The Crucial Macronutrients Of Diet
Nutrition can be a perplexing subject for the common person. Of course we have all heard about vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and fiber, complex carbohydrates and sugars but how does it all fit together?
The indispensable building blocks of nutrition are the macronutrients. We all require a particular amount of macronutrients to survive. While there are people who concentrate on one macronutrient over another the healthiest diets contain a good balance of all three macronutrients.
The macronutrients are fat, protein and carbohydrates. They provide the calories our bodies need to survive. Carbohydrates and protein provide 4 calories per gram while fat provides 9 calories per gram. A calories is the measurement of the energy content of food and it is essentially the total of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1g of water 1 degree Celsius.
Because fat has more calories per gram than protein and carbohydrates it was long supposed that it must be the culprit behind the fat on our bodies. However, this rationalization proved to be way too simplistic. Fat on our bodies is caused by a number of different factors including eating too many total calories whether they are from fat or from protein and carbohydrates.
Protein is the building blocks of the tissues in our bodies and it is important to all of the processes within our cells. Protein can be found in animal tissue, dairy products and eggs but also vegan sources such a beans, legumes and especially soybeans.
Carbohydrates grant the key source of energy for our bodies. Carbohydrates are changed into sugar in our bloodstreams which provides the energy we need to function. There are simple carbohydrates, such as pastries and candy, white sugar and white flour products and complex carbohydrates, which are the whole grains and vegetables. Complex carbohydrates are superior to simple carbohydrates in that they break down slowly and provide us with continued energy while simple carbohydrates break down quickly and cause an energy rush followed by greater than before hunger later on.
Fat was long misaligned as being bad for our health but that is not totally accurate. The saturated fats and trans fats are unhelpful to our bodies but there are also essential fats that we need to preserve good health. Those would include the monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oil, peanut oil and canola oil and the fats found in nuts and seeds, avocados, olives and the acai berry. The bad fats are the saturated fats such as the fat found in animal products and the “fake” fats or trans fats that are produced by hydrogenation.
Macronutrients are the most important construction blocks of all diet and the micronutrients, such as the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber are all found within the macronutrients.
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