A big question I hear when talking about nutrition is ?Why should I care about what I eat?? I reply by saying that your body is the most detailed machine on the planet and needs to be given the correct fuel to function properly. By eating the right fuel to function you will give your body vital fuel. Just like a car no fuel no miles covered.

What you need to know about:

PROTEIN

It is less a case of fuelling your exercise and providing energy, but it is more of a case of building and repairing muscle tissues after exercise or activity. Many believe that protein is only vital for individuals who wish to build muscle, but recent research and findings show protein is as important for fat loss and energy metabolism. Protein contains 20 amino acids, 11 being non-essential meaning the body can produce them it's self and 9 essential amino acids which means these 9 can only be provided from consumption of correct foods. Essential amino acids can be classed as complete proteins and are found in foods such as eggs, meat and fish. Non-essential amino acids are found in plant proteins such as nuts and grains; these are known as in-complete proteins. Protein makes up 20% of your body weight. Protein is used by your bodies to repair tissues, forming enzymes and hormones and moving nutrients around the body. We need to eat protein with every meal as if we are not consuming enough our bodies will use stored protein as glucose and therefore promote the wasting of muscle, also protein burns a greater number of calories to digest than carbohydrate and fat.

CARBOHYDRATE

This is the bodies main source of energy, carbs provide more energy than proteins and fats. Many of us feel that carbs are bad and should be avoided as they make us fat, without carbs we would struggle to get out of bed let alone exercise. There are two types of carbohydrate: simple and complex. Simple carbs are considered to be sugars with can be found in fruits, veg and honey. Simple carbs provide instant energy and are broken down quickly. So when training simple carbs are good as they will give you a quick energy rush. Complex carbs are found in foods such as wholegrains and breads; this type of carb is broken down quickly into glucose and used as energy. Both type of carbs are important as they provide us with energy, any glucose not used is stored as glycogen and used during heavy and demanding bouts of exercise. Eating carbs and not exercising is when fat gain becomes a problem as unused glucose is stored as fat. My advice is to consume large amount of carbs in the morning to provide energy for a good start to the day and as the day goes on consume lower amounts of carbs as you won't need as much energy unless you have a heavy bout of exercise the next day

FATS

Now this is the nutrient that everyone thinks is a complete nasty, if we have a good think about fat we need it to survive. Not all fats are bad some are essential to us. One plus side of fat is that it provides us with energy. Fats come in two forms saturated which are solid at room temperature and unsaturated which are liquid at room temperature. Unsaturated fats can be known as monounsaturated or polyunsaturated theses fats are known as GOOD fats as our bodies produce good cholesterol when eaten. Saturated fats are known as BAD fats as they produce harmful cholesterol when digested. The other BAD fat that many of us consume even me is known as Trans fat which is found in cakes, biscuits, and pasties all the nice comfort foods that we enjoy so much with a cuppa. One vital role that fat has is to transport vitamins A, D, E and K through the body like anything if we consume too much our bodies with store it as fat to be used at a later date.

I hope I have given you an insight into macronutrients that our bodies need to function in everyday life. The important message to take home is not to avoid carbohydrate, protein or fats as they all play an important role in our function but to consume them the right balance with every meal.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dan Thompson