Beginner’s Guide to “Gettin’ them Gains” on a Vegan Diet. Part 2: Macros
Last time we looked at Calories, and why you should count them. This week we will look at what Macro Nutrients are, and why you should count them. Applied maths, super cool!
Macro-nutrients
Calories are made up of three (well four) different components called “Macro-Nutrients” or “Macros, brah.” These are Carbohydrates, Fats, and Protein.
Now let me straight up tell you that, despite what you may have heard touted in those girly magazines that sell you terrible sex tips and stomach fat burning workouts (hint; they don’t work, see here) or those Men’s fitness magazines that sell you terrible sex tips and stomach fat burning workouts (see above,) none of these fellas are bad for you. In fact, you downright need them to not die, and that’s (probably) a good thing.
Carbohydrates are your bodies go to for energy use. They come in different complexities, and this affects how easy it is for your stomach to break down and transfer them from food into usable energy, which is called glucose. For example, sugar starts to be broken down the minute it enters your mouth (the simplest sugars you can eat are literally glucose,) while oats take more time for your stomach to get through and make usable by, you guessed it, converting it into glucose. Some, called fibre, are so complex that your body can’t process them into energy can’t and shoots these back out of you, aiding “digestive transit.” Why does this matter you may ask? Because different Carbs have different usefulness. Eating more complex carbohydrates allows for a slower and steadier release of energy due to being slower to digest, while simpler sugars supply a sudden influx of usable energy, which is exactly what you need during sports when energy demands are high.
Fat, the accursed, the dreaded, but also the best friend and saviour, dependent on which #celebritydiet your girlfriend/boyfriend/sorry-self is following, is an essential nutrient that keeps your body ticking over and, you know, functioning. It is what your body stores excess energy as, in the form of fat (duh) and is your bodies secondary preferred source of energy after Carbs. This is because it takes longer to break down fats for energy than it does to use the available Carbs. Fats are essential for maintaining skin and hair, and in those smart people you watch, brain development and function.
Protein, as in from “where do you get it from, Brah?” fame is used for many things, most importantly to the theme of this website, for getting those, ahem, GAINZtm, but also for things like skin and hair, bones, hormones and many other less important (ahem) things. Protein is generally not stored very well as it is needed for many functions, but when required through stimulus (read; exercise), it is stored as muscle, which is obviously awesome.
It’s about Nazis and Balance.
They key here is to remember that no macro-nutrient is bad. Everything is Poisonous in excess, so its about amount not total avoidance. Cyanide is the poison the Nazis used to kill themselves by having small pills that were breakable in the mouth and would kill quickly. Also, apples have Cyanide in them. Eat enough apples and you would die from Cyanide poisoning. It would only take eating 20 apples, core and all, to kill a grown man.
Well now you’re probably staring at the silent killers in your food bowl, those delicious fruity bastards, that shiny Red Malicious. Chill, Holmes. Eat your apple. Are you going to eat twenty in one sitting, seeds and all? Probably not. That Cyanide is in such trace amounts that you will be totally fine, obviously. It’s the quantity that makes the poison, and everything is poisonous in excess. Everything fallows this rule. Water can both keep you alive and drown you in the right amounts. Sugar can both aid and hinder in the right amounts. Don’t avoid water, don’t avoid sugars, just get your balance right. Do avoid Nazis though. They are always bad.
Calorific Density
Oh yeah, and we left out one more Marco. Alcohol. Why? Because Alcohol, essentially a type of poison that your body turns into fat as part of curing you of it, and is not your friend. It’s also technically a sugar, but it’s more like sugar’s super hard-partying cousin who you should only really engage with in small amounts.
Also, the different macro nutrients have different caloric densities per gram:
- 1 gram of Carbohydrates are worth 4 calories each.
- 1 gram of Protein is worth 4 calories.
- 1 gram of Fats is worth 9 calories.
- 1 gram of Alcohol is wroth 7 calories.
With me so far? No, too complicated? Well lets revise. Your body converts food into energy, which we measure in Calories. Calories are made up of Macro nutrients, Carbohydrates, Fat, Protein and Alcohol, which are used by the body for all its energy needs (or getting drunk.) Different nutrients have different calorific densities per gram, with fats being more than twice as dense as the two other primary sources. Your body will store energy as fat or muscle when it is not needed, dependent on what stimulus is created in calorific surplus. It is also a closed system and therefore energy in= energy out. Pretty simple right?
Except, as we will see in part 3, it’s not really that simple. Hoorah.
