Proteins, Fats, Carbohydrates, and Veggies

I need to get this off my chest: FRUITS AND VEGETABLES ARE CARBOHYDRATES!  

Whew!  I feel better already.  Seriously, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, there are only three macronutrients.  Three.  They are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.  Done.  Everything else is a food group.

To clarify, there are two distinctly separate ways to classify foods; by it's macronutrient content or by it's origins.  Mixing the two makes you look stupid, so stop it (I'm talking to you, "diet experts").  Saying you should eat "fruits, vegetables, and carbohydrates" is like me saying that you should wear "pants, shirts, and clothes"; it's utter nonsense.

Most of the time, I immediately stop reading the moment I see that an author has confused this point.  You should too.  Ignorance of basic concepts is not, in my experience, the mark of an "expert".  But, hey, what do I know?

While I'm ranting, I'd like to take a quick moment to talk about what it means when something is a "processed food".  A processed food is anything that is not in it's most basic form.  Anything that's been blended, crushed, cooked, milled, extracted, etc. is a processed food.  So, yes, your whole grain bread is a processed food.  That pasteurized milk is processed.  Rice?  That's processed as well.  Processing isn't bad per say... it all depends on the what and the how.  Generally speaking, though, less is more.  As a rule, if I can't eat it as it comes, raw off the plant or the animal, I try not to eat it at all.  That doesn't mean I will eat it raw, it just means I could if I wanted to.

I feel better now.  Thanks for listening.