Day Nineteen!

Do you remember that old food pyramid with pictures of the breads at the bottom, then came the vegetables and fruit, then meat, then dairy, and at the very top fats and nuts.
So the first food pyramid was published in 1974 and it has been revised every decade until finally it was recently scraped. I think that the reason why the bottom tier was that of breads was in order to support grain farmers back in the day.
But if I were to make a food pyramid I would put cheese, eggs, meats, butter and oils at the bottom. Then vegetables. Then at the top would be fruits and nuts and breads, in one small little triangular space.
The reason being that the basis of low carb eating is that of protein which is an indispensable nutrient and needs to be consumed because your body has no other way of getting it and protein is found in every single tissue in your body. That’s what protein does, it builds and repairs tissue.
Especially protein can help us with weight management. We can store fat and we can store carbohydrates in our body, but we cannot store protein. So we need protein intake everyday to function. A normal adult needs 0.8 grams per kg for ideal bodyweight. Protein deficiencies can lead to malnutrition, and anorexia nervosa. Too much protein can contribute to obesity because access calories are always converted into body fats.   
So you will notice in all of my pictures (under recipes) the main ingredient has a tendency to be the protein that has no carbohydrates. It is really important to pay attention when you are purchasing protein to the dietary label and look to see if there are any carbohydrates. Any meat that is processed like sandwich meats, sausages, pre-cooked, dried, and pepperette sticks, for example, in their processing have carbohydrates. This is how you can easily become fooled. I thought that any meat (even processed) wouldn’t have carbohydrates because…well…I wouldn’t make them with bread. But when I went to the store I thought I would pick up some pepperettes but looked at the package and saw they have a lot of carbs in them. Even some packages of bacon have a lot of carbs in them! I was sad.
But when I found meats that I liked like prosciutto and pepperoni I learned to let go of those other things and love these tasty processed proteins.