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Nutrition 101
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27-09-2007 1:41pm#1
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Ok, so here’s the thing. I’m a scientist; a nerdling, a boffin, a white-coated super-geek, and so it’s in my nature to question things all the time
. When it comes to my diet, I like to know what I’m eating and why I’m eating it. But don’t worry, it’s not my intention to completely bore you senseless with food biology, instead this is very rough and ready, totally simplified version of the science behind nutrition, but by knowing the basics it’ll help you make more informed decisions about what foods you’re going to include in your diet.
All foods are composed of one or a combination of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Each one of these macronutrients has its own functions in the body, and we need them all for a healthy existence. The requirements of each varies on the person: a strength athlete for example will likely have a diet high in protein to aid in muscle repair and growth, an endurance athlete will probably have a higher carbohydrate content to give them sustained energy, someone trying to gain healthy weight will do well to have lots of good fats in their diet and for someone just looking to maintain a good, healthy diet a nice balance of all three will probably be the best and easiest plan to follow.
So… what are they and do they all do?
Protein
My favourite
When we think of protein in the diet it’s usually bodybuilders or highly muscular athletes that spring to mind. But proteins are *so* important in our diets, and they have a massive number of functions in our body, so it’s really important to get plenty of them in your diet. Proteins aren’t as easy for your body to digest as carbohydrates, so you actually need to work harder to break them down – they naturally increase your metabolism. They also help you stay fuller for longer and if you’re a highly active person, they’re vital to help you keep your muscle mass up.
The best protein sources are foods like lean meats (chicken, turkey, beef with the fat stripped off), dairy, eggs, seafood and nuts. Getting some form of protein in at every meal is a great idea, as it helps keep your body supplied with all the necessary ingredients to keep you ticking over nicely and keeps your metabolism ramped up.
fish steaks are *so* good for you and super quick and easy to cook. Bang one on the grill and it's done in 10-12 minutes!
Carbohydrates
It almost feels evil to use that word given the bad press that carbs have got in recent years. But the truth is, carbs are great to have in your diet, they’re the easiest source of energy for your body to use.
is it just me or is anyone else getting really hungry looking at this??
We generally classify carbs in two types: simple and complex. Simple carbs are basic sugars like sucrose (table sugar) or glucose or dextrose (often you’ll see dextrose as an ingredient on processed foods – that just means it has added sugar in it). Simple carbs are very easily broken down by our bodies and they are classified as being high GI, when you eat them you get a ‘sugar rush’. The only problem with this rush is that what comes up must go down and so soon after eating a lot of simple carbs your blood sugar will tend to crash, leaving you feel a bit sluggish and tired and hungry for more food! All processed foods (very loosely translated as anything with more than five ingredients or comes out of a box!!) are usually very high in simple carbs.
Complex carbs are things like wholemeal bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, grains and potatoes, the carbs that give you a slower, more prolonged energy release. The ‘white’ versions of all those foods have been stripped of their ‘wholesomeness’ and will usually be more like simple carbs than their complex counterparts.
So, long story short to keep your energy levels nice and steady and your appetite happy it’s better to keep your carb intake to complex carbs and nutrient-rich simple carbs like fruits and dairy.
Fats
The most misunderstood of all the macronutrients. Fats are wonderful though, and are so, so important in your diet. We all hear about omega-3 being necessary for brain power, fat is necessary to protect your organs, it’s a vital component of our cells… and that’s all well and good, but what does it mean practically??
To cut a very long story short,
Good fats = mono- and poly-unsaturated fats. Found in nuts, seeds, oily fish and nut, plant and seed oils (omega-3, 6 and 9 are types of polyunsaturated fats).
Bad fats = saturated fats, trans-fats. Found in animal fats and processed foods. These should be reduced but wholefood sources of sat fats need not be altogether eliminated - a little goes a long way.
Even though they're calorie dense, fats in moderation are vital to include in your diet
An equal amount of natural saturated fats and mono- and polyunsaturated fats are the best way to get fats into your diet, but try to avoid trans-fats at all costs (look for hydrogenated fats/ oils on the packaging).
Now, obviously there’s a lot more to it than that, and no doubt I’ll post up some more about the intricacies of each group, but even if you can get a handle on what the basics are you’ll be a lot better at making good choices for your daily eating habits. If I want a high protein, medium fat breakfast I go for scrambled egg made with almond oil. If I need a carb-heavy lunch because I know I’ll be really active in the afternoon I might have a wholemeal pitta bread with chicken and lots of salad. It takes a bit of effort in the beginning, but it’s worth it
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So once you know what your foods are made up of, now comes the more difficult part - putting it all together. Dietary compositions and percentages of the macronutrients is a fairly contentious issue. Needless to say it'll vary according to what your personal needs are - some people can eat lots of carbs and thrive on it, others (like me) only need to look at bread and they balloon up to resemble the michelin man's long lost twin.
But there are some general guidelines (and they are just that- guidelines, not hard and fast rules) that will apply to virtually anyone for healthy eating habits. This is something I posted on the fitness forum, but it's not exclusive to athletes, it applies to anyone wanting to improve their eating habits:
1. Have you figured out what your (rough) daily calorie needs are?
If not, go here
I need to stress here that you DON'T need to get caught up in numbers, but it's a good idea to know an approximation of the amount of calories you need on a daily basis to help you to manage your eating habits better.
2. Do you eat small regular meals 5-6 times a day?
Small regular meals help to keep your metabolism primed and functioning optimally - it's like keeping a fire burning in your belly topped up with small fuel loads every few hours.
3. Do you eat protein with every meal?
(From lean meats, eggs, milk, fish, nuts, beans and pulses)
4. Do you have at least 2 servings of the following sources of good fats every day?
Nuts, seeds, flax/ walnut/ sesame/ almond/ avocado/ olive oils, oily fish
5. Do you eat vegetables (not fruit, specifically veg) with at least half of your meals?
By veg I mean broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, beans (runner, green, string), carrots, pepper, asparagus, kale, lettuce, onions, mushrooms, cabbage, tomatoes.
6. Aside from veg (which count as fibrous carbs), do your carbs come from wholegrain/ unprocessed sources?
Wholemeal bread/ pasta, brown rice, oats, sweet potatoes, low GI fruits
7. Do you avoid processed foods as much as possible?
By as much as possible I really mean 'at all costs' - if it comes out of a box and has more than five ingredients, it's not worth it.
8. Do you eat clean 90% of the time?
If you eat an average of 35 meals a week (5 meals, 7 days a week) it's perfectly fine to eat two "cheats" a week. Use your discretion - a 16" pizza with a tub of Ben and Jerry's on the side is going to constitute a lot more than a single cheat - you're looking at around 2500 calories in one meal.
Don't be put off by the term 'clean eating'. All that really means is eating a diet that's devoid of junk. Nutritionally, junk food has no redeeming factors - it's generally high in sugars and trans-fats and plays havoc with your insulin - that's not a good thing, trust me
9. Do you drink at least 2L of water a day? 3-4L if you exercise regularly?
10. Do you enjoy what you eat?
Might sound like a silly thing to say, but the more you enjoy your food, the more likely you'll be to stick to it!
If you can honestly say that you stick to those guidelines, then eating habits are most certainly 'healthy'. If you want to take it a step further and look at exact % of macronutrients, by all means ask for help. Otherwise, eat well and enjoy it!!0 -
Otherwise known as the Good Carbohydrate!
*please wait while neuro puts on her factoid hat*
There are two types of fibre that your body needs to stay healthy - soluble and insoluble. Fibre reduces the risk of bowel problems, some cancers and keeps your digestive system working well (makes pooing easier!). These are very important in sustainable weight-loss, and some studies have suggested that a high-fibre diet will even lower your blood cholesterol levels. High-fibre foods contain trace elements of zinc and magnesium which are very important in muscle tissue development.
It's recommended that we eat 25g of fibre per day, which may seem like a lot, but with some careful choices it is easily achievable. A tip for when selecting higher fiber foods is to see the word "whole" - wholegrain, wholemeal, wholewheat etc. Also simply stuff yourself with fruit and vegetables as they're fibre-rich and packed with nutrients which will improve your skin, hair and nails, and will make it easier to get up in the morning and feel alert throughout the day.
Foods that are higher in fibre have a low Glycaemic Index, which in layman's terms means that they have a controlled effect on your blood sugar levels. This means you will feel fuller for longer, and you won't have any serious highs and lows in your energy levels (ever notice how, shortly after eating cake or chocolate, your energy levels drop and you feel absolutely starving?). A Mars bar, for example, will send your blood sugar soaring, force your poor pancreas to produce loads of insulin to cope with the sugar and in turn, store the extra sugar as fat instead of helping you burn it off in your day-to-day activities. Eating some wholewheat toast and 2 kiwis for your mid-morning snack is a much better idea than the KitKat or the Danish.
The list of ordinary every-day foods below should help you when trying to make up your 25g of fibre a day:
Medium avocado 10g (great if you like guacamole - make your own and dip carrot sticks, peppers and celery into it)
1/2 cup of All Bran 13g (an easy way to get a big morning dose - if you can stomach this stuff!)
Kiwi 6g (2 kiwis provides almost half your daily requirement of fibre - they are cheap, easy to eat and delicious...top with natural yoghurt and you have a high-fibre, high-protein snack)
1/2 cup kidney beans 7.3g (add these to your chillis, soups, salads, wraps and stir-fries)
Medium apple 3.5 (if you are like me and overdosed on apples in childood, improve apples by stewing them with a little brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon and eating them hot either with yoghurt or on top of porridge...alternatively, core them, drizzle with honey and bake them until they slightly explode
)
1 cup strawberries 3g
1 cup blackberries 7g (very expensive I know - you can get a carton in M&S for around €3.49 and you can top your porridge with them or add them to your fruit salad - delish)
Small can baked beans 7.5g (pop them on top of your baked potato or toast - or eat them with eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms for a tasty cooked breakfast)
Medium banana 2.5g
1/2 cup peas 3.6g
3 prunes 3g
6 dried apricots 3g
1 bag Manhattan popcorn 3.8g
Medium jacket potato 4.9g (eat the skin!)
230g Wholewheat pasta (cooked weight) 8.1g
230g White pasta (cooked weight) 2.8g
180g Brown rice (cooked weight) 1.4g
180g White rice (cooked weight) 0.2
2 slices wholemeal bread 4.2g
2 slices brown sliced pan 3g
2 slices white sliced pan 1g
30g bowl of Odlums porridge oats 2.7g
Most of the other vegetables that I have not listed contain approximately 1-3g of fibre per serving. I hope this will be helpful to you. Fibre is king. So eat up!0 -
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Micronutrients
In the post above I talked about the macronutrients – carbs, proteins and fats. But there’s an even smaller breakdown: the micronutrients. These are the vitamins and minerals, the stuff we don’t actually see but are vitally important for our bodies to function well.
Vitamins
There’s two types of vitamins: fat-soluble and water-soluble. Vitamins A, D, E and K are the fat soluble vitamins that circulate in the blood and any excess is stored in fatty tissue. This means that they are available whenever you need them and don’t need to be eaten everyday. The vitamin B family and vitamin C are water soluble. They circulate freely but don’t get stored so you need to get them into your diet quite regularly.
Vitamin A
There’s a couple of different types of vit A depending on whether the food source is animal or plant in origin. The vitamin A we get from animals is generally retinol (yup the very same retinol that’s used in anti-wrinkle creams!!) and the plant forms are carotenoids. This vitamin is necessary for new cell growth, healthy skin, hair, and tissues, and vision and can be found in dark green and yellow vegetables and yellow fruits, such as broccoli spinach, turnip greens, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and apricots, and in animal sources such as liver, milk, butter, cheese, and whole eggs.
Indeed. Airbrushing has nothing to do with it of course...
Vitamin D
This is a slightly strange one because we actually make most of the vitamin D we need through exposure to sunlight. Around 10 min of sunlight a day will allow you to make all the vit D your body needs to promote absorption and use of calcium and phosphate for healthy bones and teeth. Food-wise it can be obtained from fortified milk, cheese, whole eggs, liver, salmon, and fortified margarine.
Vitamin E
An antioxidant, it helps protect red blood cells and protects your skin from UV light. You can find vitamin E in green vegetables, whole grains, eggs, nuts, seeds and plant oils.
Vitamin K
Hugely important for blood clotting and found in spinach, lettuce, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, wheat bran, organ meats, cereals, some fruits, meats, dairy products, eggs.
Vitamin B complex
A group of eight vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate, biotin and pantothenic acid) that help release energy and maintain the nervous system. They are found in milk and milk products, green leafy vegetables, yeast extract, whole grains and meat.
Vitamin C
The immune booster!! Found in lots of fresh fruit and veg, but specifically fresh vegetables and fruits, such as broccoli, green and red peppers, collard greens, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, lemon, cabbage, pineapples, strawberries, citrus fruits and potatoes funnily enough.
A single kiwi fruit can give you all the vitamin C you need for the day
Minerals
There’s lots of minerals needed by the body, but the more important ones are as follows:
Calcium
Around 99% of the calcium in the human body is in the teeth and bones, but it also has a role in muscle contraction. Dairy products and green leafy veg are great sources.
*sigh* I'm off dairy at the moment... I miss my cheese...
Iron
Helps carry oxygen around the body and is involved in releasing energy. If you have a low iron intake, you may find that you are tired and unmotivated, and an iron deficiency can lead to anaemia. Found in red meat, green leafy vegetables and dried fruit
Sodium
The body needs a small amount of sodium to help maintain normal blood pressure and normal function of muscles and nerves. We usually consume sodium in the form of sodium chloride, or table salt – most of us could do with reducing our intake! It’s hidden everywhere and in virtually all processed foods.
Zinc
Used in gazillions of processes in the body, especially in the immune system. Meat, eggs, shellfish and green leafy vegetables are good sources.
Potassium
This helps maintain fluid balance in our cells and is crucial to the nervous system. Found mostly in fruit and vegetables.
Selenium
A trace mineral that acts as an antioxidant. It is found in the soil and is passed through the food chain. Seafood, meat, grains and Brazil nuts all contain selenium.
There’s a great website that lists the World’s Healthiest Foods – if you ever want to check on the nutritional composition of anything (right down to the micronutrient level) this is one of the best places to do it 0 -
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,192 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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Great thread but this to me appears incorrect.
Firstly vodka has far more alcohol than beer per volume. 5/6% for a strongish beer, 40% for an average vodka. I'll drink a pint of beer and you drink a pint of vodka and we'll see who is ossified more quickly.A vodka might appear to have far less calories than a pint, but it only has about half the alcohol, so you may drink twice as much.:D
Vodka is basically alcohol and water. As such it's calorie count as far as the body is concerned is pretty much nil as very little is converted into sugars or fat. If you add a mixer with sugar that's where your actual calories come from. Beer has sugar thrown in. It's precious little to do with the alcohol. Indeed alcohol free beer will have way more calories than vodka.
The main problem with alcohol is that it's largely converted by the liver in to acetate. This is used by the body in lieu of fat, so will slow down fat burning. Beer also contains phytoestrogens(from the hops), which also slow down fat burning. Some theories have it that brewers droop is more prevalent after a feed of beer as opposed to say a feed of wine for this reason - My own *ahem* non scientific experience would tend to bear this out. A decent bottle of claret spread over the evening and its a case of "how you doin.." A feed of pints and its "I'm terribly sorry, this hasn't happened before, its not you its me...":o:eek::). Drop in effects of alcohol on insulin(hence the apres pub stodgy food binge) and you're on a hiding to nothing. Especially if you're prone to weight gain or have an already dodgy insulin response.
I was also wondering about the info on Vit D and sun exposure. A WHO report I read(though can't find online sadly) suggested that many if not most people in northern latitudes are very low in blood levels of vit D. 10 mins in the daylight on your face, in winter, doesn't come close to cutting it in our climate. If you're dark skinned that goes even more for you.
http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?id=9006&t=CFIDS_FM Apparently a white skinned person needs an exposure to 40% of their body for 20mins in full sunlight to get the right levels going. Dietary vit D or supplementation doesn't make up for it and indeed supplementation may increase the problem. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080125223302.htmThe best way is through decent exposure to sunlight. The problem is that with all the understandable hype surrounding skin cancer we may be setting ourselves up for more issues. Obviously cooking oneself once a year on a beach in Lanzarote is a bit daft. Vit D is involved with the expression of 1000 different genes and as such is probably involved in more disease processes than pretty much all other vitamins. On top of diet, it may go some way to explain the drop off in many cancers the further south you go in Europe.Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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..but what is bad for you is that most people eat a redicilous amount of saturdated fat..Saturated fats are NOT bad for you
Just cos some scientist says we need a bit of saturated fat, does not mean its open season and we should all head down to the chipper tonight and get a large chips and a battered large cod
As with a lot of things in our diets these days, a small bit of 'it' is not bad for you, even good for you - but above that few grams it starts becoming bad for you [eg: studies say a glass of red wine is great for you, but drinking 3 bottles on your own in a single sitting does not mean its REALLY good for you!]. IE: Most people go to excess on these things, and they are therefore bad for you 0 -
Like all processed food like that, there are good ones and bad ones. You need to check out the labels on the back of the jars.pasta sauces and curry sauces
The best option is to learn how to make your own, so there is no rubbish in it, bar what you put in yourself 0 -
hi, i've been getting information from www.safefood.eu it's an informative website and they have a great 'weigh2live' programme that allows you to track yourself regards food and exercise. have a look see... they also have a help line and a facebook page for queries, i'm a fan, PLUS ITS FREE!! 0
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tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »..but what is bad for you is that most people eat a redicilous amount of saturdated fat..
Just cos some scientist says we need a bit of saturated fat, does not mean its open season and we should all head down to the chipper tonight and get a large chips and a battered large cod
As with a lot of things in our diets these days, a small bit of 'it' is not bad for you, even good for you - but above that few grams it starts becoming bad for you [eg: studies say a glass of red wine is great for you, but drinking 3 bottles on your own in a single sitting does not mean its REALLY good for you!]. IE: Most people go to excess on these things, and they are therefore bad for you
There's little to no saturated fat in a battered cod and chips. That's the mistake a lot of people make, pretty much all fast food is low in sat fat, saturated fat is expensive, fast food is cheap and depends on cheap polyunsaturated fats to deep fry in.
Try overeating saturated fat some time, seriously, sit down with a stick of butter and see how much you get through, you won't get far I promise
In any case saturated fat is not bad for you in any quantity, ask the people in the pacific islands who eat 50% of their calories from sat fat if they've ever heard of heart disease..0 -
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