Calories in our foods

• Protein 1g 4 cal

• Carbs 1g 4 cal

• Fats 1g 9 cal

• Sugar 1g 4 cal

• Alcohol 1g 7cal

“The word protein is actually derived from the Greek word, Proteios which means primary”

Protein

Protein is one of the building blocks that make you into who you are.

Proteins come from many sources both animal, vegetable and also available as supplements.

Proteins are the building blocks for everything our bodies need to do to maintain a happy equilibrium.

It is one of the complex groups of units that carry out many roles within your body

They make up your hair, nails, bones, and muscles. Protein also gives tissues and organs their shape and helps them work the way they should.

Protein will save most of your hard-earned muscle when you lose weight and if we are training for strength size or athletic performance protein is the key to unlock that muscle building potential

Getting the correct amount of protein in your diet can also improve your bone health which can also lower your chance of osteoporosis (bone loss) by helping to keep bone density alongside resistance training, this can also prevent fractures as you get older.

Protein can also supress hunger and stop the urge to snack due to cravings. Cravings come from the brain not the stomach and getting that protein in can stop those unnecessary fridge visits and a healthy protein-rich lunch will see those blood sugar levels nice and steady.

It has great fat burning properties; if its content is high enough, it has the ability to boost your metabolism which means you will burn more calories through the day then if you were on a lower protein diet.

Studies on protein in the diet, specifically from plant sources, have shown to lower blood pressure. Increased percentage of protein intake can also decrease your LDL (bad cholesterol levels) levels which can lower your risk of heart disease.

It also repairs and replaces your body’s tissues and organs and increases the speed at which your body will repair itself, reduce inflammation and create new tissue at the site of an injury.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the sugars, starches and fibres found in fruits, grains, vegetables and milk products.

They are one of the three main ways your body obtains energy, they are called carbohydrates because, at the chemical level, they contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

There are two types of carbohydrates: complex and simple. The difference between complex and simple is the chemical structure and how quickly the sugar is absorbed and digested.

Carbohydrates are used to fuel your central nervous system and energy for working muscles and is important for brain function. In addition, it has an effect on your mood. The RDA of carbohydrates is based on the amount of carbohydrates the brain needs to function correctly.

Complex carbohydrates are

• Low or moderate in calories

• High in nutrients

• Devoid of refined sugars and refined grains

• High in naturally occurring fibre

• Low in sodium

• Low in saturated fat

• Very low in, or devoid of, cholesterol and trans fats

Simple carbohydrates

• High in calories

• Full of refined sugars, like corn syrup, white sugar, honey and fruit juices

• High in refined grains like white flour

• Low in many nutrients

• Low in fibre

• High in sodium

• High in saturated fat

• High in cholesterol and trans fats

Carbohydrates may also be important to mental health. A study published in 2009 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that people on a high-fat, low-carb diet for a year had more anxiety, depression and anger than people on a low-fat, high-carb diet. It Is believed that carbohydrates help with the production of serotonin in the brain.

Fats

We all need dietary fats in our daily calorie intake. This helps support cell growth and gives us energy. Fats will also help to protect our body’s organs, keep us warm and help with the absorption of some nutrients and produce important hormones required for the correct function of the system.

There are nine calories to each gram of fat. Regardless whether it’s a good fat or bad, fats are very energy dense more so than proteins and carbohydrates which are four calories per gram.

If you consume high levels of calories regardless of source it can lead to weight gain or being overweight.

If we consume high levels of saturated or trans fats it can lead to heart disease and strokes if and where possible replace those with food sources that are labelled trans-fat free. This isn’t to say that foods labelled “trans fat-free” are all healthy, some are cooked in saturated fats and this won’t be on the label. The same foods may also be low in the nutritional content that we need and can be high in sugars and sodium, such as baked goods.

The four different types of fats are below:

• Saturated fats

• Trans fats

• Monounsaturated fats

• Polyunsaturated fats

Each of the four types has different chemical structures and physical properties. Saturated and trans fats will be solid at room temperature like a block of butter but monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats will stay in a liquid form like vegetable oils.

These different types also have a different effect on the cholesterol levels in your body. Saturated fats and trans fats will raise bad cholesterol (LDL) levels in your blood.

Whereas monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats can lower bad cholesterol levels in your blood and are beneficial when part of your healthy eating. We just need to remember to choose foods that provide us with good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated).

If we focus on our food sources and eat a healthy diet with consistently containing:

• vegetables

• fruits

• wholegrains

• poultry

• oily fish

• legumes

• nuts

and limit our intake of

• sweets

• sugar sweetened drinks

• sodium

This will help us keep our diets low in saturated and trans fats and our cholesterols low when coupled with a healthy balanced diet.

Sugars

Simple sugars are called monosaccharides, made up of single sugar molecules. Examples of these are glucose, fructose, and galactose. When two simple sugars are joined together by a chemical bond they are called disaccharides, the most common of which is sucrose or table sugar.

Sugars that come in foods naturally like vegetables, fruits grains and dairy this is natural sugar and is ok, plant foods have an abundance of fibre minerals and antioxidants and dairy foods contain protein and calcium.

Your body will digest these foods slowly and the sugar offers a steady supply of energy to your cells. Regular consumption of these has been shown to reduce the risk of some diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Consuming too much sugar can have an adverse effect. Food manufacturers add sugar to products to increase shelf life, flavour and make us crave sweet things.

• Soft drinks

• Fruit drinks

• Fruit yogurts

• Cereals

• Cakes cookies and sweets

• Soups bread and sauces including ketchup

Meaning it is easy to calculate that we consume way too much added sugar in our diets, some sugar is easy to calculate: a 330ml of Coke or Pepsi contains 35g ot if, that’s nearly nine teaspoons of sugar and all of it is added, half a tin of baked beans has 9.8grams of sugar half a tin of tomato soup is 9grams of sugar; it all adds up.

And it gets harder to calculate our GDA (guidelines for daily amounts) now as the packaging previously stated the guidelines for men women and children, it now states RI reference intakes which under European legislation can only be shown for adults.

Alcohol

Because alcohol is made from sugars or starch it contains loads of calories, a whole 7 calories per gram; nearly the same amount as pure fats.

These calories are empty calories; they have no nutritional value; some will have trace amounts of vitamins or minerals but nothing to add value or contribution to our diet/daily calorie intake.

Drinking alcohol will also reduce the amount of body fat that our body will burn for energy, while we can store and utilise nutrients Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats in our bodies, our bodies can’t store alcohol.

This means our bodies want it gone and as quickly as possible, as a result any other processes that our bodies should be doing are put on hold. Including absorbing our daily nutrients fuelling our daily routine or just being you are all interrupted until it is gone.

The take away from this is that you can have a healthy diet and include the foods that you love and enjoy eating and you don’t have to stay away from some of the treats that you want entirely but you most definitely need to eat less of the foods that are low in nutritional value and high in calories and higher in nutritional value and lower in calories.