diet
Diet and What are Macronutrients?
What are Macronutrients?
You hear the word ‘Macro’s’ get thrown around in the fitness, diet, health and wellbeing industry a lot, but what actually are they?
It actually means Macronutrients and it comprises of 3 parts, these are:
- Protein
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
Protein: This is all of our Meat Products (Beef, Chicken, Fish, Pork, Turkey, Bacon, Duck) and Eggs. For Vegetarians, it is Soy and Soy Products like Tofu and other meat substitute products.
Carbohydrates: This includes Fruit, Vegetables, and Grains. Grains meaning, bread, rice, pasta, cereals.
Fats: Nuts, Oils, Seeds, Avocado.
What do we get from each Macronutrient?
I see a lot of people try and cut out 1 of the macronutrients in order to achieve a body fat loss, but doing this is not beneficial. Our body needs all 3 Macronutrients to survive and thrive, cutting 1 out is depriving your body and mind of needed nutrients to function on a daily basis and not to mention maintaining a health percentage of body fat.
Protein: We need to eat a sufficient amount of protein for bodily functions and maintain a healthy lean body mass. Your body is made up of proteins, therefore you need to ensure an adequate intake throughout the course of the day. It is not healthy to cut out protein, nor is it healthy to eat too much or too little. Protein is to be consumed in a moderate amount, that is right for your body type, activity level and goals.
- Protein breaks down into the simplest form, amino acids.
Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are particularly Micronutrient-Dense (Vitamins and Minerals) particularly Green Leafy Vegetables. No matter what diet you follow, it is paramount you include a range of greens in your diet in order to ensure you have a consistent intake of vitamins and minerals. A large part of increasing our health and wellbeing is ensuring we have a regular intake of vitamins and minerals. Cutting out carbohydrates puts you at risk of being vitamin and mineral deficient.
- Carbs break down into their simplest form, glucose.
Fats: Every cell in our body has walls constructed from the fats we consume in our diet. Even more reason to ensure you’re eating clean nutritious foods. Our Brain is made up of over 50% fat…oh yeah and every wall of every single cell in our body is made from cholesterol. If you’re afraid of saturated fat, I urge you to research this topic yourself and get a well rounded knowledge on this area. Are all saturated fats bad?
- Fats break down into their simplest form, fatty acids.
Our body needs all 3 Macronutrients to survive and thrive and balance blood sugar levels.
Creating and maintaining a healthy diet consists of a moderate amount of all your macronutrients in every meal that you eat. Not too much and not too little of either. This is how to feel satiated after your meals, reduce and eliminate cravings. This is to prevent having any micronutrient deficiencies. When you get your macronutrient ratio right for you, the health gains are through the roof.
3 things affect how you are going to feel after a meal:
- Food Types
- Food Amounts
- Meal Timing
The above needs to be discussed in a separate blog post, but remember this when you are going to make a change in your diet and losing weight. You need to ensure the above 3 points are being addressed and adapted to your body type, lifestyle, metabolism, and goals.
Many are so focused on weight loss that they end up reducing bone density and muscle mass. These are 2 things that you don’t want to reduce. A healthy body weight, body fat and overall body composition is more important than a goal of purely weight loss.
Rather than focusing on body parts only, it’s important to place importance on the total body with a healthy essential body fat and subcutaneous fat to maintain overall health.
There are different ways to measure body fat by either a Bioelectric Impedance Analysis, a Dexa or Inbody Scan.
Macronutrients vs Micronutrients
As discussed you now understand what your macronutrients are. Now for the Micronutrients.
Micronutrients is what many people forget about and are probably the most important as it’s the little things that count right?
There are your Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants. Your levels of these in your body will determine if your in a good state of health which can be shown by blood testing.
Your health and wellbeing is determined in a large part to do with your micronutrient intake. Green Vegetables and Green Leafy Vegetable are particularly micronutrient dense foods, but only have small amounts of carbohydrates. These foods have the essential micronutrients we need. We should really call them super greens.
It is important to have something green in at least 2 out of your 3 meals a day for a healthy dietary intake. Research has shown green vegetables are vital greens to help prevent heart disease and a wide array of diseases and illnesses. You don’t need large amounts but consistency is key here, especially to help lower blood pressure if needed.
Consume greens every day and if you don’t have time to eat your greens, have you thought about drinking them? Check out this article here.
Share your experience with changes in your diet, I would love to hear!
Eat, Think & Live Clean.
Kind Regards
Adam Phillips – Founder of Life Grip
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Our focus goes into the products we pro- duce in order to increase your quality of life. While other companies are focused on glamour, fashion and fitness models, we’ll still be here creating the cleanest supplements on the market.
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