We all need nutrients for growth, cell repair, metabolism, and for basic bodily functions. The macronutrients are the nutrients we need in larger amounts to function well, and they include protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Christine Cronau, nutritionist, and author of Bring Back the Fat what makes carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
What’s a protein?
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Protein and fat are both essential. You have probably heard the term essential amino acids (protein) and essential fatty acids. The reason they are essential is because they cannot be made by the body; in other words, we must get them from our food. Interestingly, there is nothing essential in carbohydrate. In fact, if we have access to no carbohydrate at all, the liver converts amino acids into glucose. However, in most cases, it is easier for the body if we ingest some carbohydrate, so that it doesn’t have to produce its own glucose.
Protein is the most important nutrient. It provides over twenty amino acids, which are essential for good physical and mental function. The best protein sources are animal proteins such as meat, eggs, fish, and dairy. Animal proteins contain all the essential amino acids in adequate amounts. We can obtain protein from plant sources, however, most plants don’t have all of the essential amino acids (or they are not in adequate amounts) and, in addition, plant protein has less bioavailability than animal protein. In other words, we don’t absorb it as well.
Because of this fact, I am often asked if we can get adequate protein as vegetarians or vegans. I believe we absolutely can if we eat enough eggs because they contain all essential amino acids; they are a complete protein. However, I don’t believe that we can get adequate protein on a pure plant based diet.
Protein deficiencies are more common than you may think, and can cause poor growth in children, depression, iron deficiency, fatigue, muscle wastage, cognitive problems, sleep disorders and much more.
What’s a fat?
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Fats are also essential, and vitally important for good health. And, unfortunately, due to the low-fat era, most people are now fat deficient. We don’t tend to think of fat as essential nutrient, but it is. Not only that, it is actually more nutrient dense than many other foods. And, we can’t absorb fat soluble vitamins in other foods, such as vegetables, unless we eat those foods with fat.
In addition, there are some fat-soluble vitamins that we have now virtually eliminated from our diet. One of those is vitamin K2, which is essential for adequate development in children, but also helps protect us from heart disease. If we do have calcification of the arteries from too much sugar and carbohydrate, vitamin K2 helps clear the arteries. The catch is, unless we eat a lot of Japanese natto and cultured vegetables daily, it is impossible to get vitamin K2 unless we eat fatty animal foods such as grass-fed butter, yolks from pastured chickens, and fatty cheeses such as Gouda and Brie.
We need to consume quality, natural fats, such as butter, coconut oil, and even animal fats from grass-fed animals. And, in fact, we have done that for thousands of years prior to the low-fat craze. Imagine telling hunter-gatherers or tribal groups living on the land that they need to trim the fat off their meat. They would think we had gone crazy; they needed fat for energy.
In fact, while carbohydrates burn off very quickly and need to be replaced every few hours, dietary fat provides long-lasting energy. And when we eat fat, we feel full, so we don’t tend to overeat. Fat stimulates the production of our fullness hormone, Cholecystokinin (CCK), so without fats, we end up being insatiably hungry.
Fats are essential for just about every bodily function, including organ function, hormone production, energy production and more. Without adequate fat in the diet, it can cause fatigue, dry skin, brittle nails, constipation, depression, thyroid dysfunction, and much more.
What’s A Carb?
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Like I mentioned previously, carbohydrate is not essential, but it is easier on the body to include some in the diet. However, the human body can only use or store a small amount of glucose at any one time. When we consume more than that, we generally have to store the remainder as fat! Not only that, the extra glucose can also cause metabolic problems, such as insulin resistance, type II diabetes, heart disease, and more. For that reason, it is important to limit carbohydrate to an amount we can tolerate.
Prior to the 1800s, we got most of our energy from protein and fat. After the advent of boxed convenience foods such as cereals, and because of fat phobia from the 1970s onwards, we now get most of our energy from carbohydrate, and it has devastating health consequences. Modern, chronic diseases are now at epidemic proportions, most of which are completely preventable, simply by eating a diet closer to the one we actually evolved to eat.