Did you know that your training performance, brain sharpness and sexual life all revolve around 3 main pillars?
If not, I guess you are in the right place, today you are going to learn about macronutrients!
What are macronutrients?
Macronutrients are all of those essential components of our diet that that provide our body with energy to sustain physical activity, support our performance and facilitate muscle growth.
Macronutrients are divided in three (actually more) branches: fatty acids, proteins and carbohydrates.
Why are they important?
As stated in the first line, getting these macronutrients in a proper amount can only give us advantages. Let’s make it brief:
- General health: mantaining a proper ratio of macronutrients will support our longevity and overall health
- Metabolism and energy: the primary source of our energy comes directly from these so we can sustain our daily activities.
- Muscle growth: it cannot happen without energy and without the aminoacids, “bricks” that get together in different shapes to build our muscles.
- Hormones regulation: it is fundamental for our physical and mental well-being, it influences our mood, our cognitive functions and also our sexual life. Optimising the macronutrients intake can help metabolism, stress response, and reproductive health.
These were only few of the important functions of macronutrients but now let’s introduce all three of them.
What’s their function?
- Fats
- Energy Source: Each gram of fat contains 9 kilocalories, making it a concentrated source of energy. This energy is crucial for sustaining physical activity and metabolic processes.
- Structural Integrity: Fats play a vital role in supporting the longevity and structural integrity of our body’s membranes.
- Hormone Production: Certain types of fats are precursors to hormone production. These hormones are involved in regulating various physiological processes, including inflammation, blood clotting, and immune response.
- Vitamin Absorption: Fats aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.
- Carbohydrates
- Main Energy Source: Carbohydrates are the preferred energy source for the body, as glucose derived from carbohydrates is converted into ATP, the body’s primary energy currency.
- Anticatabolic Function: Adequate carbohydrate intake helps prevent the use of proteins as an energy source. This is fundamental to maintain our muscle mass.
(Read my post about carb cycling for understanding how to optimise their intake) - Brain Fuel: The brain relies heavily on glucose as its primary fuel source. Consuming carbohydrates ensures a steady supply of glucose to the brain, supporting cognitive function and mental clarity.
- Proteins (read the specifical post)
- Muscle Growth and Repair: the most well-known function of proteins is their role in building and repairing muscle tissue. Proteins provide the necessary amino acids, some kind of “LEGO bricks” that come together to build muscles, which are essential for muscle growth, repair, and maintenance.
- Enzyme Activity: Proteins act as catalysts for biochemical reactions in the body by serving as enzymes, molecules that facilitate essential processes such as digestion and metabolism.
- Hormone Production: Many hormones are proteins or are derived from protein molecules. Hormones play critical roles in regulating metabolism, growth, development, mood, and various physiological functions.
Here is a simple graph to visualise the most important macronutrients
Healthy Macronutrient Guidelines According to the World Health Organization
In conclusion I would like to quote what the World health Organization says about a healthy nutrition for the standard adult:
- Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars, which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day, but ideally is less than 5% of total energy intake for additional health benefits. Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats. Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans–fats of all kinds, including both industrially-produced trans-fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans-fats (found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and camels). It is suggested that the intake of saturated fats be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5). In particular, industrially-produced trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided.
I will also make some posts going more in depth explaining how to get a proper intake of these macronutrients for improving athletic performance and muscle growth. If you are just starting out you can also check a brief explaination on my bodybuilding guide for beginners!