Nutrients are essential substances required for an organism’s survival and growth. Nutritionists divide nutrients into two categories: macronutrients and micronutrients.
Macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, fats and protein. These serve as energy for your body and workouts as well as keeping muscle glycogen stores full while aiding vitamin absorption.
Protein
Protein is best-known for its role in muscle repair and growth; however, its functions extend much further. Protein provides essential building blocks for all of our cells and is crucial to almost every essential metabolic process.
Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids connected together with peptide bonds. While our bodies can produce 11 non-essential amino acids (referred to as non-essential), nine essential ones must be supplied through diet: leucine, valine, isoleucine, histidine, lysine, methionine threonine tryptophan and phenylalanine are considered essential amino acids and must be included as part of daily meals.
Protein foods include meat, poultry, fish, beans and peas, nuts and seeds as well as processed soy products. Eating a variety of these can help meet your protein needs as well as meeting other essential nutrient requirements such as zinc, iron, niacin, riboflavin and thiamin requirements.
Fat
Fat is an energy source essential to life, offering nine calories per gram as opposed to four for carbohydrates and proteins. Fat also plays an integral part in providing an experience of fullness that keeps us feeling content throughout the day.
Fats can be found in foods and beverages such as milk, meat, vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. Fats may either be saturated or unsaturated – with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated unsaturated fats being two categories of unsaturated fats respectively – the latter two being essential fatty acids like linoleic and arachidonic acids being necessary to body functioning – these “good fats” help protect against heart disease, high blood cholesterol levels, inflammation and depression while contributing to overall wellbeing.
Fats can be stored as triglycerides in your body and used as energy source, transporting vitamins throughout your system and producing hormones. Any excess fats are converted to body fat. Foods containing fat should contain lower saturated and trans fats while offering higher unsaturated fat content.
Minerals
Minerals play an essential role in daily life, from strengthening bones to managing blood sugar and transmitting nerve impulses. Working in concert with vitamins, they produce our primary energy source ATP which powers our entire system.
Geologists define minerals as naturally occurring, inorganic substances that form with regular crystal structures and have distinct chemical composition. Examples of minerals include gold, diamonds, rock salt and graphite used for pencils. Minerals can consist of just one element such as sodium chloride or be made up of combinations like sodium chloride (rock salt) and magnesium carbonate.
Minerals can be divided into major and trace categories. Major minerals include calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), sodium (Na) and phosphorus (P). Trace minerals include iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and selenium (Se). Our main source of mineral consumption comes from food; we can acquire both macro and trace nutrients through plant sources like leaves, fruits vegetables grains as well as animal sources like red meat poultry fish etc.
Vitamins
Vitamins are organic compounds essential to human life in small doses for various bodily processes and functions. You can find these vitamins both through food sources and dietary supplement sources.
Vitamins play a pivotal role in helping the body produce energy, protect vision, form bones, regulate blood sugar and clotting processes and more. Vitamin names typically start with initial letters followed by numbers; some of the higher-numbered vitamins (B21 and B22 for instance) were either reclassified into other nutrients or were no longer classified as vitamins altogether (though some naturopaths still refer to them).
While large doses of certain vitamins may be harmful, eating a well-balanced diet typically provides all of the vitamins you require. Vitamins play an essential role in helping your body function correctly and should therefore be consumed at appropriate levels in order to stay healthy. Vitamin supplements are available but should only be taken at moderate or lower dosage and with medical advice; alternatively food sources provide most of their essential vitamins. Dietary guidelines advise sourcing your vitamins from food and obtaining most minerals through your daily meals as well.
