Key Nutrients

Hey guys,

I am always amazed that people do not know the functions that their food items (& nutrients within those items) play. That said, many adults don't even know what nutrients are derived from foods they're eating, despite most being clearly labeled.

Below is a list of our key nutrients and the main function that they perform.

Protein – repair & growth of tissue (including MUSCLE!)
Carbohydrate – primary energy source
Fat – secondary energy source
Vitamins & Minerals – regulate metabolic processes.
Water – transportation of other nutrients

Please visit www.GymProfessor.com for more information on nutrients.

All the best,

GP

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Author of the bestseller Gym Workouts - Maps to Success

Inventor of Gym Professor Shuffle free gym workout app.

Key Nutrients & Their Functions

I am always amazed that many people do not know the function/s that their food items (& nutrients within those food items) play. That said, many aren't too sure what nutrients are derived from those food items that they're eating, despite most being clearly labeled. 

Below is a list of our key nutrients and the main function that they perform. Please click on each for more info.

Protein – repair & growth of tissue (including MUSCLE!).
Carbohydrate – primary energy source.
Fat – secondary energy source.
Vitamins & Minerals – regulate metabolic processes.
Water – transportation of other nutrients.

For further information on nutrients, please visit www.GymProfessor.com .

Best regards,

GP

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Key Nutrients & Their Functions

I, GP, am always amazed that people do not know the functions that their food items (& nutrients within those items) play. That said, many adults don't even know what nutrients are derived from foods they're eating, despite most being clearly labeled. Below is a list of our key nutrients and the main function that they perform. Click on each for more in-depth information.

Protein – repair & growth of tissue

Carbohydrate – primary energy source

Fat – secondary energy source

Vitamins & Minerals – regulate metabolic processes.

Water – transportation of other nutrients

Best regards,

GP

www.gymprofessor.com

Protein

Protein, the second most abundant substance in the human body (second only to water) and with functions as varied as providing structure and repair (& growth) of tissue (skin, bone, MUSCLE), to preventing and fighting infection, protein is suitably named (from the Greek word meaning "of first importance").

Proteins are made up of smaller sub-units called Amino Acids.

For further information, please be sure to follow these posts & visit the Gym Professor website.

For now, all the best,

Gym P.

P.S. Below are a list of related topics, we'll look at soon:

Amino Acids

Dietary Protein

Nitrogen Balance

Protein Requirements

Protein Source Comparisons

Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)

Biological Value (BV)

Net Protein Utilisation (NPU)

Protein Fractions

Protein Supplementation

Key Nutrients

I, Gym P, am always amazed that people do not know the functions that their food items (& nutrients within those food items) play. That said, many adults don't even know what nutrients are derived from certain foods they're eating, despite most being clearly labeled. Below is a list of our key nutrients and the main function that they perform. I covered carbohydrates in brief on my lost post, and will cover the remainder in more detail in periodic future posts. If you require further information in the meantime, please CLICK HERE to visit the Gym Professor website.

Protein – repair & growth of tissue
Carbohydrate – primary energy source
Fat – secondary energy source
Vitamins & Minerals – regulate metabolic processes.
Water – transportation of other nutrients

Over and out,

Gym P.

W: gymprofessor.com

B: gymprofessor.blogspot.com

T: twitter.com/GymProfessor 

Key Nutrients - Carbohydrates

In short, carbohydrates are foods that provide you with energy - carbohydrates being your primary energy source. Second being fats and finally protein. Hopefully, breads, cereals, rice, pasta, fruit and vegetables being your main sources of carbohydrates throughout the day.

Broken down through the digestive process, carbohydrates are metabolised into Glucose - some going to fuel brain activity and most of the remainder stored in the liver and muscles as Glycogen.

There are three categories of carbohydrates - Monosaccharides (simple sugars), Disaccharides (dual combination of simple sugars), Polysaccharides (chain of simple sugars, Starches). Simple sugars and starches are commonly referred to as simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates respectively. Simple carbohydrates are foods that give a quick increase in blood sugars, complex carbohydrates giving a slow increase in blood sugars. Most food items are now labelled with a ranking system (Glycemic Index) to indentify this.

To find out more, please visit gymprofessor.com

Best regards,

GP 

Minerals

Minerals help to regulate our metabolic processes. Minerals cannot be synthesised in sufficient quantities by the body and so they must be received from our diet (in trace quantities). Subsequently, those with poor diets (& not in some cases) may be deficient in certain minerals and suffer ill-effects associated with those deficiencies. Despite many active people having a healthy diet, active people are perhaps more aware of what effects depletion of certain minerals can cause, which can become more apparent with vigorous exercise, therefore, many sports people will supplement a multi-vitamin and mineral as a matter of course.

Dietary minerals are inorganic compounds. Some are scientific minerals, such as salt, whereas others are elements, such as zinc and magnesium.

Visit the Gym Professor web site to find out more about the following Minerals:
Boron
Calcium
Cobalt
Copper
Chromium
Iodine
Iron
Manganese
Magnesium
Molybdenum
Phosphorus
Potassium
Selenium
Sodium Chloride
Zinc

Key Nutrients - Fat

Fat is our secondary energy source, the first being carbohydrates. Fats are our most concentrated form of energy - we derive 9 food calories (kcals) from a gram of fat, compared to 4 kcals per gram of protein or carbohydrates.

Fat acts as an energy reserve and is stored as fatty tissue (located subcutaneously & surrounding organs). An 'ideal' bodyfat percentage depends on your age and exercise regimen and there are obvious related health implications should you have too much, or too little, fat storage.

Saturated and unsaturated are the two fat classification within our foods. Foods high in saturated fat often recognised as being the 'unhealthy' option.

Visit GymProfessor.com to find out more about the following:

Saturated Fat
Unsaturated Fat
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's)
Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT's)
Trans Fats
Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins

Vitamins help to regulate our metabolic processes. Vitamins were named by a Polish biochemist called Kazimierz Funk (that's a cool name!). Vitamins being the abbreviation of vita amines - 'vita' meaning life in Latin and 'amin' as he believed them to be amines (an organic compound that contains a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair), which unfortunately we now know to be untrue (perhaps a better name would've been Funksters). Anyway, as touched upon with minerals, a lack of vitamins through our dietary sources can result in related problems. An extreme example of the effects of a prolonged lack of certain vitamins within our diet, is the disease Scurvy, which is due to a deficiency of vitamin C. Scurvy was a common disease with seafarers of old with limited food sources.

Fat-soluble vitamins - A, D, E & K - are able to be stored in the body, whereas water-soluble vitamins - B & C - are not.

To find out more about the following, follow this blog or visit the Gym Professor website.

Vitamin A (Retinol)
Vitamin B Complex
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
Vitamin D (Calciferol)
Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Vitamin K
Choline & Inositol
PABA