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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Volga bomb Here. Once upon a time, calories bore

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Speaker 1: the brunt of dieters. Ire would be weight watchers meticulously

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Speaker 1: crunched numbers on nutrition labels and brands made major bucks

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Speaker 1: shilling snacks made of little more than artificial sweeteners and air. Then,

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Speaker 1: as the world learned more about the potential waistline expanding

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Speaker 1: and otherwise unhealthy power of processed sugars, many people begin

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Speaker 1: paying less attention to their total cloric intake and more

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Speaker 1: attention to the composition of their meals. Focusing on quality

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Speaker 1: over quantity isn't a bad idea, since nutritionists are adamant

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Speaker 1: that not all calories are created equal, meaning your body

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Speaker 1: will process a hundred calories worth of kale much differently

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Speaker 1: than wild process a hundred calories worth of ntella, which

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Speaker 1: sadly isn't very much to tella. But breaking down the

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Speaker 1: benefits of what's on your plate requires some basic knowledge

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Speaker 1: of the building blocks of food. So do you even

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Speaker 1: count Macro's bro Should you ever find yourself down in

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Speaker 1: Instagram fits bow rabbit hole, you may be overwhelmed by

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Speaker 1: the amount of talk about macros. Along with pounding protein

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Speaker 1: powder and nailing dead lifts. Fitness enthusiasts often discussed the

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Speaker 1: practice of counting macronutrients to hit their goals. Macronutrients are

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Speaker 1: what constitute the foods you eat, and they can be

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Speaker 1: broken down into the following basic categories. Carbohydrates, proteins including

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Speaker 1: essential amino acids, and fats including essential fatty acids, though

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Speaker 1: experts often also tack on water and fiber to this

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Speaker 1: list as your body needs them for healthy organ function

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Speaker 1: and digestion. Different types of macronutrients have different amounts of

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Speaker 1: calories per serving. Fats yield about nine calories program, while

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Speaker 1: proteins and carbs contain about four calories program each. Dietitians

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Speaker 1: generally recommend divvying up your diet so that you get

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Speaker 1: a variety of macronutrients, since each type provides different payoffs. Carbs,

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Speaker 1: most commonly found in foods like grains, fruits, and vegetables,

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Speaker 1: fuel your brain and body with energy. Proteins often obtained

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Speaker 1: from meat, dairy, eggs, tofu and lagoons, help prepare and

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Speaker 1: build your muscles, skin, and organs, and aid in hormonal production.

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Speaker 1: Fats found in foods like avocados, olive oil, seeds, nuts,

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Speaker 1: and various animal products are stored in your body and

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Speaker 1: then used as backup fuel and to protect and insulate

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Speaker 1: your organs and bones, including one that we particularly prize

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Speaker 1: around here, your brain. Everyone's nutritional needs are different, but

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Speaker 1: the U. S Department of Health and Human Services generally

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Speaker 1: recommends the following daily macro ranges for adults forty to

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Speaker 1: sixty of your diet from carbs, ten to thirty pc

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Speaker 1: from protein, and twenty from fat. But micronutrients matter too.

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Speaker 1: Dr Donald hens Red, head of the Mayo Clinic Healthy

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Speaker 1: Living Program, recently talked about micro and macronutrients in an

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Speaker 1: addition of Mayo Clinic Minute. He said, we need both

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Speaker 1: macronutrients to help with energy, and we need micronutrients to

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Speaker 1: help our body be healthy and digest those macronutrients. The

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Speaker 1: World Health Organization has an even more colorful definition of

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Speaker 1: micronutrients quote called micronutrients because they are needed only in

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Speaker 1: minuscule amounts. These substances are the magic wands that enable

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Speaker 1: the body to produce enzymes, hormones, and other substances essential

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Speaker 1: for proper growth and development. What both of those definitions

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Speaker 1: mean essentially, is that micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals

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Speaker 1: found in food, and as you can imagine, there are

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Speaker 1: a ton necessary to keep your brain and body in

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Speaker 1: top shape. They typically fall into the following categories. Water

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Speaker 1: soluble vitamins like vitamin C and B, vitamins, fat soluble

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Speaker 1: vitamins like vitamins A, D, E, and K, and essential

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Speaker 1: trace minerals from chromium to zinc. About thirty vitamins and

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Speaker 1: minerals are considered essential. That means your body can't manufacture

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Speaker 1: enough of them on its own, so you need to

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Speaker 1: get them from food. And five micronutrients vitamin B, six,

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Speaker 1: vitamin C, B of an, E, magnesium, and zinc are

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Speaker 1: important for keeping your immune system boosted, so it's a

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Speaker 1: good idea to ensure your food choices are chalk full

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Speaker 1: of them. But one last thing, not all micronutrients supplement

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Speaker 1: pills actually deliver a useful amount of vitamins and minerals

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Speaker 1: to your body. As Dr Howard D. Sso, Associate Professor

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Speaker 1: of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Harvard Health, you

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Speaker 1: should ideally try to meet your vitamin and mineral needs

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Speaker 1: through your diet rather than supplements, and indeed research shows

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Speaker 1: that wild supplements can be a stop gap for a

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Speaker 1: poor diet. It's better to spend your money and effort

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Speaker 1: on eating a balanced diet. It'll probably taste better too.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by

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Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. For more on this and lots of other

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Speaker 1: nutritious topics, visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.