Monday, August 3, 2009

The Major Building Blocks Of Nutrition

By Roberto Riley

The typical individual can get quite perplexed when it comes to diet. 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 essential building blocks of all nutrition. We all require macronutrients to stay alive. There are people who may favor one of another of the macronutrients but a healthy, 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 fundamental explanation the total of heat energy vital to bring up the temperature of 1g of water 1 degree Celsius. While that is a rather puzzling description for most of us it is easier for us to just know that a calorie is just a measurement that we apply to conclude the energy content of food.

Due to this inconsistency of 5 additional calories per gram, it was believed 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 rationalization is not quite factual. The fat on our bodies is caused by a number of different factors including the eating too many calories altogether be they from fat, protein or carbohydrates.

Protein is important as it is the building block of all of the tissues in our bodies and it is fundamental to all of the processes within our cells. Protein is found in eggs, dairy products, meats and fish but there are also some excellent plant sources of protein including beans, legumes and especially soybeans.

Carbohydrates give the major source of energy for our bodies. Carbohydrates are transformed 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 continual energy while simple carbohydrates break down quickly and cause an energy rush followed by amplified hunger later on.

Fat has long been the most misaligned of the three macronutrients. However fat is fundamental for our bodies. There are bad fats and good fats. The bad fats are the saturated fats from animal products and the "fake" fats or the trans fats that are formed by hydrogenation. The good fats or the healthy fats are the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as those found in olive oil, peanut oil and canola oil and also the fat that is found in nuts and seeds, avocados, olives and the acai berry.

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.

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