The Ups and Downs of Macros

An apple or a Snickers bar: What has more nutritional value? 

Are vegetables healthy? 

Is drinking water a good idea? 

If you know the answers to these questions (The apple, yes, and yes, respectively) then you know pretty much all you need to know about nutrition. Really.  

Nutrition is actually pretty simple but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to trust what we know.

One source of confusion is macronutrients. What are they are? What do they do? Are there bad ones?

Macronutrients, commonly known as protein, fat, and carbohydrates are the components of food.

Let’s quickly break down what each one does.

Protein: Responsible for muscle repair and growth. Good sources include poultry, beef, and dairy.

Fat: Breaks down various vitamins and minerals. Also important for hormone production and joint health and can be used as energy. Healthy sources include avocados, nuts, and certain oils.  

Carbohydrates: Your body’s primary source of energy and important for brain function and recovery. Healthy sources include grains, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables. 

All three play an important part in your health and in my opinion, any nutrition plan that demonizes and/or eliminates one is problematic.

Without adequate protein your body can’t repair itself.

Without adequate fat your joints can ache, and you won’t be able to absorb crucial vitamins and minerals. 

Without carbohydrates you’ll feel lethargic and foggy.

The next question is how much of each you should have each day. Unfortunately, that’s an impossible question to answer here. Everyone’s needs are different. We have different activity levels, body types, likes, dislikes, food intolerances, and more.  

These kinds of guidelines can also cause us to rely on numbers more than what’s important, which is how we feel. Ignoring that is a big reason people think they can’t trust what they already know. 

I don’t want to leave you completely empty handed, though. Since protein tends to be the simplest as far as guidelines let’s talk about that.

Depending on your activity level, you should be eating between .25 and 1 gram per pound of bodyweight each day. That’s quite a difference I know, and that gives you an example of why trying to put numbers on these things is difficult at best. 

To clarify a little more, if you’re sedentary and don’t exercise much, you’ll tend towards the .25 mark. If you exercise 2-3 times per week, you’ll be in the .5-.75 mark. If you exercise intensely 4-5 times per week, you’ll be closer to 1.  

I have trouble writing these kinds of articles, because as important as they may be, they can also give the wrong impression. The idea that everyone needs to eat according to some chart isn’t correct. All I want to do is give you some basic information to help clear up a confusing topic.

When all is said and done it’s important to realize that what you eat in one day or at one meal almost never really matters in the long run.