Essential Nutrients

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 Carbohydrates
 Protein
 Fat
 Vitamins
 Minerals
 Water

Experts classify nutrients as “essential” because your body cannot make

them, yet requires these nutrients for growth, maintenance, repair, and so
much more.

“Essential nutrients are compounds that the body can’t make or can’t make
in sufficient quantity,” says Mandy Ferriera. “According to the World Health
Organization, these nutrients must come from food, and they’re vital for
disease prevention, growth, and good health.”

Essential nutrients can be grouped into 6 categories: Carbohydrate,

protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water.

 Carbohydrates, protein, and fat are macronutrients because

they make up most of your diet.
 Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients because you need them in
much smaller amounts. Smaller doesn’t mean unimportant:
Deficiencies in specific vitamins and minerals can create massive
problems. Interestingly, experts classify water as a micronutrient,
even though you might drink liters or gallons daily.

As you’ll see with this overview, all 6 categories of essential nutrients play
unique fundamental and often overlapping roles in health and wellbeing.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates encompass three categories: Fiber, starch, and sugar.
Among macronutrients, they frequently become oversimplified or
miscategorized. Will carbohydrates make you fat, or should you make
them 45-65% of your total daily calories like the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans recommends?
Experts and media reports don’t help. One day, you’ll read that the right
carbs can keep you lean and healthy; the next, you’ll hear that some
celebrity avoided carbs and lost 50 pounds.

Simple or Complex Carbohydrates?

To further complicated matters, dividing carbohydrates into simple or

complex subcategories (as experts once did) has become outdated.

“The whole complex simple carb idea has retired to the dustbin of history,”
says Mark Hyman, MD, in What the Heck Should I Eat? “What matters is
how much a particular carb raises your blood sugar.”

Hyman says two slices of “healthy” whole wheat bread — a complex

carbohydrate — raise your blood sugar more than eating two tablespoons
of table sugar!

True, healthy carbohydrates contain more nutrients and fiber. Because

your body digests them more slowly, they fill you up faster.

Sugar, on the other hand, absorbs quickly, spiking blood glucose levels to

give you a short-term boost that soon leaves you crashing.

If you’ve ever had a cola or candy bar and got a “quick fix,” but quickly felt
tired (and oddly enough, craving more sugar), you know that feeling.
Because sugar contains no nutrients, experts call it an “empty-calorie” food.

Many processed foods and drinks contain more sugar than you might
realize. A 12-ounce cola (small, by today’s standards) contains a
whopping 10 teaspoons. Those numbers add up quickly.

Some surveys show the average American consumes about 152 pounds of
sugar and 133 pounds of flour that converts to sugar annually, says
Hyman. That’s about a pound of sugar every day!

Choosing the right carbohydrates, then, becomes fundamental to having

steady blood sugar levels and getting sufficient nutrients for vital health. In
general, the least-processed carbohydrates make your best sources.

These nature-packaged foods — low-sugar fruits like berries as well as

leafy and cruciferous greens — don’t have barcodes or ingredient lists, and
they come intact with the correct ratio of nutrients.

 
Protein
Protein — or more accurately, the 20 amino acids your body derives from
protein — provides your body the building blocks for muscle, bone, skin,
hair, and so much more.

Protein helps build hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. DNA and

important antioxidants like glutathione require protein. In fact, every cell in
your body contains and requires protein.

You can understand, then, why “protein” comes from the Greek word
meaning primary.  Unlike carbohydrates or dietary fat, your body so we
must get this macronutrient from food or supplements.

Protein breaks down into two categories: Essential and non-essential

amino acids.

 The nine essential amino acids are those your body cannot make.

You must get them from food or supplements.
 The remaining 11 amino acids your body can synthesize, making
them non-essential.
 Of those 11 non-essential amino acids, six classify as  conditionally
essential. In other words, some people must get these amino acids
from food or supplements.

How much dietary protein you need depends on numerous factors

including your age, level of physical activity, and your overall health.
Certain demographics — including people with chronic illnesses, athletes,
and pregnant or breastfeeding moms — require additional protein.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

Your body goes through 300 – 400 grams of protein daily, but that doesn’t
mean you need that much since you can recycle used proteins.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends the average adult get about
0.36 grams of protein per pound. For a 150-pound person, that would
be about 54 grams of protein per day. Some experts believe that number is
too low, especially considering the numerous roles protein plays.

Protein comes from many sources including cold-water fish, grass-fed beef,
nuts, seeds, and legumes.
Whereas most animal foods contain all the essential amino acids, many
plant foods are low or absent in at least one essential amino acid. Some
plant proteins are also less bioavailable than animal protein.

That doesn’t mean vegans and vegetarians can’t get sufficient protein from
plant foods. You just need to be more mindful and incorporate plenty of
protein-rich foods like nuts and seeds.

Fat
For decades, health experts believed fat was unhealthy. After all, eating fat
makes you fat, right? Not quite. As with carbohydrates, the answer is more
complex.

Three Types of Fat: Saturated, Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated

Dietary fat (scientifically called lipids) falls into three categories:

 Saturated fats are generally solid or waxy at room temperature. You

mostly find them in animal products and a few oils such as coconut
oil.
 Monounsaturated fats have a “heart-healthy” glow because research
shows many foods rich in them (including olive oil) can reduce your
risk for cardiovascular-related problems. They contain one double
bond, hence the name monounsaturated. Many sources of
monounsaturated fat are rich in the fat-soluble antioxidant vitamin E.
 Polyunsaturated fats contain more than one double bond, making
them more unstable than other fats. That fishy smell? Fish are high in
unstable polyunsaturated fats, which can go rancid quickly.
Polyunsaturated fats include omega-3 and omega-6 fats, which
are considered essential for brain function, cell growth, and more
because your body cannot make them.
o You’ll find omega-3 fatty acids in cold-water fish, flaxseeds,
and walnuts. The primary omega-3 is alpha-linolenic acid, which your
body can theoretically convert to the longer-chain omega-3 fatty
 acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid
(DHA).
o You’ll find omega-6 fatty acids in vegetable oils, nuts, and
seeds. The primary omega-6 is linoleic acid, which your body
converts into longer-chain omega-6s.

Very few foods contain just one type of fat. A grass-fed steak contains
some saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat.

You Need Fat

Your body requires healthy fats for many roles, including:

 Absorbing vitamins and minerals, building cells, muscle movement,

and blood clotting.
 Balancing your blood sugar levels.
 Keeping your brain operating at peak levels.
 Lowering your risk of arthritis, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.

So why did dietary fat get a bad rep? That answer is complicated and
involves politics as well as nutritional misunderstanding.

But fat can make you fat? Well, foods rich in dietary fat are more calorie-
dense: Whereas protein and carbohydrate contain four calories per gram,
fat contains nine per gram.

Hormones, Good Fats, and Bad Fats

While too many calories can contribute to weight gain, hormones matter

more. And overall, healthy dietary fat positively impacts hormones
that regulate satiety and appetite.

Some dietary fats — including saturated fat — are still hotly debated. For
these, the source matters: The saturated fat you get in healthy foods like
coconut oil is different than what you eat in a fast-food cheeseburger.

Likewise, omega-3 fatty acids get classified as good while omega-6 fatty
acids are bad. That’s not always the case: A few omega-6 fatty acids, like
gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), are actually anti-inflammatory.

Additionally, many healthy foods including nuts and seeds contain omega-6
fatty acids. Many of us simply eat too many omega-6 fatty acids — about
20 times more, in fact — and not enough anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty
acids. Balance becomes key with these two fatty acids.
The one dietary fat nearly everyone agrees is bad: Trans fats. But there’s
an exception within every rule: Some dairy and meats contain naturally
occurring trans fats. The truly bad ones are “partially hydrogenated” fats
you find in some vegetable oils and processed foods.

Vitamins
Vitamins are organic compounds you require in small quantities, either
because your body does not produce enough or doesn’t make that nutrient
at all.

Your body can synthesize vitamin D from sunlight, and gut

bacteria produce some vitamin K, but for the most part, you need to get
vitamins from food or supplements.

Water-soluble and Fat-soluble

The 13 known vitamins fall into two categories: Water-soluble or fat-

soluble. The body cannot store water-soluble vitamins, which quickly
excrete in your urine and need to be replaced more often than fat-soluble
vitamins.

Many vitamins carry alternate names or come in different forms:

 Researchers sometimes refer to vitamin C as ascorbic acid.

 Vitamin D comes as ergocalciferol (D2) or cholecalciferol (D3).
 Vitamin E comes in eight isomers: Four tocopherols and four
tocotrienols.
 The 8 B vitamins work as a team, and you’ll often find all of them in a
B-complex formula.

When you read a food or supplement label, the nutrient breakdown will
typically be clear as to amounts of specific vitamins. In other words, it might
read “vitamin D (as D3).”

Deficiencies in any specific vitamin can create widespread problems that

span from mild to life-threatening.

For instance, intaking insufficient pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) can create
a “pins and needles feeling.” On the other hand, vitamin B6 deficiencies
can create anemia, peripheral neuropathy, or damage to parts of the
nervous system other than the brain and spinal cord.
Most vitamin recommendations come largely from guidelines set by the
Institute of Medicine, which typically recommends amounts in milligrams
(mg), micrograms (mcg), or until recently international units (IU).

Some experts believe these vitamins recommendations are too low,

making supplementing necessary.  Even with a healthy diet, cooking,
storage, and exposure to air can deactivate these fragile compounds.

Minerals
While both are micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals differ in that minerals
are inorganic and hold onto their chemical structure. This makes minerals
more stable, but other obstacles, including soil depletion, mean we might
not get sufficient amounts from food.

Like vitamins, minerals support numerous bodily functions, including

building and maintaining healthy bones and teeth, supporting muscle
function, optimizing immunity, and energy production.

Major and Trace Minerals

Minerals fall into two categories: Major and trace minerals.

 Your body requires and stores large amounts of calcium,

magnesium, and other major minerals. You’ll often find these in
milligrams (mg).
 Trace minerals come in smaller amounts (usually micrograms or
mcg), but they are equally important. Trace minerals include
chromium, selenium, and zinc.

Mineral deficiencies can create widespread problems. Take magnesium,

which plays a role in over 300 enzyme systems, including protein
synthesis, muscle, and nerve function, controlling blood glucose, and
regulating blood pressure. Chronic diseases, medications, and getting
insufficient amounts from food are among the reasons many people are at
risk for magnesium deficiencies.

Like vitamins, minerals interact with each other. Too much of one mineral
can create imbalances in another. Too much manganese, for instance,
can trigger iron deficiencies. Others, such as magnesium or chromium,
perform therapeutically on their own in higher doses for specific conditions.
Note: Consider conferring with a healthcare practitioner before using larger
amounts of individual nutrients.

Water
You can survive for weeks without food, but water? While some experts
speculate up to a week, 3 or 4 days might be more accurate.
(Note: Don’t try this science experiment at home!)

Overall, about 60% of your body is water. Your brain and heart are about
73% water. Muscles and kidneys, about 79%. Your skin is made of about
64% water. But the top organ? Your lungs are about 83% water.

Sufficient water intake becomes vital for nearly every bodily function.
“Water can improve energy, increase mental and physical performance,
remove toxins and waste from your body, keep your skin healthy and
glowing, and may even help you lose weight,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D.,
in The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Your body constantly loses water via sweat, urinating, and even breathing.
Dehydration can occur more easily than you might imagine, and its
repercussions can jeopardize your health and even become fatal.

How Much Water Do You Need?

How much water you require depends on numerous factors including age,
gender, health status, and physical performance. The average adult man
needs about 3 liters per day, whereas an adult female needs about 2.2
liters daily.

Yes, you can get some of that from food, but you’ll want to get most from
clean, filtered drinking water.

Emphasis on clean and filtered. “There are hundreds of chemicals,

pollutants, and toxic metals (mercury, arsenic, etc.) that have the potential
to wind up in our water,” says Bowden.

A good rule of thumb is half your body weight in water ounces every day. If
you weigh 160 pounds, that’s about 80 ounces of water. Keep a BPA-free
canteen nearby filled throughout the day to meet that quota.