Hello, my friends! I have been anxiously waiting to get something off of my chest for sometime. This something is the current macronutrient craze. It seems that no matter where you turn these days, there are health and fitness blogs and websites going on and on about macronutrient ratios. Social media has exploded with people reporting that they “have stayed within their macronutrient ratios for the day!”
Although I believe that it’s wise to use macronutrients for your unique needs, the recent hype has caused us to lose sight of a very important nutritional truth. Specifically, we have lost sight that food can play two different roles. First, food can serve as FUEL, and that is exactly what macronutrients are. Macronutrients are your carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. All of these host metabolic roles, and all of them can ultimately be used for energy.
The second role of food is NUTRITION! Nutrition is concerned with what nobody seems to be talking about: MICRONUTRIENTS! Micronutrients are your vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, enzymes, co-enzymes, co-factors, carotenoids, secondary nutrients, and so forth. These nutrients are most abundantly found in whole, organic, and natural foods that come from Mother Nature herself.
Yet, I still continue to see YouTube videos and blogs with so-called fitness experts talking all about their macronutrient ratios as they hold up their protein shakes. They talk incessantly about protein, protein, and more protein! Many of the foods that I see are pre-packaged and commercialized protein bars, shakes, and low-fat products that are, for the most part, NUTRITIONALLY BANKRUPT! Take, for example, your average protein bar that is glorified for its ability to boost up your protein macro. These bars are often times loaded with sugar and/or artificial sweeteners, such as sucralose that actually STRIP NUTRITION FROM YOUR BODY because they themselves do not host the nutrients necessary to support a healthy metabolism!
If you consider that nearly every metabolic reaction in the human body requires enzymes, and then you further consider that processed foods are VOID of enzymes, then you quickly realize that your body is going to be forced to get those enzymes from somewhere–and that somewhere is YOU! So at the end of the day, that YouTube “expert” may be patting himself on the back for hitting their “macros,” yet they did it with foods that lack nutritional power! Your body is, therefore, forced to make up the difference as you scratch your head and wonder why you are so tired?
Again, I am ALL FOR macronutrient tracking if it is motivated by TRUE health and nutrition, NOT just for weight loss, which is NOT synonymous with health. Why not get the best of both worlds? It is entirely possible to get the physique that you want by eating whole, natural foods while avoiding the side effects of these “sports supplements.” So be good to your body by feeding it natural foods that take care of EVERY nutritional need that you have. Your body will thank you for it!
Life is Good!
