By: Joann Bally CSCS
Here are brief answers to some questions we are often asked about nutrition. They only apply to real food, because the food industry seems to be able to combine just about any nutrients, and non-nutrients, and make it into something that’s more-or-less edible.
Animal food is meat and dairy—with meat including beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, venison, duck, and any other creature you may consume. Eggs are also animal. Vegetable is fruit, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts—anything you eat directly from the soil it was grown in without filtering it through an animal. Seaweed is also vegetable matter.
Cholesterol is only found in animal food. Your body also makes cholesterol from fat you eat, but only gets dietary cholesterol from animal sources.
Fiber is only found in vegetable foods. It is not found naturally in meat or dairy.
Carbohydrates are not found in significant quantities in any animal food except dairy. (Lactose is a sugar.)
Saturated fats are generally found in animal foods. Vegetable oils are either mono- or polyunsaturated fats, except for coconut and palm oil, which are saturated. Most oils have some saturated and some unsaturated, but the classification refers to the dominant type. Saturation refers to part of the chemical makeup. Trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, are vegetable oils that are altered to make them more saturated so they have a longer shelf life and are better for use in frying. Trans fat was common in snack foods, but is on its way out. Frito-Lay took it out of its products, and Nabisco has removed it from Oreos, which does not make Oreos health food. The ideal amount of trans fat to eat is none. It is not a real food.
There is very little vitamin C in animal products. So, if you were really able to eat a diet with no carbohydrate, you would get scurvy.
Related using the H&F.com Search:
Trans Fats Should Be Avoided
HEALTHandFITNESS.com 
