we need to eat a wide variety of different foods and are programmed, unlike most animals, to eat and enjoy them all. In case you have never thought about it, this is why you enjoy eating different meals each day and trying something new and exciting.

As well as carbohydrates you need to eat protein to allow your body to grow and to build and repair bone, tissue, organs, muscles and all the other things of which you are made. Protein supplies some of the amino acid building blocks that your body uses and which it can't get from any other source so protein is vital for health.

We get protein mainly from meat, fish or poultry or alternatively from diary produce like eggs and from some beans and peas like lentils or chick peas. We don't need as much protein as we do carbohydrate but we need a regular and varied supply so be sure to eat some food high in protein each day.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, you also need to eat fat but you need the right sort. Put simply, you don't want too much of the fat you get from meat but you do want the fat you get from vegetables and fish.

There is so much information already in circulation about fat that the simplest thing to say is that you should eat meat and poultry that contains as little visible fat as you can and don't eat a lot of fried food. Also eat a good variety of meat, fish (especially oily fish) and poultry each week.

A good tip is to eat meat that has to run to stay alive! That is, try not to eat meat from animals that stand around all day in a field fattening, but go for food from animals like game animals, for they will have leaner meat with less visible fat.

You also need a good supply of vitamins and minerals and these come mainly from vegetables, fruit and berries. The advice here is simple, you need to eat as wide a variety of these as you can and most people eat far too few.

These are, in my view, fun foods that are good to eat and which can provide some fantastic and varied meals so try to move away from the mundane meals that you have now and branch out and experiment with some of the more exotic and unusual fruit and vegetables.

Putting this together is, for most of us, easy since we have inherited meals that provide the main nutrients so no dramatic changes are needed. Just look at what you eat and make sure you get some breads, cereals, pasta and potatoes along with plenty of vegetables and fruit but with some dairy, fish and meat added in.

For most people, that is what they already eat, they just need to reduce the amount of sugar they eat, cut back on fat and bump up the fruit and vegetables and they will be eating just fine. One last thing, the most nutritious food you can eat is fresh food so always remember when you shop: The Fresher The Food - The Better The Food!