Nutrition basics – Part 2

In the previous article, we gave a good overview of nutrition basics, including an overview of protein, carbohydrates and fat. In this article, we want to show you how to take that information on nutrition and put that all into practice, so that you can design an eating plan that’s best for your fitness goals, body type and lifestyle.

Determining your daily caloric intake

Of course, not everyone should eat the same amount of calories. In fact, the same person may have different caloric requirements at different times depending on their goals.

There are specific formulas that you can apply considering these variables. They are quite simple but know that not every body responds to fitness and nutrition in the same way. This is a guideline and should be tweaked if you are not getting the results you intended.

Nutrient Ratios

So how much of your food intake should be protein? How about carbs or fat? Again, this is to be determined based on your fitness goals and once again, should be tweaked based on the results your seeing. The following are some guidelines that are followed for specific objectives.

The following nutrient ratios are based on someone who is a physically active person. This means that each percentage represents where your calories should be coming from. 

So how does this work exactly? Well, let’s say that your goal is maintenance of body weight and you weigh 120 pounds. Well, you already know that your caloric intake should be 1,680. With a 35/45/20 ratio, you should be consuming approximately 125g of protein, 215g of carbs and 35g of fat.


Food Choices

So what are some of the good food choices you should be making? Well, like we said in part one of this overview, all nutrients are important and specific choices for carbs and fats are also important.

Protein

The following are some excellent sources of protein within a good fitness program:

• Lean beef
• Chicken
• Turkey
• tuna
• Low fat milk
• Almonds
• Eggs and egg whites
• Beans
• Split peas
• Low fat yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Salmon
• Pork tenderloin


Carbohydrates

As we said in the part one of nutrition basics, the carbs that you want to eat, for the most part, are complex carbs. Simply put, you get a better bang for your buck with complex carbs as these carbs will provide you with energy over a longer period of time.

We also say ‘for the most part’ as there is one time you want to eat simple carbs, and that’s immediately following a workout. During a workout, your muscles are torn down, glycogen is depleted, and you may have even entered a catabolic state, which is when your body starts to look to your muscle for energy. That’s a bad thing as you put your hard earned and valuable muscle mass at risk. Simple carbs quickly replace depleted glycogen stores, faster than complex carbs.

So, below is an overview of complex carb choices and simple carb choices. Stick to the complex carb list except for immediately following a workout – at which point reach for a simple carb.

Complex Carbohydrates

• Potatoes
• Brown Rice
• Grains
• Whole wheat pasta
• Yams
• Vegetables
• Oatmeal
• Corn
• Whole wheat bagel
• Beans
• Barley

Simple Carbohydrates

• White bread
• White rice
• Table sugar
• Fruit
• Pasta made with white flour
• Corn syrup
• Honey
• Milk
• Jam
• Most packaged cereal


Fats

In part one, we talked about the good fats and the bad fats. Below, you’ll find a list of the good fats that you’ll want to include to some degree in almost every meal:

• oily fish
• nuts
• avocados
• sunflower, rapeseed and olive oil spreads and vegetable oils
• salmon
• corn
• soy
• omega-3 supplements
• flax seed


The ‘basics’ articles presented here should provide you with a foundation for creating habits for a lifetime of eating well. What you can be certain of is that short-term and fad diets are only temporary and will only give you temporary results. The basics articles have only scratched the surface in what you can do through your nutrition plan to meet your fitness goals. Be sure to check out the other articles on the site to learn more about meal timing, shopping techniques and other ways to change your life and habits for an optimal fit lifestyle.