BENGALURU: If there’s one thing to know about the human body; it’s this: the human body has a ringmaster. This ringmaster controls your digestion, your immunity, your brain, your weight, your health and even your happiness. This ringmaster is the gut” - Nancy Mure. There’s been a radical shift in the last 15 years in the ingredients that have become available to us, the way crops are grown, the difference in quality, the way we cook, our knowledge of different cuisines, and, of course, the way we eat out. Due to the innumerable food choices, we don’t eat everything we are supposed to.
We eat a lot that we don’t need to. As a result, we see a lot more instances of the younger folks getting diabetes, facing gut issues and other health problems. Let’s understand food in the simplest way possible. Food can be divided into two major categories – macronutrients and micronutrients. We need macronutrients to help with energy and we need micronutrients to help our body be healthy and digest those macronutrients. While both components are equally important, the amount you need to consume of each differs a lot.
Macronutrients are needed by your body in large quantities and include fats, carbohydrates, and protein. These form the bulk of your diet and each macronutrient fulfills a different requirement. Carbohydrates provide instant energy because they are easily broken down into glucose that is used by the muscles to function. They are easily found in grains, fruits and vegetables. Proteins are like the building blocks in the body for muscle fibres, tissue, skin, etc. It is made up of amino acids.
The quantity of these amino acids in each type of protein determines its nutritional value. Protein sources include nuts, seeds, fish, legumes and eggs. Fats regulate metabolism, help cell regeneration, and stimulate hormone production among other benefits.
Some good sources of fat are fish, nuts, avocados and eggs. Micronutrients, on the other hand, are 26 vitamins and minerals, needed in smaller quantities, and are very essential for a healthy body.
All the vitamins and minerals have an important role to play, and you need to eat balanced meals to ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals. They promote health, make your bones stronger, keep diseases at bay, maintain skin and hair quality, make sure the digestive tract stays healthy, build immunity and so much more. Micronutrients can be widely found in foods such as nuts, seeds, vegetables, grains, berries and some types of fish.
While people tend to carefully monitor how much protein, fat, and carbohydrates they need to be consuming, they seem to forget about having micronutrients, and that’s often where health problems begin. All the values that get highlighted in bold or fall under abnormal in the yearly health check is primarily due to micronutrients deficiency.
A balanced quality diet is what one needs to ensure you are getting the right amount of macros and micros to maintain good health and high energy. Snack options should always be fruits or nuts and seeds (trail mix) or some baked food, that is not highly processed, and does not contain too much oil and sugar. The author is a fitness expert, Cure.Fit