Enjoy the basics!

Alkaline friendly foods, Detox diets, food elimination plans, functional fitness workouts, movement screening…all of these plans we do at Body Firm; however sometimes just getting back to basics is all one really needs to get their momentum started.   Basic nutrition is the foundation to anyone and everyone’s good eating plan.

There are 3 macro nutrients

Carbohydrates

Fats

Protein

Each macronutrient holds a certain amount of kcals per gram.  A carb is = to 4kcals per gram.  A protein is = to 4 kcals per gram and a fat (good or bad) is = to 9 kcals per gram.  A slight deviation here is alcohol is measured under a carb, but is = to 7 kcals per gram.

So, if you have a high fat meal with alcohol, you are going to load up on a lot more calories in a little tiny bit of food, than if you had lean protein and light nutritious carbs (like vegetables).  In fact by volume, you can have almost triple the same about!

To understand what’s what without making this too complicated…a carbohydrate breaks down, or is reduced to sugars (energy) or a chain of sugars and carbohydrates will  look like anything from an asparagus tip, a slice of bread to a jelly bean!

A protein is most commonly recognized as coming from an animal or fish source.  Keep in mind although this is true, if its a fatty piece of meat, it’s fat and protein (and remember, those fat grams add up 2 1/2 times faster; so a lean piece of fish and a fatty piece of steak will have hugely different caloric and nutritional values).  Other protein sources come from plants (like kale, spinach, artichokes, seaweed, spirulina, peas and hearts of palm)

Fat gets complicated.  Fat is found 4 different ways.  Saturated fats (bad), Trans fats (bad) monounsaturated fats (good) and Polyunsaturated fats (good).  Any easy way to remember good vs. bad is if it’s from an animal or a lab, usually “Bad”; if it is grown from the earth (like an almond or avocado) or from the sea (like a fatty fish) it’s a good fat.  Regardless, the calories add up fast; so use these good fats sparingly.  A little goes a long way.

Here are some common foods to help you recognize what goes in what category.  Obviously there’s many many more foods out there, but maybe this will give help you a little.

Carbs:

vegetables

fruits

candy (if there’s butter in the candy, it will have significant fat content)

bread

potatoes

cereal

juice

sugar

alcohol

Fats:

cheese (some protein)

nuts (some protein and carb)

Tofu (some fat and protein)

olive oil

meat fat

poultry skin

fried foods (also carb from the batter)

butter

avocado

nut butters

most traditional salad dressing

margarine

crisco (the original trans fat)

egg yolk

seeds (some protein)

Protein

egg whites (all protein)

shell fish

fish

chicken (the darker the meat the more fat, but not a ton more)

turkey (same as above)

Buffalo

ostrich

beef (the fattier the beef, the less protein)

milk (some carb and if more than nonfat will have fat too)

vegetable protein powders

whey protein powders

Now when you navigate through the restaurant menus or the grocery stores, try to have all 3 when you eat; making the biggest portions that from vegetables and lean proteins and see if you can have only ONE fat each time you eat.  A big bonus…vegetables (except potatoes and corn) are FREE…so go for those often!

Enjoy the basics!