Welcome back to another blog where we cover the different sides of nutrition. Sparked by a recent Instagram story I put up, it is clear that at least half of the people do not know why we’re eating what we’re eating on a daily basis. How is it that we don’t know? How did we get to a point where we’re unaware of why we put something inside our own body. If someone you know comes up to you to offer you a bottle containing an unknown substance, I bet you would not drink it at least until you know exactly what it is made out of and what it will do to your body. Why are we not doing that to the food we’re putting inside our body each and every day.

To be quite honest, if you don’t eat with some sense of purpose your body will never perform or act like it could do. Now don’t get me wrong here, you do not need to have a purpose behind every small thing you put inside your body, but we’re talking about the bigger picture here.

Let’s take oats for example. A lot of you eat oats in the morning, but why? It doesn’t taste bad at all but it certainly is not the best tasting thing ever, so why do we eat it? It’s okay not to have an answer to this question yet, because that is what this blog is for.

Today we will simply cover the basics. What is the purpose of the big 3? Protein, carbohydrates and fat. If you understand the difference between these 3 you will have taken a big step to figuring out your own daily nutrition.

Protein

Some of you may know that protein is a building block, unlike the other 2 macronutrients. A building block is exactly what you think it is, it builds up the foundation of your body. Think of your body as a house. Not only does protein build the structure and foundation of your house it reinforces and adds onto your house. It continues to build stronger walls, it adds another layer of concrete, your garden has grown twice the size and it has shed now too. Are you still with me? I hope you get the reference. Protein builds your foundation (the muscle and bone structure), keeps it healthy while also adding onto it if it has enough fuel to support that. This is why some people build more muscle mass and some people don’t. This is why some people’s bodies feel healthy and fresh and some people don’t. This is why some people maintain muscle and bone structure in their later years and some people don’t. You get the picture.

You could live with just your standard portion of protein a day, but your foundation will never grow. You’re eating protein to maintain, but you’re also eating to build onto your house and foundation. It’s not about having bigger muscles, there’s more that goes into that. It’s about being happier and feeling healthier inside your own body.

Carbohydrates

If protein is building the foundation of your house, carbohydrates are the fuel that will get your car from point A to point B. How fast does your car get there? How many times does your car need to ”take a break”? That is partially up to your carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are your ready-to-go fuel source. If you need to do something right here, right now carbohydrates are your friend and go to source. If you feel like your car is overheating or sputtering sometimes, it might indicate a lack of carbohydrates or the wrong source of carbohydrates (sugar).

If you’re someone that is always active or on the go, carbohydrates are your go to source of energy. In most cases, not getting in enough carbohydrates is doing your body a disservice.

Just like that car going from point A to B, you want to be able to get your task done just as smoothly. If this is an active task, your body is most likely using carbohydrates to get it done.

Fat

If we need to make a comparison between carbohydrates and fat this is what I would use. Carbohydrates are like an electric car; it will get you where you need to go pretty fast but it will run out at some point soon. At this point you need to charge up. Fat is more like a car that has 5 fuel tanks rather than just 1.

Fat goes a long way, but it does take longer to fire up and use. This is why it’s a good source for anyone that lives a steady-state lifestyle. When your body is not actively performing a task or if your body needs to be in a steady-state for longer periods of time, it is looking for fat as its ideal energy source.

To give you another example of how long fat lasts. The longest fasting time known to man is just over a year long. This person was able to accomplish this feat of not eating because of the fat storage inside his body. During this time, he lost 125 kilos. I can safely guess that most of the 125 kilos were body fat, since that is what his body was burning every single day.