With more and more people talking about macro dieting, it’s time to bring all the common misconceptions to an end. What is macro dieting? What are the benefits of using this system? By the end, you’ll have a good understanding of this latest dieting trend!
What’s Macro Dieting?
Before learning more about the diet, you first need to know about macronutrients. Essentially, this is the term used to group together three of the most essential nutrients:
- Protein
- Carbohydrates
- Fat
For the longest time, these three nutrients have played the most significant role in diet plans. While some suggest we should mostly stick to protein, others say we need a perfect balance of all three. What the macro diet says is that all three so-called ‘macros’ have important roles to play in our diet. Although micronutrients are also present in food, they aren’t as critical to our diet because we consume them in much smaller quantities. We realize that might have been a lot of information to “digest,” so we recommend reading up on material from subject experts like myDNA, that have the personnel and experience needed to help you get your diet straight and your weight right.
Components of Macro Dieting
The three macronutrients are fat, protein, and carbohydrates. How does each component contribute to the overall diet?
1. Carbohydrates
Firstly, consuming carbohydrates is essential for our bodies because we break all carbs down into glucose. While some glucose is used for an instant energy boost, the rest is stored away in the muscles and liver. In truth, experts have debated carbohydrates for many decades because of the high-calorie content.
Rather than immediately using your daily carbohydrate intake on pasta and potatoes, remember that healthier sources of carbs exist. For example, this includes fruit, vegetables (starch-based), and beans.
2. Proteins
Next up, there are proteins, and they actually have a very similar calorie count per gram to carbs. However, proteins are generally healthier and do some critical work around the body. Where will you find protein? The mind probably automatically jumps to meat, but protein is also found in the following:
- Fish
- Lentils
- Eggs
- Tofu
- Nuts
- Beans
- Legumes
If you’re wondering why protein is vital in a diet, it actually contributes to lots of bodily functions, including hormones, the immune system, tissue building, enzymes, and more.
3. Fats
Fat is bad, and we should always stay away, right? Well, actually, this isn’t the case. There are certainly bad fats, but there are also good sources of fat. Rather than continually eating takeaways and chocolate, you can get much-needed fat from butter, avocado, nuts, meat, and fatty fish.
Why do humans need fat in their diet? Because it’s used for hormone production, energy, nutrient absorption, and body temperature. By removing fat from your diet, you can actually deprive your body of important resources.
Benefits of the Macro Diet
There are lots of problems with existing diets, especially those that focus on low-calorie foods. For one thing, they only consider one part of what is actually an incredibly complex equation. Just because you’re eating low-calorie foods, this doesn’t actually mean that you’re providing the right conditions for the body to thrive. Often, low-calorie snacks are packed with toxins, sugars, and other nasties.
Instead of focusing on calories, the idea with macro dieting is to prioritize nutrients. Put it this way, an apple can contain the same number of calories as something unhealthier. Of course, the apple is a better choice because of the nutrients it provides for the body. With nutrients at the forefront of all decisions, your body gets what it needs without restriction. You aren’t starving yourself. You aren’t making life disappointing or frustrating. You’re simply eating with nutrients in mind. To find your macro diet ratio, use an online calculator today (this is based on size, activity, and age!).
