What Are You Actually Eating?
| is it essential? | your answer: essential · not · almost · partly | why |
|---|---|---|
| Omega-3 fat | ||
| Protein | ||
| Iron | ||
| Fibre | ||
| Vitamin C | ||
| Cholesterol | ||
| Vitamin D | ||
| Vitamin B12 | ||
| Sugar | ||
| Water |
What Are You Actually Eating?
| Can it make its own vitamin C? | ||
|---|---|---|
| People | No | Broken gene. Scurvy is the result. |
| Guinea pigs | No | Broken separately, by a different accident. |
| Fruit bats | No | Broken separately again. All three ate a lot of fruit. |
| Dogs and cats | Yes | Make their own from sugar. Never need an orange. |
| Goats | Yes | Make it in the liver, in large amounts, on demand. |
Vitamin C is essential for you, but not for a dog: dogs make their own.
The gene for making vitamin C is still in you, broken. Our fruit-eating ancestors never missed it. That is why sailors got scurvy and the ship's dog did not.
Every essential nutrient comes in many foods. Sold a food you must have? Ask: which essential nutrient does it have that nothing else does? Nearly always none.
Protein is built from 20 amino acids. Your body makes 11; the other 9 are essential.
histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine
alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, tyrosine
You eat protein (meat, beans, bread, milk); your body takes it apart into these pieces and rebuilds its own. A bean can become part of your thumb.