Perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘calories’ thrown about before. Nowadays, they’re discussed quite often, especially in relation to weight loss, so the chances are that you may have encountered mention of them in various places. But do you know what a calorie is? Frankly speaking, a calorie is nothing too complicated, it’s just a measure of the amount of energy that food provides. After all, food is digested, and turned into energy by the body, that’s just simple biology. However, that doesn’t explain how calories relate to diets, or even weight loss. Here’s the key fact that you need to know though: When the body has excess energy, or rather, energy that is left unused, it stores it. And when the body stores this leftover energy, it does so by converting it into fat. See how things tie into each other now? Basically, your food doesn’t make you gain weight. What does make you gain weight is the leftover energy that the food provided! Now, while you might already be getting an inkling about where this is going, there’s something else important about calories that you should realize: Not all food groups provide the same quantity of calories. For example, take a glance at this list of 4 basic types of food groups and the calories that they provide: 1. 9 calories per gram of fat 2. 7 calories per gram of alcohol 3. 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates 4. 4 calories per gram of proteins Note that the calorie content of these food groups is not the only factor in determining what’s good to eat, and what’s not. As science progresses, there are constantly new discoveries, about ‘good types of fat’ and ‘bad types of fat’, and other things of that kind. Still, it is a useful guideline, and it should underline the fact that some groups of food provide more energy, and thus are more likely to provide excess energy that ends up being stored as fat. Now that you know what you need to know about calories, it’s time we take things one step further, and look at how dieting in particular affects this.

Generally speaking, hydrogenation is something that is used quite widely in the food industry to produce various forms of crackers, snacks, baked food, and even some margarine. Be aware of this, and be sure to avoid such hydrogenated products whenever possible. Great, now that you know enough about both good and bad fats, you should be able to consume more of the former, and dodge more of the latter. Even that alone should ensure that you’re off to a great start. So, let’s move on to our next nutrient, and that’s going to be… Protein Unlike fats and carbohydrates, proteins are slightly more complicated, but we’re going to try to adapt as direct an approach as possible to discussing them. In a nutshell, protein isn’t just divided into ‘good proteins’ and ‘bad proteins’. Instead, protein is made up of amino acids, and it is these acids that are used for a huge number of functions within the body, primarily in the creation and maintenance of protein. Now, the body uses some amino acids consumed through the diet to produce other amino acids, and these other amino acids that can be produced internally are known as non-essential amino acids. However, some amino acids can’t be produced internally, and must be obtained through your diet, and these in turn are known as essential amino acids. While it’s crucial that you grasp this so that you understand the full importance of protein, you should also know that this doesn’t mean you need to go around inspecting everything you eat to ensure it has all the amino acids that are essential. Why not? Well, that’s because there are two types of proteins in general: 1. Complete proteins – that contain all the essential amino acids 2. Incomplete proteins – that do not contain all the essential amino acids Essentially, this means that if you can ensure that you’re consuming complete proteins, as opposed to incomplete proteins, then you’re on the right path. And really, complete proteins are all around you, with sources that range from meat, eggs, poultry, fish, milk (and some other dairy products), and many, many more. Some type of beans and nuts also work well as a source of protein. Remember – protein is also an energy source, so do not eat too much protein or you might find that all that excess energy ends up being stored as fat. Vitamins Undoubtedly, you’ve heard of vitamins before. But have you heard of all the types of vitamins that are out there? Most people haven’t – and that’s largely because there are really quite a lot of them, numbering 13 in total. However, only 12 of them need to be worried about, because Vitamin D is produced by the skin under sunlight (or more specifically, ultraviolet radiation). Still, 12 whole vitamins represent quite a challenge to document, and if we looked at each vitamin individually, we’d be here all day. As opposed to doing that, here’s the best advice that you could get with regards to vitamins: Eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Of course, fruits and vegetables are good for other reasons too, including their high fiber and mineral content, so you’re really going to be killing two birds (or more!) with one stone. In particular, leafy greens (the darker the better, in general) provide great sources of Vitamins A, C, E and K. Many fruits also provide a good dose of Vitamin C as well, and the brighter their colors are, the more likely they are to contain all those yummy nutrients that you’re after. Similarly, beans, nuts, and soy products can also have a lot of Vitamins packed into them, which is a great thing considering you already know that these types of foods are extremely good as part of a healthy diet. If you constantly face vitamin deficiencies, you could even resort to taking supplements, however assuming you stick to the advice given, you should not have to! Apart from vitamins though, there is one other type of nutrient that is just as varied, so let’s look at that now… Minerals Just as with vitamins, minerals are a very varied bunch and so discussing them as a group could be difficult. Some minerals are more important than others though, and are required in a much larger (200 mg or so) quantity as a result. In contrast, the other, ‘less important’, minerals are often just required in trace amounts to help with certain reactions. Here’s the good news: When you’re eating healthily in general, you should be able to take care of most of your mineral needs automatically. By this point, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that a lot of the nutrient-packed foods which we’ve discussed carry many other types of nutrients too, apart from the ones in which we were discussing them in context too. So, it would be reasonable to expect that minerals are contained in them, and indeed, we just talked about how minerals were in many vegetables, especially the leafy green varieties. For this reason, we’re not going to go over every mineral, but instead, we’re going to focus on a few very important ones. That way, you’ll at least be able to know that you’re covering the better part of the issue, and still be able to rest easy knowing that the other minerals are provided for due to the healthy diet that you’ve embraced. Sound good? 1. Calcium Primarily, calcium is the mineral that helps grow and strengthen bones (including teeth!). Contrary to popular belief, bones actually need a constant supply of calcium, otherwise they’ll weaken, and be more prone to fractures and other problems. At no time is this more important than during childhood and adolescence. Seeing as the human body cannot ‘manufacture’ calcium, you’re going to have to rely entirely on your diet to provide it. And the main place in which calcium is normally found in a healthy diet would be milk and dairy products. Mind you, skimmed, low-fat, and no-fat milk all contain similar amounts of calcium as regular milk, so you can easily rely on those and keep your saturated fat and calorie content low. For vegetarians, vegans, or those with lactose intolerance, soy products form a suitable alternative source of calcium. Even if you may not like to drink large quantities of milk, you could try other dairy products, such as yogurt, that will help you too. Be aware though that most yogurt products are sweetened, and could have other elements that aren’t as good for you. Ensuring that you have enough calcium will help your bones last long into old age. 2. Iron Yes, iron is another mineral that is equally valuable, and it goes to work within our blood. If you aren’t getting enough iron in your bloodstream, you could face a whole host of problems that lead to tiredness, fatigue, low moods, and even frequent infections. In short: You need iron! Fortunately, there are many easy sources of iron, and some of them we’ve already discussed. Red meats form the best source of iron, but be sure that it is lean, and not fat-filled! Apart from that, you could even opt for oily types of fish. Some green leafy vegetables, and whole grains, can also be a source of iron, but it is worth remembering that plant-based irons are not as easily absorbed by the body as meat-based irons. Still, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, they’re going to form your primary alternative. 3. Magnesium Yet another important mineral, magnesium really has many different functions, from helping the parathyroid gland, to helping your body turn food into energy. Can you guess what one of the biggest source of magnesium is though? Well, green, leafy vegetables of course! Once again, they come to the fore with their nutrient packed nature. Apart from that, there are other sources such as nuts, bread, meat, fish, and dairy products, all of which could be used to gain valuable quantities of magnesium. All in all, there is nothing tricky about consuming sufficient magnesium. 4. Phosphorus As a mineral, phosphorus is known for tying in with calcium to help produce strong bones and teeth. Thus, its importance is pretty much underlined by the fact that without it, your bones are going to be prone to the same sort of problems as calcium deficiencies could cause. Also, phosphorus has a role to play in helping the body convert food to energy. On the bright side, just as with magnesium, phosphorus is easily found from a variety of sources, including red meat, nuts, fish, dairy products, and even poultry. Chances are, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about getting the right quantities of phosphorus, unless you’re a vegan or vegetarian, in which case you might want to be sure to eat some nuts every so often. 5. Salt Technically, salt is known as sodium, and is an important part of your nutrition. Within the body, sodium is tasked with controlling the body’s fluid balance, as well as maintaining the manner in which the muscles and nerves work. But unlike the other nutrients that we’ve discussed so far, most of the problems with salt is not about consuming enough. No – with salt the problem is that many people consume too much salt! An excess of salt has been known to lead to many problems, including high blood pressure. Normally, the human body is quite good at regulating the amount of salt within it, and prompting feelings such as thirst, to encourage you to consume more water and help with excreting excess salt. However, sometimes this goes wrong, and with too much salt in your body, you could face problems. Generally speaking, if you’re consuming large quantities of salt regularly, you might want to cut back on it. That much is important for a healthy diet. 6. Potassium Similar to salt, potassium also has a role to play in regulating the balance of fluids within the body, and there is reasonable evidence nowadays to suggest that it also could help lower blood pressure. Although it can be found from a number of sources, the biggest, and best, source of potassium is: Bananas. Other fruits and vegetables also contain potassium, though not in such bountiful quantities. Nuts, seeds, red meat, poultry, fish, and milk can also contain some quantities of potassium, so if you absolutely hate bananas for some reason, you could try those instead. End of the day though, not many people are really that adverse to bananas, and they taste great, so why not just eat one or two every so often! These six minerals that we’ve discussed are probably the more important ones, and even within them, you can see that there are a lot of ties between the foods that provide them. In fact, you should be seeing this increasingly throughout our discussion. At this point, you already should have a reasonable idea of the ingredients to a good and balanced diet. And seeing as we’re nearing a close of our discussion of nutrients, that really is to be expected. Really, there’s only one last item left on our agenda, and it is one that you might not have thought we’d be discussing…