Right then, lets dive straight in.....

 

Macronutrients

This fancy word refers to the 3 large constituents of most food types:

Fat
Protein
Carbohydrate

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When putting together a meal it is important to note that the constituent parts and their ratio will have a significant impact on long term health and body fat.

 

For years the experts and governments have been recommending a high carbohydrate diet for the average person.

 

Great if you are an endurance athlete; not so clever if you form part of the largely sedentary population the guidelines were aimed at. 

A much better guideline is to firstly eat for health and secondly to eat for fuelling and refuelling before and after your training session.

 

The body does not store protein so ideally one of the biggest changes you can make is to ditch the cereal and go for a high protein diet.

 

If you turn on the hob at 6am to cook up a steak it does not matter what people think. There is no rule that says "thou shalt have cereal, jam on toast and orange juice" for brekkie.

 

Your desire to do what is right for your health must always silence any opinion contrary to it.

 

A great combination is fish and eggs (poached), a steak with some veg, and so on. The important part is to work out the ratio of macros so you have a rough idea of your daily total.

 

For example, if you are unaware that a large percentage of your daily calories come from carbs it is likely this will increase body fat over time if not addressed. 

Fats have often been seen in a negative light as our language has let us down and many people literally believe that eating fat makes you fat.

 

This explains the rise and almost domination of out supermarket shelves with low fat products.

 

While they may be low fat, they also have about as many extras, additives, flavourings and colourings as a day pass to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and are far from the healthy alternative they are claimed to be.

 

When you understand that some of the highest fat percentages in diets lead to some of the healthiest people with little, or no, life threatening disease it soon becomes apparent that for the most part we have thrown wholesome food out of the window and let the corporations poison us slowly.

 

Over-reacting? Not at all. You cannot put a price on your health, but unfortunately greed and power have already done it and advise that it is good for you.

When planning your meals it is essential to know the calorific make up of your food. The following shows the calories per macronutrient –

Fat - 9
Protein - 4
Carbohydrate - 4

As you can see, fat has more than double the calories of the other 2 and is a great way of meeting your calorie count without going overboard on carbs if you are not an endurance athlete, or hardcore gym goer.

 

The avoidance of fat is based on the cholesterol myth and the belief that fat causes heart disease in some way.

 

The experiment leading to this conclusion is extremely controversial as a rabbit was fed meat and died. When investigated, the arteries were full of cholesterol and so one of the greatest shows on earth began.

 

Rabbits are vegetarian and eat grass – stuffing them full of meat is probably not data you can extrapolate (posh word) to the wider population with any reliability, but they did and many of us believed it because we are suckers.

So we need to give fat back some credibility and here we go –

Fat is essential for 

• Normal growth and development
• Energy (fat is the most concentrated source of energy)
• Absorbing certain vitamins ( like vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids)
• Providing cushioning for the organs
• Maintaining cell membranes
• Providing taste, consistency, and stability to foods

As you can see, the inclusion of fat in the diet is essential. The thing to watch out for is trans fat such as vegetable oil and removing them fast.

Carbohydrate also has its place as you will see –

Carbohydrates are essential for

• The body’s main source of fuel.
• Easily used by the body for energy.
• All of the tissues and cells in our body can use glucose for energy.
• Helping the central nervous system, the kidneys, the brain, the muscles (including the heart) to function properly.
• Energy as it can be stored in the muscles and liver and later used.
• Intestinal health and waste elimination.
• They are mainly found in starchy foods (like grain and potatoes), fruits, milk, and yoghurt. Other foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and cottage cheese contain carbohydrates, but in lesser amounts.

Protein will be your new best friend if you are working out and wanting to gain some muscle for the following reasons.

Protein is essential for 

• Growth (especially important for children, teens, and pregnant women)
• Tissue repair
• Immune function
• Making essential hormones and enzymes
• Energy when carbohydrate is not available
• Preserving lean muscle mass

I'm not saying you need to spend every day trying to work out the perfect percentages

 

As a ball-park it is a pretty good start to aim for a straight split of equal amounts and then see where you are after the first few weeks in terms of weight, emotions, energy and adjust as required.

 

If you have been living on a 70% carb diet for the last 4 years then you really have bigger things to worry about than not having your macros perfect according to the latest journal entry to appear and get a few hand claps.

 

I am far from dismissing science, but many experts seldom move forwards without an armful of references, or until everything is researched and perfect, and by this time you could already have found out what works for you.

 

We are not talking getting a drug dose wrong that could kill you.

 

We are talking the right balance of food to fuel, energise and keep you ticking and this will vary for every person.

 

It will also vary considerably if you consider many people have underlying health issues that will affect digestion and the ultimate use of those calories eaten. While you may have eaten 3000 calories – you certainly may not be using them all efficiently.

As an example – type macronutrients in Google then go to images.

 

I bet you almost every pie chart is completely different and ranges are as far apart as 20%-30% in some instances.

Bottom line: Don't sweat the small stuff, seriously. Focus on eating healthier nutritious foods 80% of the time consistently. Simples!!!