Introduction
Our body has been made of seven main substances – protein, carbohydrates, fats, roughage, water, vitamins, and minerals salts. These seven substances are also found in our food, which gives us strength. The balance of these seven substances in our body is “Health” and the lack of any one of them or excess of them is a disease. Of all these seven substances, three are major contributors to weight gain, weight loss, and bodybuilding Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat. Nowadays people are taking protein and carbs without knowing the daily requirements of the body and their harmful effects. This post is based on these three substances, we will take them one by one in detail.
Protein - Health Benefits, Daily Requirements, and Precautions
What is Protein?
As we know, protein provides the building blocks needed to grow, repair, and maintain body tissues and organs. The word protein has come from a Greek word that means “I am first”, they are composed of more than seventy amino acids. It is a very necessary substance in building our body and in maintaining it, without protein we would not have any flesh in the body. All the organs of the body are repaired by protein.
Protein is made of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus, but nitrogen is the largest constituent of protein. Through protein, the body is provided with nitrogen which is very important for renewing the skin and maintaining the tissues of the body.
How does protein get digested and what food contains rich protein?
For the assimilation of proteins, the body releases enzymes into the intestinal tract, and enzymes break down the protein into amino acids. These amino acids are absorbed into our bloodstream, and about ten amino acids are essential for good nutrition. Proteins that have a fair balance of these essential amino acids are known as high-quality proteins. Proteins are found in milk, almonds, peanuts, coconut, soybean, pulses, peas, and cereals.
Health benefits and daily requirement of protein
The daily requirement of protein is 45 to 65 grams. Growing children and pregnant women need more protein, though other nutritional substances are also needed. But protein is very necessary. The food, which growing children and pregnant women take, should have enough protein in it because it is needed in building the body of the child as well as that of the embryo in the womb.
Many people who are fatty, generally due to a lack of protein, and the persons who are very thin also lack protein. Hemoglobin in the blood is made of protein, it also increases mental strength. If enough protein is not taken, a person becomes weak, the child does not grow normally, and a wound takes more time to heal.
Harmful effects of too much protein
Just intake of too little protein is harmful the body is also harmed if too much protein is taken, the liver and kidney can be weakened, and age is decreased. People are eating too much meat, which is a protein-rich food, which can increase the problems like indigestion, dehydration, weight gain, intestinal discomfort, and irritability and it can also lead to bad breath.
Carbohydrates - Health Benefits, Daily Requirements, and Precautions
What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, these elements provide us with both heat and energy. The main carbohydrates in our food are starch and sugar, carbs are found in cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
The cereals that contain a large amount of carbohydrates are cluster beans, millet, barley, gram, maize, cow gram, oatmeal, peas, rice, bran, soybean, and wheat. Vegetables that contain a large percentage of carbs are alfalfa, asparagus, bamboo shoots, sugar beet, beans, bitter gourd, brinjal, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, lotus root, drumsticks, ginger, peas, potato, pumpkin, etc. Fruits and dry fruits that contain large amounts of carbs are almonds, apples, apricot, bael, coconut, cashew, guava, jack fruit, cherries, figs, raisins, mango, litchi, musk melon, papaya, peach, strawberry, walnut, pear, orange, pistachio, peanut, etc.
Health Benefits, Daily Requirements, and Precautions
Our body burns carbohydrates all the time so that heat and energy are produced, an average person requires 150 to 250 gm of carbohydrates per day. If we eat more carbs than required, they will convert into glycogen or fat and be stored in our body after the digestion of food. In case, we do not eat sufficient carbohydrates or if a lot of carbs are burnt in our body during exercise or heavy physical work, the reserve in the form of glycogen stored in the liver and muscle is first brought out and utilized and then fat is also used by the body to produce heat and energy.
Conversion of starch and sugar into glycogen and fat is done by the liver, and reconversion of glycogen and fat, so that heat and energy are produced, is also done by the liver. Therefore, the liver is put under great strain if we do not eat a balanced diet. The daily requirement of carbohydrates is about 400 gm a day.
If there are too much carbohydrates in a meal, it causes acidity, therefore the diet should not be of only bread and rice. One should eat vegetables and pulses with rice and bread, those who eat too much carbs suffer from constipation.
Fat - Health Benefits, Daily Requirements, and Precautions
What is Fat?
Fat usually means a source of fatty acids, made up of three molecules joined together. It is required by our body as a concentrated source of energy and for providing some essential fats for lubricating various types of activities and movements within our body. There are two types of fats, first is animal fat like milk, curd, cheese, ghee, etc. Second is vegetable fats like sesamum, mustard, soybean, olive, walnut, peanut, almond etc., and all kinds of oils and cakes.
All fats and oils are rich in fats, other foodstuffs rich in fat are nuts, soybean, and oil seeds. Cereals, pulses, and vegetables also contain a small quantity of fat. Even then soy oil and sunflower oil, being saturated, are most beneficial for health.
Health Benefits, Daily Requirements, and Precautions
If a person does not take in enough fats, his body is not well proportioned and lacks beauty. By taking too much fat also the body becomes too fat and ugly, besides, when the body has too much fat, the organs like the heart and kidneys must work more and they are weakened. A person who is overweight should avoid saturated fats. They should avoid cream, butter, and ghee. They should take toned milk and its products instead of whole milk and its products. Those who are doing hard physical work like laborers or army personnel should take fats to fulfill their requirement for energy. The daily requirement of fat is about 40 to 60 grams.
Visit Yipisale to buy - Ayurveda Herbs
Visit Yipisale blog section to know more about - Ayurveda Herbs