Jigsaw Puzzle Analogy

At a practical level, if you eat more than just a couple foods a day, multiple times a day, trying to track every micronutrient particle would leave us no time for anything else. So, we generally look at food groups as a way to organize dietary advice. More on that soon. While scientists were busy uncovering nutrient requirements, our food supply exploded in scale and scope to vastly change the numbers of different food products available in our markets and superstores. In fact, our food supply changed so dramatically that we are more likely to be concerned with over-consumption than under-consumption of many nutrients. The implications of these changes mean that rather than worry too much about getting specific amounts of nutrients, we are now learning that it may be much more significant to consider our dietary patterns of eating rather than focus on avoiding deficiencies.

I call this the Jigsaw Puzzle analogy: imagine that before you prepare and consume a meal, you have to assemble a jigsaw puzzle in which each piece of the puzzle represents a different nutrient required for health. With the six macronutrients and over 80 micronutrients, your puzzle has a minimum of 100 pieces. How long will it take you?

Compare that with one where you are putting together using food groups..

Which one is easier to manage?