The most critical issue that can stand between you and a perfect body is your diet. You can exercise long and hard. If the diet is bad, you won’t see too many results

With the scientific discovery regarding the macromolecule, eating has become harder to do. Eat more protein, do high-fat diets, don’t eat carbs. It just can be overwhelming. So let’s see what the body really needs to look good and be healthy.

Fat

When you hear about fat you immediately think of bad food. Right? But this is not necessarily correct. Fat is a significant component of the diet and most probably you are not consuming it enough.

Fat is good for several reasons. It is good for testosterone, for your heart and for your muscles. It is a critical coating for nerves that will speed up the conduction down the nerve. This means that every neurochemical signal that is sent through your body is done efficiently.

Also, fat has a thing to say regarding the eicosanoids. These are hormones essential for blood pressure, inflammation, and even blood clotting. So let’s see what kind of fats are there and makes them different.

Monounsaturated Fat

Monounsaturated fats come from high-fat fruits such as almonds, avocados, walnuts, pistachios, and cashews. It is also found in olive oil.

This fat type helps you to lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. Moreso, they help in the fight with pounds and may even reduce body fat levels.

Polyunsaturated Fat

Just as monounsaturated fats, the help polyunsaturated fat fights bad cholesterol. This type is found in salmon, sunflower oil, fish oil,  and seeds. Polyunsaturated fats also contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These compounds are also known as essential fatty acids due to their importance. They cannot be synthesized by our bodies and it is highly important to take them from food.

Saturated Fat

This type is not considered to be a very good one, but this is a totally bad interpretation.

Recent studies have shown that saturated fats are not the cause of obesity. Even more, they are not the cause of heart disease. Saturated fat is one of the best sources of fuel for our bodies. This is the scientifical explanation for why the body stores carbohydrates as saturated fat.

Also, it was proven that diets that allow the ingestion of saturated fats often lead to a smaller amount of consumed calories.

Trans Fat

These are the wors fats out there. Trans fats are found in most fried foods, such as French fries. Sorry about that. This means that they don’t find themselves naturally in meals, but are created by us when we process the food. So, you should stay away from pre-packed, deep-fried foods as much as possible.

Carbs

Carbs can be found in many forms. Even though they have a bad reputation,  some carbs are good for you. The bad carbs usually highly processed. They are delicious most of the time, but they’re also mostly made in a lab.

This doesn’t mean you should never eat processed carbs. You can include some processed carbs too in your diet, as long as it’s a minimal amount of the overall amount you eat.

So, as I’ve said, there many forms of carbs, simple and complex. They are made up of sugar molecules. These molecules are broken down by our body and used as fuel. Especially when we are working hard. The basic parts of carbs are sugars, starches, and fiber.

Simple Carbohydrates include table sugar, syrup, and soda and you should avoid them as much as possible. They are also known as “bad carbs”. They can also be found in foods such as cookies, beer or candy.

Complex carbohydrates include oatmeal, apples, cardboard, and peas. They may appear to be better, but they are not. This happens because the body takes both complex and simple carbohydrates and breaks them into sugar to fuel the muscles and organs. However, complex carbs are not as easily divided as simple ones.

Another way to rate the carbohydrate quality is through the glycemic index (GI). This index classifies foods by how quickly they break down and how high they boost blood sugar levels.

The truth is that it’s probably better to eat low GI foods than high ones, but they won’t make a big difference in your waistline. Unfortunately, if you stay away from carbs it will not mean that it is a magical way to lose fat. The secret is to the right amount of healthy foods that will boost your metabolism and help you burn fat.

The main fact is that our bodies need carbs even though some diets forbid them. They have a very important role when exercising. Without this macromolecule, the body will break down your muscle tissue to fuel your body and you won’t get the results that you want.

A research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that a lower carb diet to a higher carb diet showed no significant difference in fat loss, metabolism, or muscle retention compared to a higher carb diet

Protein

When it comes to protein, there is no doubt about its qualities. It is the favorite macronutrient for all kind of trainers: bodybuilders, athletes or fitness fanatics.

Protein is involved in multiple activities such as the anabolic hormonal environment and in providing the materials used to build your muscles.

There are two categories of protein: complete and incomplete.

This nutrient is made out of amino acids, from which 9 of them can only be obtained from food and are not manufactured by the body:

• Tryptophan
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Valine
• Leucine
• Histidine
• Isoleucine

So, a complete protein is the one that contains these nine amino acids. On the other hand, an incomplete protein is one that is lacking in one or more of those amino acids.

These amino acids are directly responsible for your metabolic rate and muscular growth. Therefore are very important and can be found in foods such as eggs, cheese, fish, red meat.

There are some voices that say too much protein can damage your kidneys. But this is not a demonstrated fact. However, if you are known to have a kidney issue, you should consult your doctor before starting a high-protein diet.

Last, but not least, protein helps you burn fat, but don’t forget that calories are still calories regardless of their provenience.