Nutrients and Their Types

An Aside: Why start here?

Nutrition and diet is usually the area where most people fall flat when it comes to achieving their body transformation goals. It is not as widely understood as training in the gym, and in some ways is much more difficult. However, it is at least as important, if not moreso.

For this reason, we start with the importance of nutrition.

Calories

All food is made up of calories - energy. When we eat food, our bodies break it down into energy which is used for all of our daily processes and activities. Foods provide calories as well as nutrients (simply put, substances used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce).

Basal Metabolic Rate

Our bodies need a certain amount of calories to function. In fact, to carry out processes such as walking around, digesting food, thinking, breathing etc, it burns calories. In fact, while at complete rest (not moving, doing anything strenuous or digesting food), our bodies burn calories at a rate known as the basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is the caloric requirement required to sustain your body - equivalent to how much fuel a car uses while idling.

In fact, another figure, known as our maintenance calories, is simply the net calories our body uses up in a day - equal to our BMR + the energy we use doing whatever tasks we do in a single day. The BMR is usually the largest component of a person’s caloric needs. In fact, when someone says they have a ‘high metabolism’ (which may or may not be true), they often mean to say that they have a high BMR, which allows them to eat more food than others as their body burns more calories.

Macronutrients

In any food, we gain our energy (calories) from any of the three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fats. Macronutrients are the ‘big 3’ of our diet - we require them in large amounts as they provide us with energy. The caloric content of any food is usually due to the macronutrients it contains.

Protein

1g of protein = 4 calories

Protein is the macronutrient that will be most important to us. Protein is used in the body to build and maintain our skin, our bones and our muscles! Proteins are made of amino acids (organic compounds), and there are 20 different amino acids your body needs. 11 of these are produced by the body - these are known as nonessential amino acids. Essential amino acids, however, need to be derived from our diet. There are two types of proteins:

• Complete proteins contain all 9 essential amino acids, and are found in things like meats, eggs, dairy and whey.
• Incomplete proteins may only contain a few of these amino acids, or a significant deficit of any of the essential amino acids, and are found in many plants and nuts. Getting your protein primarily or wholly from incomplete proteins may lead to adverse health effects which usually come with a protein deficiency.

Fats

1g of fat = 4 calories

Fats are used to help your body absorb vitamins, as well as producing and regulating your hormones. Fats can be either ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ - typically this is due to them either being saturated or unsaturated. Saturated fats basically are just worse for you and put you at risk of heart disease, stroke etc (for more info go here), while unsaturated fats don’t have as much of an adverse effect. There are four, further types of fats:

• Monounsaturated fats are a ‘healthy’ fat. They are usually found in olive oil, canola oil, nuts and nut butters, and avocados.
• Polyunsaturated fats are another ‘healthy’ fat. They are usually found in fatty fish, seeds and nuts.
• Saturated fats are an ‘unhealthy’ fat. They are usually found in fatty meats, butter, cheese, snacks - just think typically ‘unhealthy’ foods.
• Trans fats are also an ‘unhealthy’ fat. They are usually found in hydrogenated (chemically altered) vegetable oils, although these are quite uncommon these days.

Carbs

1g of carbs = 9 calories

Carbohydrates (‘carbs’) are, technically, sugar molecules. In our case, a carbohydrate’s main purpose is simply to provide us with energy. There are two types of carbs: ‘simple’ and ‘complex’:

• Simple carbs are easier to break down and quicker to digest due to their basic structure, and provide a ‘faster-acting’, albeit smaller, source of energy. They are usually found in fruits, and sugary products.
• Complex carbs are more ‘complex’, and thus take longer to digest in the body. However, they usually provide a longer-lasting source of energy. They are found in rice, grains, bread, and starchy vegetables like potatoes.

Micronutrients

Micronutrients are found in things such as vitamins and minerals, and regulate processes such as immune function, blood clotting and bone health. They do not contain any calories, and so don't provide your body with any energy. You can think of a diet rich in micronutrients as being optimal for your general health.

Summary