Law #6: MASTER MACRONUTRIENTS

A healthy body and mind allow you to focus on your goals, and your diet significantly impacts both body and mind. Nearly all of the food you consume, alcohol and water excluded, represent three critical macronutrients—proteins, carbs, and fats. Often shortened “macros,” these are energy-supplying nutrients in food. Regardless of your training program—whether you’re losing or gaining weight or simply maintaining your current weight—or whether you live a sedentary lifestyle, all three nutrients are essential for your diet to maintain a healthy and happy body. These nutrients give you energy and are the components your body needs to maintain its systems and structures. Indeed, all three comprise a healthy, complete diet, and health and longevity demand that you learn how to incorporate them into your diet. 

Protein. Your body uses protein to grow and repair cells and function properly. Proteins are made of amino acids—the building blocks of your body’s tissues, from muscles to hair to nails. Your body needs an adequate amount of protein, without which your tissues cannot correctly grow and repair themselves. Inadequate protein can lead to health complications like swelling, weakness and fatigue, mood changes, skin problems, slow-healing injuries, and more. Foods rich in protein are filling and can help you feel satiated, which is particularly useful when cutting calories. Quality protein sources include meat and fish, eggs, dairy products, seeds and nuts, and legumes like beans and lentils. Proteins provide four calories per gram.

Carbohydrates. Carbs are your body’s preferred source of energy. Foods with a high concentration of carbs are essential for a healthy diet, providing the body with needed glucose. Your body converts glucose to the energy it needs to support physical activity and day-to-day bodily functions. Foods rich in carbs include rice, pasta, bread, legumes, corn, potato, cereal, fruit, milk, yogurt, sugar, cakes, and cookies. But the quality of the carbs you consume is important. Pastries, candy, white bread, and sodas represent less healthy sources of carbs, while fruits, beans, whole grains, and vegetable sources of carbs promote health. Carbs provide four calories per gram.

Fat. In one of the most significant examples of food demonization, fats were the root of all evil as early as the 1960s. Any macronutrient taken in too much excess will cause an undesired effect, and fat is no exception. But fat is essential in the human diet and should be welcomed for its dietary benefit. On its own, your body cannot make essential fatty acids that store critical vitamins like A, D, E, and K. You must consume sufficient dietary fat to allow your body to store these fat-soluble vitamins. This necessary macronutrient also fills fat cells, insulates your body, promotes hair and skin health, and protects organs, contributing to proper brain development, efficient blood clotting, and inflammatory control. Check this source to learn the difference between saturated, trans, triglycerides, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. Fats provide nine calories per gram.

1. Learn how much of each macro you need. If you’re unclear about how many grams of each macro you should consume daily, check this source or consult a qualified dietitian or nutritionist.

2. Adjust macro ratios depending on your goals. Depending on your goals—particularly if you seek to gain or lose rather than maintain your weight—you may benefit from an adjusted macro ratio. Different sources share varying suggestions about how to break down your daily calories against proteins, carbs, and fat, so do your research or opt for a customized plan with a nutritionist.

3. Start with your body’s calorie needs. Your body has unique nutritional requirements based on age, height, weight, physical composition, and environment. The best way to determine your body‘s daily caloric intake needs is to start with a resting metabolic rate (RMR) test. Sometimes interchangeably listed as a basal metabolic rate (BMR) test, the results are often quite similar, although these variables are not the same. If you live in an area where you can get an RMR test, that will be the best option for a precise estimate of your daily calorie burn. If you do not have access to a test, use this tool to estimate your BMR, which also gives fairly precise results based on decades of research and data aggregation. Once you have one of these metabolic rates, you can easily add calories for any additional exercise you perform. The extra exercise may be to lose weight, gain muscle, or increase your endurance. Depending on those goals, you can decide how many calories you need to intake. For instance, if you’re trying to lose weight, you may consume your entire BMR/RMR calories but not the additional calories you burn through exercise to operate at a caloric deficit. On the other hand, if you are trying to gain muscle, you may consume your BMR/RMR calories, the additional calories you burn through exercise, and extra protein calories to support muscle growth. Finally, if you want to simply maintain your current weight, you may consume your BMR/RMR calories and any additional calories you burn through exercise without eating a surplus. Once you know how many calories you need to take in, you can apply your desired macro ratio to the calories to figure out how many grams of each you should consume.

4. Opt for whole fruit instead of juice. While carbs are essential to your daily diet, the types of carbs you consume matter. Drinking 12 ounces of orange juice will deliver twice the sugar and only half the fiber as an orange. Go with the whole fruit for the healthiest benefit.

5. Track your macros. Whether you like to write things in a notebook, track calories and macros in Excel, or use an app like one of these, tracking your macros can help you keep medical conditions under control or achieve body goals like building muscle or losing weight.

6. Get a food scale and measuring cups. Without adequate means to measure food and drink, you’ll be unable to manage portion sizes effectively and track your macros. A food scale or measuring cups and spoons will help you figure out how much you’re consuming to accurately track your portions.

7. Don’t become obsessed or stressed. If you’re out in a social setting, you probably won’t have a food scale with you to figure out portion sizes, and that’s okay once in a while. Measure food at home but feel at ease on special occasions, and use these tips to estimate portion sizes.

“Food is fuel and not a solution to anything other than giving your body nutrients. I love chocolate like the next girl, but it's not going to change my situation.”

- Gabrielle Reece

“I live by the philosophy that beauty starts from within, and I make a conscious effort to fill my body with nutrients through the food I eat.”

- Miranda Kerr

“A great way to get all the right nutrients is to make a colorful plate - mix of good vegetables, carbohydrates, and protein. If you notice all your vegetables are green, change it up and add another color for a variety of benefits in one meal.”

- Summer Sanders

“The food we eat goes beyond its macronutrients of carbohydrates, fat and protein. It's information. It interacts with and instructs our genome with every mouthful, changing genetic expression.”

- David Perlmutter

“The history of modern nutritionism has been a history of macronutrients at war: protein against carbs; carbs against proteins, and then fats; fats against carbs.”

- Michael Pollan

“The key to excellent health and longevity is to eat a high ratio of micronutrients to macronutrients.”

- Joel Fuhrman

“First and foremost, my involvement within the Olympic pursuit and Games were obviously surrounded by only putting the absolute best nutrients into my body.”

- Apolo Ohno

I’ve dedicated this year to reconstructing my body—dropping excess fat picked up over the years and gaining muscle to return to 10-13% body fat. This journey required me to reevaluate my relationship with food and learn how to track calories and macronutrients better. I invested in a professional trainer and have also spent dozens of hours researching meal plans, optimal macronutrient breakdowns for my goals, and how to customize food intake to fit my body at every step of the weight-loss/muscle-building journey.

I value the artful science behind fueling the body with food that allows it to conquer just about any physical task. I’m a little over halfway through the year of my program, and I’m happy with the results so far. At my last checking, I’d dropped over 50 lbs of fat and added over 20 lbs of muscle so far, and most of the fat loss is attributed to quality exercise and managing my macronutrient intake. I’m excited to see what the rest of this year’s journey has in store.

Never avoid critical knowledge. Appropriately fueling your body is so vital to your physical and mental health, as well as your longevity. Learning how to develop a quality, diverse, balanced diet of macronutrients is critical regardless of your goals or health condition.