Nutrition can be quite perplexing. There are the vitamins and antioxidants, the minerals and the fiber, the complex carbohydrates and the sugar but how do they all fit concurrently?
The macronutrients of protein, fat and carbohydrates are the central building blocks of all nutrition. We all require macronutrients to survive. There are people who may favor one of another of the macronutrients but a wholesome, balanced diet has a good mix of all three.
The macronutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Protein and carbohydrates both provide 4 calories per gram, while the more dense fat contains 9 calories per gram. A calorie is at its most key explanation the total of heat energy mandatory to bring up the temperature of 1g of water 1 degree Celsius. While that is a somewhat baffling description for most of us it is easier for us to just know that a calorie is just a measurement that we use to resolve the energy content of food.
Due to this incongruity of 5 additional calories per gram, it was thought for a few years that the fat in our diet was the main cause of the fat on our bodies. It has since been demonstrated that this all too easy account is not quite true. The fat on our bodies is caused by a number of distinctive factors including the consumption of too many calories in total be they from fat, protein or carbohydrates.
Protein is basic as it is the building block of all of the tissues in our bodies and it is indispensable to all of the processes within our cells. Protein is found in eggs, dairy products, meats and fish but there are also some outstanding plant sources of protein including beans, legumes and especially soybeans.
Carbohydrates are the most important energy source of our bodies. A simplistic clarification of carbohydrates is that they change to sugar in our bodies, which in turn provides the energy that we need. Carbohydrates can be further broken down into simple carbohydrates, which include sugar, candy, white flour and more and complex carbohydrates, which include whole grains and vegetables. Simple carbohydrates break down in our bodies at a very swift level, causing energy swings and increased hunger while complex carbohydrates break down slowly which gives us continued longer-term energy.
Fat may be one of the most historically misunderstood of the macronutrients. Fat is undeniably fundamental to our bodies but there are good fats and bad fats. Good fats are the mono and polyunsaturated fats found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil and nuts and seeds, avocados and the acai berry. Bad fats are the “fake” fats created from hydrogenation and the saturated fats found in animal products.
The macronutrients provide the building blocks of all nutrition and the micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are all found within one of these three.
