Diet has to be the most important facet to obtaining your fitness goals. Whether looking to bulk up, lean up or just overall live a healthier life diet is the biggest facet that must be taken into consideration in order to achieve what you want. Understanding the key macro-nutrients is the most important first step to any diet.
Calories
A calorie is a measure of energy. When your body ingests food it converts it into energy for everyday tasks such as breathing, walking and all around living. Not to mention the excess calories you burn off when strenuous exercise is undertaken! The average adult burns around 2000 calories a day by simply living. You must look at calories depending on your goals. For example, if you eat 1500 calories, your body will be in a deficit and burn fat for energy. The opposite will occur if you eat more it is not this simple however and the most attention must be paid to the type of calories you ingest. 1000 calories per day of chocolate and nothing else will not lead to a healthier lifestyle! However, when exercising, lifting weights etc. your body will be able to ingest more calories and still be in a deficit. This is why when looking to bulk you must eat for a surplus!
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are one of the 3 key macro-nutrients, and contain around 4 calories per gram. Carbohydrates are turned into glycogen in the blood and utilised as the bodies first preference for energy. This is why they are extremely important for your body to function properly. However, simple sugars will turn into glycogen quickly in your body and if not burnt quickly will turn to fat. This is why low glycemic carbs such as brown rice, oats or sweet potato are essential when looking to have long lasting energy as they break down slower in the body and give you a long lasting supply of glycogen.
Protein
Protein is another one of the key macro-nutrients and forms the building blocks for our bodies. We are actually made up of proteins and this makes it essential to ensure we get enough through our diets. They also contain 4 calories per gram and are found in foods such as chicken, beef, lamb and fish. Adequate attention must be payed to the amount and type of protein we get through our diets and this will be discussed in future blogs.
Fat
Fat is probably the most unfairly scrutinised macro-nutrient! You will always see new products claiming to be low-fat yet contain a significant sugar increase from the full fat version. Fat is simply another nutrient for our bodies just like protein or carbohydrates. It is simply the fact that fat contains 8 calories per gram which gives it the bad name. It is simply important to avoid saturated and trans fats found in fast food and to ingest good, unsaturated fats found in nuts, fish, beans, lean meats and many other foods! these assist in the lubrication of joints and many other tasks which help avoid many problems later in life
. In fact, eating too little fat can actually cause a number of health problems. So, try not to think of fat as your mortal diet enemy, but rather a helpful counterpart in the pursuit of your healthier lifestyle!
Overall, controlling the macro-nutrients above and manipulating them to your advantage will be the greatest asset to achieving your fitness goals and I will show you how to do this in future weeks!
James Hallab
