How Your Diet Affects Your Health:
An Overview of Nutrition
By Shereen Lehman, MS - Reviewed by a board-certified physician.
Updated September 30, 2016
Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fats
The foods you eat provide the energy your body needs to work. Just like you need to put fuel in your car or recharge your cell phone battery, your body needs to be fed food that provides it with energy every day.
Glucose is the body's favorite form of energy. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose as well as fructose and galactose units. If you don't get enough carbohydrates, your body can make glucose from protein through a processed called gluconeogenesis. If you consume too many carbohydrates, your body will convert them into fat, used then for storage in your adipose tissue.
Protein comes from foods you eat and is broken down into individual amino acids.
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The body uses these amino acids to build and repair the various parts of itself. Also, muscles contain lots of protein which needs to be replenished through diet. The body even uses protein towards its immune system, hormones, nervous system, and organs.
In terms of fats, the body needs them and needs them to be of the healthy variety. Not only are fats required to signal hormones, but membranes that contain fats surround all the cells of the body. Even the brain has fatty acids.
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Micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals
The vitamins and minerals you get from your diet are just as important as the carbohydrates, protein, and fats (even though you only need them in small amounts). They usually function as co-enzymes, which means they help speed up some of the body's chemical reactions. For example:
Many B-complex vitamins help burn carbohydrates for energy.
Vitamin A is needed for vision.
Zinc is involved in many metabolic processes.
Vitamin C helps keep connective tissue strong and the immune system functioning.
Vitamin D is essential for proper calcium uptake.
Speaking of calcium, it's probably the best known dietary mineral. It has several functions in the body. But the reason you hear or read about calcium so much is because lots of it is stored in your bones and teeth. Therefore, you need it from your diet to keep your bones and teeth strong. Another mineral you've probably heard a lot about is iron. Although you don't need as much iron as calcium, it's essential for your cells to get enough oxygen.
