Without taking much notice, food plays a huge part in our everyday lives. Eating is a norm in almost all occasions — whether its in celebration or frustration. You have a buffet ready for birthdays and holidays. You get dinner and drinks during social gatherings. And on stressful days, many of us reach out to our comfort foods to make us feel better. But amidst this, we forget the basics of food and what it actually gives us. This type of eating culture has led many people tipping the scales and become unhealthy.
The primary purpose of food is to give us nourishment. The nutrients we get from food fuel our everyday bodily activities and promote organ functions. Are you interested to know more about the basics of nutrition? This article gives you a cheat sheet on all the facts and information! Read on to learn more about nutrition, nutrients, and the best food sources for a good diet!
What You Need To Know
- Nutrition is the field of science that focuses on your diet and how your body metabolizes it. Every food has an array of nutrients that give you energy and makes your body function properly.
- You get the energy to fuel everyday activities from the food you eat in the form of calories. You can obtain these from macronutrients, which are the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
- To maintain normal body processes, your body needs micronutrients — the vitamins and minerals. They support many metabolic processes in your body.
- Water is just as important as food. They aid digestion, absorption, circulation, and secretion of the different nutrients.
- To achieve a healthier and more sustainable diet. follow the principles of healthy eating: adequacy, moderation, variety, and balance.
What Is Nutrition?
Nutrition is the science of food and the nutrients and other substances they contain. It looks into how a diet affects health, and the restrictions it imposes on people with certain diseases. In a broader perspective, nutrition also includes the social, economic, cultural, and psychological implications of food and eating.
The food we consume contains nutrients that sustain our body. They provide us with energy and promote growth and maintenance. They also help in regulating body processes like your heart rate, digestion, respiratory function, and other supporting mechanisms to achieve optimum health.
Nutrition puts primary focus on your diet. For people who have been losing weight, the word “diet” may simply mean the restriction for certain foods. But in actuality, a diet is composed of the food and beverages you eat on a normal basis — regardless of whether it’s healthy or not.
Calorie and Energy Balance
The energy that your body needs and the ones we get from food are measured in units of heat or energy called kilocalories. In the field of nutrition, it is determined by burning a portion of food in a bomb calorimeter in order to know how much heat or energy it produces. One kilocalorie is equivalent to the energy used to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water to 1 degree Celsius. Nowadays, kilocalories are more commonly known as just Calories (note the capital C!).
The number of calories you require in a day depends on various factors which include:
- Your basal metabolism – the energy your body needs to maintain daily function.
- Your physical activity – the energy your body burns while being active.
- The thermic effect of food – the energy needed to digest and absorb food.
On average, women need around 2000 kilocalories while men require about 2500 calories per day. This value changes depending on the person’s age, weight, height, and physical activity levels.
Nutrients
Nutrients are substances that provide nourishment essential for the maintenance of life and growth. There are about 50 nutrients that are classified into two major groups. The macronutrients are those that are required in large amounts in the diet. These are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. On the other hand, micronutrients are chemical elements or substances required only in trace amounts. Included in this category are your vitamins and minerals.
Every nutrient performs a different function in the body. More often than not, each food can provide a combination of many nutrients. For instance, bread primarily has carbohydrates, but may also contain B vitamins and other minerals.
Macronutrients
Carbohydrates
The prime function of carbohydrates is to give energy to the body. It is a large class of nutrients encompassing sugars, starches, and fibers. You might be familiar with the refined forms of sugar like table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. But, it can also be found in natural foods like fruits, vegetables, and milk. Starches can be found in bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, beans, and potatoes.
Although it basically can’t be digested by the body, fiber is another class of carbohydrate. They perform a special role in improving digestive and heart health. Fiber can be sourced from legumes (dried beans and peas), fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods.
One gram of carbohydrates is equal to 4 kilocalories. Typically, a healthy day to day diet consists of 45-65% carbohydrates. If you eat a 2000-calorie diet, this would translate to about 225 to 325 grams of carbohydrates.
Best Carbohydrate Sources:
- Whole grains like oats, quinoa, brown rice, and whole-wheat
- Tubers like sweet potatoes and potatoes
- All kinds of vegetables
- Whole fruits like apples, strawberries, and bananas
- Legumes like kidney beans, peas, and lentils
- Nuts like almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and peanuts
- Seeds like chia seeds and pumpkin seeds
Avoid or Eat These Carbohydrate Sources in Moderation:
- Sugary drinks like sodas and energy drinks
- Refined bread
- Pastries, cookies, and cakes
- Ice cream
- Chocolates and candies
- French fries and chips
Proteins
More than building your muscles, protein is important to regulate various body processes. Proteins are the main structural component of all the cells in the body: building tissues like collagen, hormones like insulin, carriers like hemoglobin, and enzymes like amylase. The smallest units of proteins are called amino acids, which can be combined to perform different activities.
There are over 20 different amino acids, 9 of which are essential as the body can’t synthesize them. This include histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine
There are different kinds of proteins according to their amino acids contents:
- Complete proteins – these types of proteins contain all the amino acids. Animal proteins like meat, dairy, and eggs.
- Incomplete proteins – they contain at least one essential amino acids. Plant-based proteins found in peas, beans, and grains are considered to be incomplete
- Complementary proteins – Complementary proteins supply missing amino acids and is combined with other foods to achieve a complete protein. Combinations of such include rice and beans or bread and peanut butter.
Like carbohydrates, a gram of protein also consists of 4 kilocalories. Since it’s not the main energy source, a good diet contains only about 15% protein. In a 2000 kilocalorie diet, your diet should include about 75 grams of protein in a day.
Best Sources of Protein:
- Lean meats like poultry and fish
- Eggs
- Dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt
- Seeds and nuts
- Beans and legumes (like lentils or chickpeas)
- Soy products like tofu
- Some whole-grains and cereals
Avoid or Eat These Protein Sources in Moderation:
- High-fat meat cuts from beef or pork
- Processed meat products high in sodium
- Fried meat products
Fats
Many people consider fat as unhealthy. However, eating the right amount and type fat in your diet is still important to maintain good health. Lipids are made up of fatty substances called triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols. Their main function is to provide long-term energy sources. It also helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D, E, and K), keeps the hair and skin health, insulates the body, and protect your internal organs.
There are many kinds of fat — some of them are good while some are considered unhealthy. Unsaturated fats are deemed to be healthier as they have heart-protective functions. These include:
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Monounsaturated (MUFA) fats
They are the fats that are not saturated with hydrogen molecules and contain a single bond of carbon. At room temperature, they will be liquid. According to studies, monounsaturated fats can help improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Monounsaturated fats are found in canola, peanut, or olive oils as well as avocados.
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Polyunsaturated (PUFA) fats
Similar to monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats are also no saturated with hydrogen molecules. In contrast, they contain more than 1 carbon bond in the fat molecule. PUFAs are also liquid at room temperature. An additional benefit from consuming PUFAs is their omega-6 and omega-3 contents which decrease your risk for cardiovascular diseases. The best sources for PUFAs are soybeans and soybean oil, sunflower oil, sunflower seeds, walnuts, flaxseed, and fatty fishes like salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, and trout.
Saturated Fats and Trans Fats are classified as unhealthy fats. These are the type of fats that can block up your arteries, leading to cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack and stroke.
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Saturated Fats
These are the types of fats that are loaded with hydrogen molecules, which makes them solid at room temperature. It’s considered unhealthy because eating too many saturated foods can increase your cholesterol levels and risk for heart disease. Coconut oil, palm oil, red meats, full-fat dairy, and baked goods contain significant amounts of saturated fats.
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Trans Fats
The food industry engineered trans fats to increase the shelf life of many convenience foods, like baked goods, crackers, margarine, and fast foods. Consuming a diet high in trans fat is linked to increased risk of heart diseases as they can lower your good cholesterols and increase your bad cholesterol levels.
The recommended amount of fat to have in the diet is around 20-35% of total energy intake. So in a 2000 kilocalorie diet, this would represent roughly 45 to 75 grams of fat in your diet.
Best Sources of Fat:
- MUFA Sources – canola, peanut, or olive oils, and avocados.
- PUFA Sources – soybeans and soybean oil, sunflower oil, sunflower seeds, walnuts, flaxseed, and fatty fishes like salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, and trout.
Avoid These Sources of Fat:
- Saturated Fats – Coconut oil, palm oil, red meats, full-fat dairy, and baked goods
- Trans Fat – baked goods, crackers, margarine, and fast foods. (avoid “partially hydrogenated” fats)
Micronutrients
Vitamins
Vitamins are essential nutrients needed in small amounts in the diet to prevent deficiency diseases and support optimal health. They are divided into two groups based on their solubility: (1) water-soluble vitamin, which are the B Vitamins and Vitamin C, and (2) fat-soluble vitamins, which are Vitamins A, D, E, and K. These two groups vary in their way of absorption, how they are transported in the body, where they are stored, how they excreted, and whether or not they reach toxicity levels.
Vitamins, which literally originated from the Latin phrase “vital for life”, are essential to your everyday diets as they regulate body processes, maintain health, and promote growth. Vitamins do not contain any energy, thus making them non-caloric. Think of them as assistance to your vital body functions so your body can stay healthy.
Water Soluble Vitamins
- Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) – This helps with energy production in your body
- Sources: Whole grains, enriched grains, liver pork, dried beans, nuts, and seeds
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) – This also helps with energy production by utilizing and assisting other B vitamins.
- Sources: Soybeans, meat, poultry, liver and eggs, mushrooms, milk, cheese, yogurt, whole grains, enriched grains
- Vitamin B3 (Niacin) – This helps your body to use protein, fat, and carbohydrate and converting them to energy. They also assist in many enzymatic functions.
- Sources: Mushrooms, peanut butter, meat, fish, poultry, whole grains, enriched grains
- Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) – It helps activate protein and glycogen when your body needs the stored energy in the muscles and liver. It also has a role in blood transport.
- Sources: Potatoes, bananas, oatmeal, meat, fish, poultry, liver, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, pistachio, nuts, and sunflower seeds
- Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) – This works together with another B vitamin (folate) to synthesize DNA. It also makes healthy blood cells, which is why a deficiency in this vitamin can result in anemia.
- Sources: milk, cheese, yogurt, fortified soy beverages, meat, fish, poultry, liver, eggs, and other fortified soy products
- Folate or Folic Acid – This function of this vitamin is to produce and maintain DNA and cells, make red blood cells and prevent anemia. For pregnant mothers, this is an essential nutrient as it helps lower the risk of birth defects like spina bifida.
- Sources: Asparagus, cooked spinach, romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts, beets, broccoli, corn, green peas, oranges, bread, enriched pasta, liver, dried beans, etc.
- Vitamin C – It helps prevent cell damage, builds immunity, and reduces the risk for certain cancers, heart disease, and other chronic diseases.
- Sources: Citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, kiwi, strawberries, mangoes, and papaya
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
- Vitamin A – It keeps your vision, skin, and other body parts healthy. Vitamin A also promotes normal growth and development
- Sources: Liver, some fish, milk cheese, dark orange vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, spinach, and beet greens.
- Vitamin D – It promotes bone health and keeps your immune system in check.
- Sources: Milk, fortified soy and margarine, some fish, eggs, organ meats, and fish liver oils.
- Vitamin E – It strengthens your immune system and maintains other body processes. It’s also a known antioxidant that protects cells from being damaged.
- Source: Vegetable oils, avocados, leafy green vegetables, sunflower seeds, some nuts, and peanut butter.
- Vitamin K – This vitamin is responsible for the proteins that cause our blood to clot. It’s also involved in making proteins for the blood, bones, and kidneys.
- Source: Broccoli, soybeans, dark green leafy vegetables (like kale), collards, turnip/beet greens, and spinach.
Minerals
Like vitamins, minerals are small traces of non-caloric nutrients that help the body to perform its necessary processes. They are significantly different from vitamins as they are non-organic (meaning they don’t have carbon in them). Your body can’t synthesize its own minerals, so you have to source it from the food or drink you consume.
Minerals are divided into major and trace minerals and categorized mainly based on the amount needed by the body. Major minerals are required in larger quantities while trace elements are only needed in small amounts. Here are the major minerals and where you can find them.
Major Minerals
- Sodium – Your body needs this for proper fluid balance, nerve transmission, and muscle contraction
- Source: table salt, soy sauce, meat, milk, bread, vegetables
- Chloride – This mineral is for proper fluid balance and production of gastric acids.
- Source: Same as the sources for sodium since they come together as Sodium Chloride (NaCl) in foods.
- Potassium – This mineral also has a role in your body’s fluid balance, nerve transmission, and muscle contraction
- Source: Meats, milk, fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes
- Calcium – Calcium is important for healthy bones and teeth, muscle contraction, nerve function, blood clotting, blood pressure regulation, and improves the immune system
- Source: Milk and dairy products, canned fish with ones (like sardines and salmon), fortified tofu, fortified soy milk, green vegetables (broccoli and mustard greens), and legumes
- Phosphorus – Phosphorus acts similarly to calcium. They both promote healthy bones and teeth. This mineral is also important for acid-base balance.
- Source: Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and milk
- Magnesium – Magnesium is needed in protein synthesis and also helps in muscle contraction, nerve transmission, and the health of your immune system.
- Source: Nuts and seeds, legumes, leafy green vegetables, seafood, chocolate, and artichokes
- Sulfur – Sulfur helps in maintaining acid-base balance and assists some of the liver for detoxification
- Source: occurs in food as part of the protein, like meats, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, and nuts
Trace Elements
- Iron – As part of hemoglobin, it’s used to make red blood cells, which carry the oxygen around the body
- Source: Organ meats, red meats, fish, poultry, shellfish, egg yolk, legumes, dried fruits, dark/leafy greens, iron-enriched bread and cereals, and fortified cereals
- Zinc – Zinc is a component of many enzymes, which are needed to synthesize protein and other genetic materials. It also plays a role in taste perception, wound healing, normal fetal development, sexual maturation, as well as improving your immune system.
- Source: Meat, fish, poultry, leavened whole grains, vegetables
- Iodine – It’s essential for thyroid function, which helps regulate growth, metabolism, and overall development
- Source: Seafood, foods grown in iodine-rich soil, iodized salt, bread, and other dairy products
- Selenium – You need selenium for immune function and for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. It also assists enzymes in preventing cell membrane damage.
- Source: Meats, seafood, whole-grains
- Copper – Copper assists in iron transportation.
- Source: Legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and organ meats
- Manganese – This mineral is important for many enzymatic reactions like in synthesizing cartilage for the skin and bones.
- Source: most foods, especially plant foods
- Fluoride – It is involved in the formation of bones and teeth
- Source: Fish, municipal water supplies
- Chromium – Chromium is the partner of insulin as it enhances its effects.
- Source: Whole grains, unrefined foods, nuts, and cheeses
- Molybdenum – Molybdenum helps enzymes during the metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids
- Source: Peas, legumes, breakfast cereals, bread and grains, and milk
Water
Truth is, you can last several days without food. But forget to drink water for a few days, and you might face deathly consequences. It’s indeed vital as it plays a role in many bodily processes and makes up about half the weight of your body.
Water acts as a medium to the various chemical mechanism in the body, aids in digestion and absorption of nutrients, blood circulation, waste secretion, and lubrication of body joints.
Aim to drink at least 2-3 liters, or about 8-12 glasses of water, daily. However, if you are very active or live in warmer temperatures, you need to be drinking much more.
Principles of a Healthy Diet
There are so many kinds of diets marketed nowadays — from ketogenic, intermittent fasting, Atkins, and the like! Each one of them claims to be the best one that will help you lose weight and be healthy. But with the over restriction and short term results of these fad diets, many experts are against this way of eating.
So how should you eat? The healthy sustainable diet relies on the principles of adequacy, moderation, variety, and balance.
Adequacy and Moderation
Your diet should include just the right amount of energy, essential nutrients, and fiber to sustain your everyday functions. Eating in moderation means you aren’t eating too little or too much as they may have detrimental effects on your health. For example, eating too many calories can lead to weight gain and obesity.
Variety
Eat a wide selection of foods and food groups so that you can consume all the necessary nutrients. Play up your choices by changing up the type of fruits and vegetables you eat. Switch your whole-grain bread to pasta or rice on other days. Incorporate a different kind of protein — like choosing chicken for lunch and fish for dinner. Including a variety of food in your diet not only makes eating fun, but it also allows you to consume the different type of nutrients that one food may not be able to give.
Balance
A balanced plate consists of the right amount of food groups. This means having more nutrient-dense foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and lesser servings of high fat and sugary foods like chips, cakes, and cookies. The USDA created MyPlate a plate infographic to help you visualize better how each meal serving should look like.
Source: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
To Summarize…
Nutrition is a very important field of science that concerns the food you eat and how your body metabolizes it. Each food consists of different nutrients that each play a role in keeping your body healthy. Nutrition is highly focused on your diet — the term used to define what you eat and drink in a day.
To fuel your body, it gets the energy it needs from your diet. This can be taken from the macronutrients, which are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Carbohydrates act as the main fuel source. Proteins are mainly responsible for regulating various body processes. Fats are long-term energy resources of food and help in delivering other nutrients in the body.
Micronutrients are non-energy giving, yet they play an important role in maintaining your bodily functions. Vitamins assist in many metabolic processes, prevent deficiency diseases, and supports optimal health. Minerals are similar to vitamins; however, they are non-organic. They also help your body perform its everyday functions, like fluid-balance, muscle contraction, nerve transmission, and blood formation.
Water is equally vital to keep your body in tip-top shape. In fact, not drinking water can be more detrimental than not eating food for several days. They help in many chemical mechanisms, aid digestion, help absorb nutrients, blood circulation, and waste secretion.
There may be countless fad diets claiming to make you fitter and healthier. However, nutrition experts still advocate the principles of healthy eating — eat adequately and moderately with variety and balance. Keeping these principles in mind can help you achieve a healthier and more sustainable diet.
