Earlier we looked at the amount of calories your body will need, on average, on a daily basis, based on your goals, body weight, and activity level. The next step is to understand where your body needs to get those calories from as it makes a difference if you consume you total daily need of calories by eating loads of candy or by eating well-balanced meals. On a high level calories can come from 3 sources, also called macronutrients, namely: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
This article is part of a series of articles. Make sure to read the complete series to completely understand the content.
This article is part of a series of articles. Make sure to read the complete series to completely understand the content.
Since each of the three macronutrients has a different effect on your body, and is used by your body in different ways, it is important to find out which amounts your body needs. When you understand the possible effects of a shortage or excess of any of these macronutrients on your functioning you can balance your diet in such a way that you not only reach your goals with the minimal amount of effort but you will still feel great during the day with high levels of energy. A shortage or excess is here defined as a deviation from the total needed amount of macronutrients given your goals and body weight, not a percentage shortage or excess compared to the other macronutrients you consume.
Proteins
The first group of macronutrients is proteins. Proteins consist of amino acids and are the building blocks of your body. Every muscle in your body is made out of proteins. Without proteins your body will be unable to repair itself: when you cut yourself on something sharp your body will require proteins to repair the damage. Or when you have a great workout and your muscles need to recover it will need proteins to do this. Proteins are even so important for your body that it will do anything it can to have an adequate supply of them. This goes even so far that when you finish training and your body lacks the necessary amount of proteins to recover the exhausted muscles it will go to the only supply available: other muscles. It will break down some of your current muscles to help recover your exhausted muscles. As you can imagine the effect of this on your body will be that no matter how hard and how often you train, you will not increase your muscle strengths, muscle density, or total muscle mass.
As mentioned earlier every muscle of your body is made out of proteins and the same goes for the muscles of animals. Poultry, meat, and seafood are therefore great sources of protein. About 20% of the weight of these products consists of protein. Also dairy products are an often chosen source of proteins: milk, cheese, yoghurt, and eggs are great sources of protein. Finally proteins can also be found in vegetables, but the content of proteins per 100 grams of vegetables is often very low meaning you will need to eat large amounts to reach a substantial amount of proteins from vegetables. Vegetables that contain proteins are nuts and seeds, grains, and beans. Especially soy beans are often used as a source of protein in the form of soy milk or soy tofu.
Besides the amount of protein per 100 grams of product also the quality of the protein can differ per product. For proteins to be useful for your body they should contain certain amino acids: the essential amino acids. A lack of non-essential amino acids can be solved by your body by converting other amino acids into these acids but it is impossible for your body to produce essential amino acids by itself. In general we can state that proteins coming from meats, seafood, poultry, milk, yoghurt, and eggs contain these essential amino acids while proteins from vegetables do not. It is therefore recommended to combine eating proteins from vegetables with eating proteins from animals to make sure your body can make use of these macronutrients.
Next we will take a look at one of the most misunderstood macronutrients: fats.
This article is part of a series of articles:
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment