The Vital Building Blocks Of Diet
The regular person can get quite puzzled when it comes to food. We have all hear about vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates and sugars, antioxidants and fiber but how do they all fit together?
The macronutrients of protein, fat and carbohydrates are the central building blocks of all nutrition. We all require macronutrients to continue to exist. 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 fat, protein and carbohydrates. They provide the calories our bodies need to live on. Carbohydrates and protein provide 4 calories per gram while fat provides 9 calories per gram. A calories is the measurement of the energy contents of food and it is in essence the sum of heat energy vital 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 assumed that it must be the culprit behind the fat on our bodies. However, this justification proved to be way too simplistic. Fat on our bodies is caused by a number of diverse factors including eating too many total calories whether they are from fat or from protein and carbohydrates.
Protein is the most important of the three macronutrients because it is the building block of all of the tissues in our bodies. Protein can be found in meat and fish, dairy products and eggs and some excellent vegetarian sources such as beans and legumes and soybeans.
The major supply of energy for our bodies comes from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates switch to sugar in our bloodstreams, which is turn provides the energy that we need. Carbohydrates can be further broken down into simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates contain white sugar, white flour, candy, pastries and more. Complex carbohydrates include the whole grains and vegetables. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly in our bodies and give us continual energy while simple carbohydrates switch quickly to sugar causing sugar rushes and increased hunger later on.
Fat may be one of the most historically misunderstood of the macronutrients. Fat is certainly important 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 formed from hydrogenation and the saturated fats found in animal products.
Macronutrients are the core construction blocks of all nutrition and the micronutrients, such as the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber are all found within the macronutrients.