Know Your Nutrition
There is a lot of information to be covered when it comes to the topic of healthy eating, nutrition, label reading, meal prepping etc. I will try to keep this short and sweet while hitting some of the bigger points. There will be more information to follow that will be more detailed about specific topics. One of the most important things to understand about healthy eating would be reading your nutrition labels and understanding what you’re reading. There are a few things I look for when reading a product. The first major thing to look at on your label would be the macro content. But before getting into the label reading part we must define what a macronutrient is.
What is a Macronutrient?
The definition of a macronutrient is an essential nutrient that has a large minimal daily requirement including protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Water also has a large daily requirement for our bodies to work properly. Macronutrients provide our bodies with the fuel it needs to properly function. For example, our body needs protein to rebuild broken down muscle after a workout. So you might be asking yourself “How many grams of protein/carbs/or fat do I need to eat every day?” Depending on your health goals, these numbers will fluctuate. However, a good rule of thumb is this: carbohydrates should make up 45-65% of your diet, you should be consuming around 20-35% of fat each day, and roughly 10-35% of protein daily. All of these macros can be broken down further. There are many levels to nutrition and health information so this will be a quick introduction with multiple chapters to come.
Carbohydrates
Carbs will be broken down into a complex carb or a simple carb. Carbohydrates are made up of sugars, so a complex carb has a more “complex” chain of sugars at least 3 or more and also takes longer to digest, simple sugars are 2 or fewer sugars combined and are absorbed into your body almost immediately . Complex carbs are composed of a specific type of sugar called polysaccharides while simple carbs are composed of glucose, sucrose, galatcose, fructose, and or maltose to name a few. Not all sugar should be created equal but that can be for discussion another time. So when it comes time to eat a meal pick foods that are made up of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbs can be brown rice, whole grain bread, or even vegetables like spinach or kale. Since complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to absorb and digest this is a good indicator that a food is high or higher in fiber.
Fiber
Fiber is important to our diets for many reasons. One reason fiber is good is because it helps us stay satiated longer. A simple carb is something like white bread, taco shells, soda pop, candy, and even fruit juice. Fat can be broken down into good fats and bad fats to be explained in the simplest way. Good fats: cashews, avocado, coconut oil, bad fats: margarine, cheese, bacon just to name a few. Avoid or eat sparingly saturated fat and or trans-fat. Foods that are high in saturated fat and trans-fat play a role in cholesterol, moreover having high LDL (bad cholesterol) which can cause heart disease. It is still important to have fats in your diet because your body will breakdown the fat into energy. Lastly, we will breakdown protein.
Protein
Protein comes in many forms just like carbs and fats. Protein is made from amino acids, 20 to be exact. These amino acids aid the body in numerous tasks. Without protein and amino acids our bodies cannot function properly. Of the 20 amino acids there are 9 that are considered essential to us because our body is not able to formulate them. We must ingest different sources of protein in order to obtain all of the amino acids. Rule of thumb is to eat lean protein. Some examples of lean protein would be: boneless skinless chicken breast, ground turkey, quinoa, buckwheat, and tofu. The last thing I want to touch base on here is micronutrients. Micronutrients are the minerals and vitamins our bodies need. Although micronutrients are not as important as macros they still play an importance in a healthy lifestyle. Not consuming enough of some micronutrients can have major health consequences. This is particularly true for younger children and women.
