Need to Know Nutrition – Part 1

Posted on by Revive with Stephen Hall

The information here is the stuff everyone should know, no matter if you’re an elite athlete or an office worker. I believe that we should all have a basic understanding of nutrition, so we can be empowered to change our body in positive ways if so required.

Think of it this way, you wouldn’t put the wrong type of fuel into your car, or feed your pet just anything, so do yourself a favour and read the below, note it down and use it to make a healthier you.

Calorie Facts

  • A unit of measure; the amount of heat needed to raise 1g of water by 1 degrees C.
  • Researchers burn foods to see how much heat is given off, this gives a calorie content.
  • Each person burns a certain number of calories per day, this is made up of their basal metabolic rate (BMR- energy used to stay alive), activity level (exercise), non-exercise activity expenditure (NEAT- cleaning, cooking, waitressing etc.) and to a lesser degree the thermic effect of food (TEF- energy lost in digestion).
  • Energy expenditure is measured by the rate of oxygen consumption by our body or heat output.
  • The take home point is that everyone has a different caloric burn, there is no one size fits all.
  • There are energy equations that can be used to estimate your calorie burn, my personal favourite is the Harris Benedict.

Macronutrient Facts

Protein

  • 4 calories per gram.
  • Essential for growth and on-going repair, nitrogen balance, enzymes that catalyse innumerable chemical reactions, cell signalling and signal transaction.

Fat

  • 9 calories per gram.
  • Needed for hormone production, cholesterol formation, protect organs, supply vitamins (A,D,E,K) and gives the main energy source for the body at rest.
  • There are many types of fat including, saturated, poly-unsaturated, mono-unsaturated, trans-fats and omega fatty acids.
  • Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) are by name essential for the body, these include Omega 3 and 6. Generally people lack Omega 3, which is found predominantly in fatty fish.

Carbs

  • 4 calories per gram.
  • Non-Essential but it is the bodies preferred energy source, especially during stress and exercise. When glycogen levels get low in the body, cortisol levels rise.
  • Contains fibre which cannot be digested and thus helps to increase the bulk of intestinal contents, aiding digestion. Furthermore fibre provides energy for the intestinal absorptive cells, also they may absorb bile salts and potential carcinogenics in the diet.
  • Fibre is great, but you can have too much (currently it looks like 70g is the upper limit).

Alcohol

  • 7 calories per gram.
  • Cannot be stored by the body and is essentially a toxin.

The above are found in foods/drinks to varying degrees, and come together to give you an overall calorie intake. All as you can see have their own specific roles for our body to remain healthy (bar alcohol), long-term restriction of any one macronutrient can lead to a decrease of metabolic function.

Micronutrient Facts

Vitamins

  • Organic compounds obtained from food, required in small amounts for maintenance of normal metabolic function.
  • They are a dietary essential and cannot be synthesised by the body (Vitamin D and Niacin can be synthesised but not sufficiently so are included).

Minerals

  • Inorganic and found in foods, most who eat a mixed diet receive adequate amounts.
  • When intake is insufficient a deficiency may develop but when taken in excess may become toxic.
  • Provide a variety of roles including; maintenance of muscle contractility, response to hormones and neurotransmitters, metabolic regulation, maintenance of healthy bones and teeth, protection against free radicals, efficient reactions and hormone synthesis, oxygen transport and enzyme function.

Practical Application

So now you have an understanding of what a diet consists of, you may be a little unsure how best to approach eating. Well first off I want to say if you don’t have extreme goals in terms of physical appearance or sports performance it is best not to over think it, and just make sure you are eating a well rounded mainly whole-food diet with lots of colour and variety. However, for those of you specific goals or want to know more I have some simple/general guidelines in part 2!

Resources

  1. David A. Bender. Introduction to Nutrition and Metabolism. 2008
  2. Leigh Peele. Starve Mode. 2013
  3. Alan Aragon. AACUK. 2013