What Is Nutrition & Why Is It Important?

YES, what we put into our bodies IS important!   Thank you Coach Paul for putting that front and center.

What Is Nutrition & Why Is It Important?

Nutrition is the study & understanding of Nutrients in food. It includes how the body uses them & the relationship between diet, health & disease. Nutritionists use aspects from molecular biology, biochemistry & genetics to gain understanding on how nutrients affect the body.

Having a better understanding of nutrition also improves empowerment of people to use dietary choices e.g.to reduce the risk of disease. Nutrients provide nourishment & are made up of Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fat, Vitamins, Minerals, Fibre & Water. When we don’t have a balanced diet, we have a higher risk of undesired health conditions.

With better knowledge of how nutrients affect us personally it empowers us to make more informed choices relating to what we eat & what we drink. This aspect of Nutrition is incorrectly called “Dieting” by many people with a focus based on losing weight. The word or its expression don’t exist as what you eat, or drink is simply nutrition.

Macronutrients

Macronutrients are nutrients that people require in large quantities. Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fat & Water are the Macronutrients that we need to live. Gaining a better understanding of what they do, how they interact, what amounts of each you should be using each day based on factors like Age, Sex, Height, Build & Your Level of Activity are very important to your current health, wellness & longevity.

Micronutrients

Micronutrients are essential for our health & wellbeing but only in very small amounts. They include vitamins & minerals. Our bodies need oxygen, carbon, hydrogen & nitrogen. Also, dietary minerals such as iron, potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper & selenium. Selenium is very interesting as it’s both an essential micronutrient & the source for an essential amino acid as well. It is only found in a few countries now, so a vast number of people don’t have this important micronutrient & amino acid in their nutrition. Selenoproteins contain Selenium in the form Selenocysteine which became the 21st Essential Amino Acid. Selenium is involved in many important processes & is well worth looking into.

                                                                                   Minerals

Most people only need small additional amounts of Vitamins, but this varies a lot based on nutrition. Anything the body doesn’t require is simply eliminated. Tests are available but a simple manner is to start taking only one new item at a time & see if you notice any positive difference in 3-7 days. If you don’t cease that & trial something else. If you do you can keep taking that & trial another new product. Micronutrients & Minerals are very important!

Our Guest Blogger is Paul Barry from Brisbane Australia where he works as a coach & consultant in High Performance Sport. He can be contacted by email. pbelitecoach@gmail.com