I am firmly of the belief that every item of food or drink we consume has a biochemical effect on us, some negative and some of course positive. Furthermore it could be said that along with all the conventional methods of grouping foods that we could use the following:
Nutrient, stimulant and empty calories, let me explain group by group.
Nutrients are natural food stuffs that are not processed or altered from their original state by modern food industry practise. This means their natural chemical compounds and nutrients are left intact and are able to feed the body and have positive biochemical effects. This group includes all fresh fruits and vegetables and other natural foods nuts, seeds, beans, greens, oats, brown rice and all those other items that look the same served up as they do growing wild. This group is called Nutrients because they offer all the life giving power of natural foods whose positive effects are still to be fully understood.
Stimulants these are the temporary boost foods, usually high in sugar, caffeine or other artificial stimulants that give temporary energy followed by a low or crash as their active ingredients rapidly pass through the blood stream and are processed by the body. So tea, coffee, stimulant drinks, sugar rich foods and drinks. This group is probably the most harmful to the wellbeing of the mind and body and also can be dangerously addictive as the boost delivered is desirable and may be repeated with another dose! Stimulants are exactly that, nutritionally pretty void, they boost the body in an artificial short term way instead of fuelling the body with the nutrients it needs. Talk to someone in a coffee bar, and you'll see what I mean! Addiction to stimulants is a real danger as resistance is developed and more and greater doses are required for the same heady effect! Avoid this group and your reward will be better energy levels and a more stable and genuine mood, with greater resistance to temptation! Check out the ingredient panel of food packaging, manufacturers have to list ingredients in order of volume in the product, if sugar is in the top 4 leave it out of your shopping trolley. Isn't it crazy that most breakfast cereals have a huge amount of sugar in? Stuff a load of sugar down first thing and you'll be on a sugar craving roller coaster all day.
Empty calories, this is the U.F.O. food group, Unidentified Food Objects, you know the score, funny looking and smelling things that resemble nothing in its natural state! Generally they are cheap and certainly in the "junk" category. As we all know cheap isn't necessarily a good thing. Cheap batteries in your walkie talkie on a jungle trip could be a bad thing! Cheap food during your lifetime will definitely have a negative effect. These empty calories can have an extraordinary effect as they are calorie rich, high in sugar and other addictive ingredients BUT nutritionally poor, leading to over eating as the body craves nutrients and gets addicted to the sugar boost. It's impressive that a junk food addict can be at once obese AND malnourished, a testimony to the emptiness of the calories in this food group!
I hope this simple look at foods makes you keen to explore the nutrient group as stay clear of the other two, I certainly ask myself as I select things for my shopping trolley, is this nutrient, stimulant or empty calorie.
A lot of my food consumption is through my juicer and blender as I like to keep things fresh and natural, try here for some fresh and natural recipes.