Basic Nutrition

Understanding the Fundamentals of Human Nutrition

Before you can understand sports nutrition, you are going to have to understand basic nutrition. I'm always amazed when I talk to people at the gym about nutrition. Most of the them are well educated and have good jobs, but do not know the first thing about nutrition. I ask them how much protein they're getting in their diet, and they don't have a clue. Most of them could care less. That is until I tell them they may be wasting their time and energy by not supplying their body with the vital nutrients to repair muscle tissue during intense training sessions. We'll get into that a little later. First, let's take a look at the fundamentals of human nutrition.

We are all collections of molecules that move. All of these moving parts are arranged in complexity and order; cells, tissues and organs. Your skin for instance, which seems to have covered you without changing from the time you were born, is not the same skin that covered you seven years ago, it is made of entirely new cells. The fat beneath your skin is not the same fat that was there a year ago. Your oldest red blood cell is only 120 days old, and the entire lining of your digestive tract is renewed every three days. Why am I telling you this, and why is it important to you? In order to maintain yourself, you must continually replenish the energy you bum and replace the pieces you lose.

To put together an actual person with nothing more than the purified chemical ingredients, (supposing it could be done) would be very expensive. We contain a gold mine of molecular information in a highly organized form. The protein hemoglobin of the red blood cells for example, costs several dollars a gram, the hormone insulin is close to $50 a gram. If we were to estimate the value of all the chemical constituents of a single human body, it would be somewhere around six million dollars (and that's without Steve Austin's bionics!) That's also before computing the cost of assembly, preservation and maintenance. As amusing as this calculation may be, it illustrates that we are the most information-dense structures on the planet, surpassing passing even the most expensive and elaborate computers. All the pieces you are made of have come from your food, and what you put into your body. You are made of exactly what you eat.



Macronutrients

The food that you eat is composed of hundreds of different kinds of materials, but mostly, it is made up of three main nutrients; protein, carbohydrates and fat. These are commonly referred to as macronutrients. The science of nutrition is the study of how this takes place - the study of the nutrients in foods and the body's ability to handle those nutrients. You can metabolize a lot of different nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. However, you can only derive energy from these three macronutrients, or energy nutrients as some books refer to them. They are vital to life and without continual replenishment of the energy you expend daily, you would soon die. When oxidized in the body, the energy nutrients break down, and some of their components bind with other compounds and form waste materials. As they are broken down they release energy. Some of this energy is released as heat, some is transferred into other compounds that make up the structures of our body cells and some is used as fuel for our activities.



Calories and Nutrients

This energy that is released by the macronutrients can be measured in calories, which are familiar to everyone as a measure of food energy and of the energy the body spends in large quantities during heavy exercise. Both carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per grams, whereas fat contains 9 calories per gram. Just by looking at these amounts we can see that it takes more than twice the amount of energy to bum a gram of fat, than it does to burn a gram of protein or carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are your body's primary fuel source, because it is easier for your body to break down a gram of carbohydrate for energy, than it is to break down a gram of fat. In order for your body to use fat as energy, you either have to be doing something aerobic (like riding a bike) for at least fifteen minutes, or be completely depleted of carbohydrates so your body has no other choice than to use stored body fat for energy. The energy content of a food is determined by how much protein, carbohydrates and fat it contains. If you don't use these nutrients immediately after you eat them, your body will store them in the form of body fat and put them away for use between meals and overnight. A simple rule to understand is that if you consume more than you use, you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if it is in the form of protein, carbohydrates or fat. measure of food energy and of the energy the body spends in large quantities during heavy excercise. Both carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram, whereas fat contains 9 calories per gram.



Vitamins

Vitamins are much smaller than macronutrients but their functions are no less important. We cannot derive usable energy from vitamins, instead they serve as helpers, making it possible for the other nutrients to be divested, absorbed and metabolized in the body. There are 13 different vitamins and each one has a special role to play in the body. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are known as fat-soluble vitamins, whereas vitamins B-1,B-2,VVB-6,B-2 and C are known as water-soluble vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins for the most part are carried in the bloodstream, excreted in the urine, needed in small doses and are unlikely to be toxic. Fat-soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are found in the fat and oily parts of foods. They tend to move into the liver and adipose tissue and remain there, rather than being excreted, like most water-soluble vitamins. Their storage in the body makes it possible to survive long periods of time, without having to supplement them in the diet. Because they are stored in the body, there is a risk of toxicity with fat-soluble vitamins.



Minerals

Minerals are much smaller than vitamins and occur in much simpler forms. Like vitamins, minerals do not provide energy. There are dozens of minerals found in nature, of them 21 are essential in human nutrition. Some of the ones you are probably most familiar with are sodium (which is salt), potassium (aids in muscular contractions) and calcium (good for bones and teeth). Minerals are just like vitamins, in that they act as helpers in delivering nutrients and aiding in certain functions in the body. They are different however from vitamins due to the fact that they are indestructible. When you prepare your food you need to be con- concerned about over-cooking because it is very easy to destroy vitamins. This is not the case with minerals.



Water

Water is indispensable and abundant in the body. It actually forms the major part of every tissue within the body. Most people often take water for granted because it is everywhere. The amount of water you actually' ally need compared to the other nutrients is enormous, about two to three liters per day. That's 2,000-3,000 grams. Considering bodybuilders need I grain of protein per pound of body weight and the average per- son weighs less than 200 pounds, that's more than 10 times the amount of water needed as compared to protein. That's a pretty amazing figure! You obviously don't have to drink that much water each day, because there is water in the foods we eat. Water is a very important nutrient in that it provides the medium for which most of the body's activities are conducted. It also participates In many of the metabolic reactions that occur in the body and helps transport vital materials to the cells. One function that is of great importance is that water serves as the vehicle in which glycogen is transported into muscle cells. Glycogen is often referred to as muscle fuel, because it powers muscle contractions. A simple calculation for deter- mining your water requirements is to multiply your body weight by .6 and divide it by 12. This will give you the amount of water you need in 8 ounce glasses. Example: If you weigh 200 lbs. Then calculate as follows. 200 (weight) x .6 / 12 = 15 (8 oz.) glasses of water per day.