What Are The Macronutrients?

What are the macronutrients?
WOD Blog - SWF Nutrition Series

Over the next 4 weeks we will be talking about habits. Habits are defined as “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.” Many of us have established or are actively in the process of establishing a habit of daily exercise which is now widely being accepted as the primary variable associated with mental health and physical longevity. By establishing both of these habits our individual goals of improving how we feel, how we look at ourselves, the quality of our health markers, and our ability to perform at life will help us move our Sickness - Wellness - Fitness continuum from Sickness or Wellness and move us into Fitness.

The classic macronutrients prescription for CrossFit is to keep intake high enough to support our exercise habit but not enough to support body fat. Traditionally CrossFit has prescribed 30% Protein, 40% Carbohydrate, and 30% Fat (30/40/30). To start we first need to break down what each one of these macronutrients are and what they do for the human body so that we can better understand their roles in our nutritional profiles.

Carbohydrates are used for energy (glucose).

Sugars. They are also called simple carbohydrates because they are in the most basic form. They can be added to foods, such as the sugar in candy, desserts, processed foods, and regular soda. They also include the kinds of sugar that are found naturally in fruits, vegetables, and milk.

Starches. They are complex carbohydrates, which are made of lots of simple sugars strung together. Your body needs to break starches down into sugars to use them for energy. Starches include bread, cereal, and pasta. They also include certain vegetables, like potatoes, peas, and corn.

Fiber. It is also a complex carbohydrate. Your body cannot break down most fibers, so eating foods with fiber can help you feel full and make you less likely to overeat. Diets high in fiber have other health benefits. They may help prevent stomach or intestinal problems, such as constipation. They may also help lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Fiber is found in many foods that come from plants, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains

Fats are used for energy after they are broken into fatty acids. Fats are a type of nutrient that you get from your diet. It is essential to eat some fats, though it is also harmful to eat too much. The fats you eat give your body energy that it needs to work properly. During exercise, your body uses calories from carbohydrates you have eaten. But after 20 minutes, exercise depends partially on calories from fat to keep you going.

You also need fat to keep your skin and hair healthy and help you absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, which are called fat-soluble vitamins. Fat also fills your fat cells and insulates your body to help keep you warm.

The fats your body gets from your food give your body essential fatty acids called linoleic and linolenic acid. They are called "essential" because your body cannot make them itself, or work without them. Your body needs them for brain development, controlling inflammation, and blood clotting.

Protein can also be used for energy, but the first job is to help with making hormones, muscle, and other proteins. Nutrients needed by the body and what they are used for. Type of nutrient. Proteins are large, complex molecules that play many critical roles in the body. They do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids, which are attached to one another in long chains. There are 20 different types of amino acids that can be combined to make a protein. The sequence of amino acids determines each protein’s unique 3-dimensional structure and its specific function. Amino acids are coded by combinations of three DNA building blocks (nucleotides), determined by the sequence of genes.

If you made it this far I am so proud of you! Remember knowledge is power, habits over motivation, and no soft talk when reaching for our goals. 

References: Medline