Let’s face it, nutrition can be boring. Even nutritionists will agree. Fortunately, you don’t need to go to school to understand how food works in your body! Nutrients are broken down into two categories – macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are food like protein, fat, and carbohydrates which end up supplying calories to your body.
Calories are a measurement of the energy produced from food. In order for calories to be measured, food is burned to calculate the amount of heat each type of food gives off. If you’ve ever walked on a treadmill or rode an exercise bike that shows the amount of calories you’ve burned, you’ve seen how those macronutrient calories can burn quickly when you are working hard on those machines.
Micronutrients are food components like vitamins and minerals that supply no calories, but help in the release of energy from food. They are the “spark” that helps ignite the burning of the calories.
Different nutrients such as proteins, work to keep your body balanced and healthy. Protein is a macronutrient which is needed for growth and repair of tissues. The normal person needs 40 to 100 grams of protein per day. Each gram of protein contains 4 calories. Typical high protein foods would be meat, fish, cheese, nuts and legumes.
Not all proteins contain the same number of calories. This is because the fat and water content are different in each food. You should also be careful about where you get your sources of protein. For instance, you can get a high dose of protein from your favorite cheese, but along with that, you get a lot of saturated fat. This is the kind of fat that contributes to heart disease and other problems. Because of this you should focus on eating healthier, lower-calorie sources such as seafood and legumes like peas, beans, and lentils.
Carbohydrates provide about half of your body’s energy needs when you’re at rest or doing low-level activity. Carbohydrates are thought of as the “energy” nutrient because your body breaks them down very quickly. The average person needs about 60 to 360 grams of carbohydrate per day. That’s roughly about 2 to 13 grams daily. Sources of carbohydrates can include rice, spaghetti, popcorn, potatoes, and cookies.
Now, all carbohydrates are not the same. There are complex and simple carbohydrates. For instance, table sugar, syrup, honey and sugar in fruits are all simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates include vegetables such as corn and potatoes and also grain products such as bread, pasta and cereals.
Within the complex carbohydrates there is even more of a distinction. Refined grain products such as white rice and white breads often lose their potency because of processing. While these foods are being made to look great, they lose a lot of their many nutrients. So try to avoid these foods if possible. There are many other foods you can eat for a great source of carbohydrate.
Every gram of fat carries 9 calories. If you compare that with the calorie content of carbohydrates or protein, you can see where fat can get you into trouble. If you eat 1 gram of fat – any kind of vegetable oil or animal fat, you are getting more than twice the calories as you do when eating 1 gram of carbohydrate or protein.
The “good” or unsaturated fats are those that usually come from plants. They contain the essential fatty acids needed for good health. Studies have shown that unsaturated fats help lower blood levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL’s) which is the bad cholesterol that contributes to artery-clogging plaque. This plaque clings to blood vessels and helps bring about heart disease.
Good sources of unsaturated fats are soy oil, olive oil, and all other nut and seed oils. Fish oil (especially the kind that comes from cold water fish), is among the most beneficial. Another good fat for preventing health problems is flaxseed oil. This is the highest natural source of omega-3 fatty acids.
The “bad,” or saturated fats are usually related to animals, except for fish, which again is full of the omega-3 fatty acids. Bad fats raise the levels of LDL cholesterol and can even increase the risk of certain cancers. Chicken fat, beef fat, lard, butterfat, and fat found in eggs are good examples of the “bad” saturated fats.
Another type of “bad” fat is trans-fat. This kind of fat is found in many margarines, solid shortenings, and some fried foods. It’s formed when liquid oils are hydrogenated or hardened, or when they are heated to a high temperature. You want to avoid these kinds of fats as much as possible.
Always remember that all fats, whether “good” or “bad,” are full of calories – 9 per gram. That’s approximately 120 calories per tablespoon of any kind of oil. So even if it’s called “good” fat, you can still get too much of a good thing as with nuts. At 900 calories per cup, eating nuts can cause you to gain a lot of weight.
It’s important to be aware of what you are eating and how much of it, even if you aren’t trying to drop weight. By eating the wrong kinds of foods or not enough of good foods, you can put yourself at risk for many health problems down the road.