It is recommended for Canadians 19 years and older to consume between 20% and 35% of their daily calories from fat.  This often catches many individuals off guard, thinking this is a large amount. The thing to recognize is that unlike protein and carbohydrate, which both provide 4 calories per gram consumed, fats provide 9 calories per gram consumed.  So, it still does require for us to consume a smaller dose when you consider the total quantity (weight in grams).

Next thing is to ask where your fat calories come from.  There are unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fats), and healthy fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats).  The healthy fats provide many more health benefits, and it is recommended to replace the unhealthy fats with healthy fats in your diet.  Saturated and trans fats are hard at room temperature, and come from beef, butter, whole milk, processed foods, baked goods, convenience foods, and deep fried foods.  Though these food sources may sometimes contain healthy sources of fat, it is not often.  Healthy fat sources are liquid at room temperature and include those found in nuts and seeds, plant-based oils (vegetable, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, avocado oil), cold water fish (salmon, trout, mackerel), olives and avocados.

Fats in your diet provide many functions.  Dietary fats support many bodily functions, cushioning, and helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E, and K).  Dietary fats also help your body produce important hormones as well, acting as messengers to help protein carry out their roles.  Fat also digests slower, so including a small amount in your meal and snack will help keep you fuller for longer.  Adding peanut butter to your oatmeal in the morning, or on top of your toast is a great choice for a healthy fat, helping to keep you fuller longer.  Think about adding a healthy oil, avocado, or nuts or seeds to your salad.  Cooking with plant-based oils is definitely a bonus, but remember, quantity matters.  Most oils have a higher content of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and less saturated fat (canola, flaxseed, safflower, olive oil).  There are however, a few plant oils (coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil), which are solid at room temperature, and therefore, contain more saturated fat in them (as explained above).

As mentioned above, including fats in meals and snacks slows down the digestion of the foodstuff, so, you wouldn’t want a meal or snack too high in fat right before a workout.  Following digestion, fat breaks down and is either stored in adipose tissue (as fat), or used as energy by muscle (via a number of chemical reactions), IF muscle requires it.  During prolonged activity, your muscles will use up the stored glycogen pools (stored carbohydrate) first.  The energy in your body that is stored as fat (in adipose tissue) is then released, broken down into smaller pieces by an enzyme, lipase, and transferred to the blood stream where your muscles then pick it up to be oxidized into energy for your muscles to use during exercise.  The type of fat, triglycerides, that are stored in adipose (fat tissue), have a high caloric content, and therefore, provide energy.

For active individuals, omega-3 fatty acids are important to include in your diet.  On top of their heart health benefits and ability to lower cholesterol, omega-3’s have been shown to be beneficial to individuals with high activity levels, as any activity adds stress to the body, and helps in recovery to decrease inflammation.  Some research has indicated that omega-3 may help to relieve joint pain as well.  Choose these foods to make sure you get your omega-3’s each day: cold water fish, fortified milk products (with omega-3 in particular) walnuts, tofu, flaxseed oil, ground flaxseed, chia seed, or hemp seed.

The human body needs small daily doses of healthy fat.  There are a number of food options available to help you include fat throughout your day.  Remember, a little goes a long way, so do be mindful of how much you include throughout your meals and snacks!

In the fitness and athletic field, protein consumption gets a big push.  But why?  What does protein do for our body, how does it break down and what different types of protein should we aim to include?  Whether you’re an athlete or not, young or older, protein is an important part of the diet.    

The protein you eat in your food digests through a number of processes into single amino acids.  These amino acids are then used to help form all cells in your body.  Protein is a major component of your skin, muscles, organs and glands.  Protein is also a component of enzymes (substances needed in our body to help with digestion and allow important processes to occur), produce hormones, brain chemicals and produce antibodies (needed to maintain immunity).  You need protein in your diet not only to maintain the structure of these bodily parts, but also to repair cells and make new ones.  Knowing this, there are certain periods during life — childhood, adolescence and pregnancy — when protein plays an even bigger role, contributing to growth and development.

Protein comes from a number of different food sources: meat and poultry, fish and seafood, eggs, milk and cheese, tofu, nuts, seeds and beans, but also, grains and some vegetables!  The difference in the protein that these different food choices provide is whether the protein is complete (contains all essential amino acids) or incomplete (does not contain all essential amino acids).  You may recall learning about amino acids at some point in your life.  If you didn’t, here’s your little science lesson!  As identified above, protein is known as the “building blocks of life”, with each protein component being made up of individual amino acids linked together.  There are 21 known amino acids.  Some of these amino acids cannot be made by our bodies (essential amino acids), and therefore, we need to ingest them through food sources.  You do not need to eat a source of protein that contains all essential amino acids at one sitting however.  Your body is able to make the essential amino acids through foodstuffs eaten throughout the day, provided the different essential amino acids are consumed.  The remaining amino acids can be made by our bodies (non-essential amino acids), or by breaking down and reforming essential amino acids.

Animal sources of protein (includes meat and milk alternatives) are “complete proteins” meaning they contain all essential amino acids.  When you eat these types of food products, you are providing your body with the nine essential amino acids your body is unable to make.  Vegetable and plant sources contain some or the essential amino acids, but not all, making them “incomplete proteins”.  For instance if you eat peanuts, you will not get all essential amino acids, but if you consume peanut butter on whole grain bread, the two different food groups contain the different essential amino acids.  This type of pairing is known as “complementary proteins”—it allows you to get the essential amino acids your body needs by pairing different food sources that are not complete. Beans and rice is another pairing (beans are low in the essential amino acid lysine, while rice is high in it).  Common pairings include “grains and legumes” or “legumes and seeds and nuts” to get the complete amino acid profile.  This type of pairing becomes a little more important for those individuals following a vegetarian diet, in order to make sure they give their body what it needs to repair and reproduce cells, and stay strong.

So, if protein is such a large component of the human body, and needed especially more during periods of added stress (following a workout, sickness, illness and disease), why do we not need it in such large quantities as carbohydrate (45-55% of our daily calories) and fat (20-35% of our daily calories)?  Protein is a much larger molecule, that when it breaks down (digests), although many of its components are utilized by the body, some are not, and have to be excreted through our urine.  Your kidneys are the filtration system of your body, excreting wastes so that they do not build up in your body.  If your kidneys are functioning optimally, they are able to help cleanse your body of these wastes.  Drinking water throughout the day helps your kidneys excrete excess waste, but again, if your kidneys are not functioning optimally, you may need to watch your water AND protein consumption.  It is always best to talk to your healthcare provider to find out how well your kidneys function at removing wastes and circulating fluids throughout your body.

How much do you need? 0.8-1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is the base needs for most individuals.  Again, if you have any kidney issues, your healthcare provider may recommend amounts lower than this.  For athletes (with a clean bill of health), and in order to perform best, the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada and American College of Sports Medicine recommends intakes of protein between 1.2 grams to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.¹  Remember that one kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds, so in order to compute how much you need, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2.  A 130-pound athlete (59-kg) would look to consume between 71 and 100 grams of protein daily.  Depending on your training program, and provided your kidneys are functioning optimally, your body may require up to 2.0 grams of protein per kg of body weight (in this example, up to about 120 grams of protein daily).  Again, it is always best to check with you physician or a registered dietitian before adding extra protein to your diet.

As mentioned throughout the carbohydrate and fibre sections of this series, it is always good to track your diet for a few days to see how much you are consuming of the macronutrients.  Use the package labels when available or the Canadian Nutrient File as a great resource to Canada’s database to food nutrition information.²

Many athletes or active individuals trying to lose weight will sometimes restrict carbohydrate, and increase their protein consumption. While it is important to include an adequate source of protein in the diet, as research has shown that it promotes satiety at meals and snacks³, on top of all its other bodily functions, if you are a highly active individual, you need to ensure it is the carbohydrate that is primarily fueling your activity. If our bodies do not have enough carbohydrate to help keep us moving, the break-down systems will shift to begin breaking down protein into glucose (sugar) for energy. We have to remember that protein helps to build muscle, bone, skin, hair, teeth and repair tissue as its primary function. If our body reverts to breaking down protein for energy, it may not have adequate amounts to carry out the repair and maintenance processes it is needed for throughout the body. Additionally, there is added stress your kidneys take for having to work harder to rid your body of the breakdown products of protein which our body doesn’t require for energy.  On a final note, protein and carbohydrate actually provide our bodies with the same amount of calories per gram eaten (4 calories/gram of carbohydrate or protein).  The problem is that sometimes people tend to over-consume carbohydrate.  Take some time to identify what a portion is and what you typically consume to be able to continue eating a balanced diet within their respectable portion recommendations.⁴ 

Be smart about your protein choices!  While some protein choices are more “complete”, make sure you keep variety in your diet so that you don’t get bored.  Choosing hardboiled eggs, milk yogurt, nuts, nut butters and seeds along with leaner cuts of meat, fish seafood and poultry will help keep your body strong and keep your weight in check.  Check in to see just how much protein you need on a daily basis, and how much you are consuming.

¹http://www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com/Files/53.SPNT.pdf

²http://webprod3.hc-sc.gc.ca/cnf-fce/index-eng.jsp

³http://www.ajcn.org/content/82/1/1.full

⁴http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/choose-choix/index-eng.php

Fibre is a component of carbohydrate, but it is non-digestible.  Why then is there such an importance to include it in our diet?  Although the components of fibre are not digested by our bodies (meaning our cells don’t take up any of its components to use, but rather it is excreted), fibre has proven many positive health benefits over the years including helping to stabilize our blood sugars (slower release of sugar from food to keep us fuller for longer), decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, obesity, diabetes and certain types of cancer, as well as lowering cholesterol levels. (CVD Practice Guidelines, 2009).  Not all fibre is created equally though, and knowing the different types of fibre and where they are found in our food supply will help  you better understand why we need to include a variety of different foods to help us meet our daily intake.

Most Canadians do not take in the recommended daily amounts of fibre.  For men (14-50 years of age), this is 38 grams per day, and women in the same age group is 25 grams per day.  After 50, the recommended amount for men decreases slightly to 30 grams daily, and 21 grams daily for women.

So, fibre is part of the total carbohydrate component in food, but it is not a component of the total carbohydrate which gets transferred to our blood and into our muscles.  When reading a food label, you will see the total amount of carbohydrate always listed on a food package (unless it is a food source which does not require a label).  Under this total carbohydrate, the fibre and sugar component are (most often) listed.  The third component of carbohydrate is starch, but this does not have to be on a label.  In order to understand the amount of carbohydrate in a food item that DOES digest into sugar (glucose) into our bloodstream, you would subtract the total fibre away from the total carbohydrate.  In the example provided, per ½ cup serving of this particular food, there is 28 grams of total carbohydrate, and of that, 6 grams is dietary fibre.  The total amount of carbohydrate from this food source that would be digested to fuel our brain, muscles, or go into stores is 22 grams (Total Carbohydrate – Dietary Fibre) = 28 grams – 6 grams = 22 grams.  The fibre in this food source would help to prevent constipation, lower cholesterol and help slow down the rate that the sugar moves into the bloodstream.

Most people are aware of the 2 types of fibre that exist, soluble and insoluble, found in the different foods we eat.  Soluble fibre has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and help control blood glucose levels.  Soluble fibre in food gives “stickiness” to that particular food, like when you cook oats.  Other foods that contain soluble fibre include legumes, barley, oat bran, psyllium, vegetables and certain fruits.  Insoluble fibre promotes more of the “bulking” aspect of food, and passes through our digestive tract with little change as to how it is ingested.  This type of fibre helps to promote bowel regularity.  Insoluble fibre is found in wheat bran, whole grain bread, flax seed and some vegetables and fruit.  So, knowing that this type of fibre adds “bulk” to our stool, it is very important that you drink adequate amounts of water (and other healthy choice fluids such as milk, herbal teas) to keep the digestion moving along!  The Canadian Nutrient File is a great resource to find out how much fibre is in a particular food item you eat (if a package label is not available), and keep track to see if you’re getting enough! (http://webprod3.hc-sc.gc.ca/cnf-fce/index-eng.jsp)

As changes continue to occur to our food supply, fibre may need a little more explaining, and regulated slightly different.  Soluble and insoluble fibre are both important to include in our diet, and they can be found as “dietary” and “functional” choices.  You may begin to hear of fibre described this way, so it is important to elaborate on the terms.  “Dietary fibre” is naturally found in whole grain products, vegetables and fruits, beans and legumes.  As previously explained, it is not digested by your body, but includes the soluble and insoluble fibre that is naturally occurring in the foods.  With health concerns on the rise, there is now the opportunity to isolate different types of fibre from foods and add them into certain food products to increase the fibre content.  Some examples of these fibres that have been isolated include β-glucan, inulin and psyllium.  Once again, they are still found in “dietary” sources, but also have the ability to be taken out and fortified into food products.  The fibre is still undigested by your body.  Though there are conflicting results as to whether the functional fibre still provides the same health benefits as dietary fibre (bowel regularity, lower cholesterol, control blood glucose levels), this is sure to be one area to receive more attention in the upcoming years.

Fibre may not be the best choice to make right before a workout that requires you to jump around, that may cause a small amount of distress throughout your gastrointestinal tract.  As athletes, many have been able to identify what works best for them before a workout that will allow them to perform at their best.  Although we discussed simple carbohydrate (quick sugar, such as fructose sugar from fruit) to be a great choice to make, keep in mind that the fibre in most fruits (and vegetables) is found in the skin of fruit.  If you have ever had an apple or pear and noticed some cramping, this may be the culprit.  Fruits that we don’t eat the skin of (pineapple, melons, bananas, kiwis), may help lessen the effects, IF you experience this.  Again, this is very individual, but something to think about when looking to fuel your workout ahead!

If fibre is an area you can make improvements on, use some of these ideas.  Remember, start slow.  One idea at a time, and give yourself at least 3 weeks of trying a new behavior so that it fits into your lifestyle and eventually becomes second nature as a positive health step!

-          Make sandwiches with 1 slice white bread, 1 slice whole grain bread

-          Make this type of switch: White bread –> whole wheat –> whole grain

-          Add a fruit to your morning meal.  Once this becomes routine, add in a fruit to your lunch meal

-          Portion out small baggies of vegetables on Sunday, ready to grab each morning before you head out the door (carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers)

-          Add ½-1 teaspoon of ground flax, psyllium fibre, chia seeds/salba, wheat bran to your cereal, yogurt, smoothie, or pasta sauce

-          Choose cereals with at least 4 grams of fibre per portion OR Mix about ¼-⅓ cup of a high fibre cereal (e.g. All Bran Buds or Fibre First) with your favourite cereal

-          When cooking sweet potatoes or potatoes, keep the skin on

-          Choose whole grain pasta, rice, crackers

Most importantly, if you are adding fibre to your diet, add it slowly, and make sure you drink plenty of water, and healthy fluid choices (milk, herbal teas) to help move the fibre along your digestive tract, to allow you to reap the benefits which is has been proven to do!

What is a calorie? What is metabolism? How do the foods we eat break down into the calories that feed our metabolism?

The Miriam Webster dictionary defines a calorie as, “a unit equivalent to the large calorie expressing the heat-producing or energy-producing value in food when oxidized in the body”, in which a ‘large calorie’ is “the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degrees Celsius”.

So, food calories feed and fuel our metabolism, which in turn keeps all of our organs running optimally. BUT, not all calories are created equally. The key is to get calories from good food to fuel our daily activities, maintain and/or lose weight, and stay healthy and energized throughout the day! Knowing where these good calories are in the carbohydrate, protein and fat choices we make, and better still, understanding how these different calories break down to do what we need to do throughout our day, will help you stay on track in always choosing the right ones!

Understanding the break down of each of the three macronutrients— carbohydrate, protein and fat— will allow you to make little adjustments in these areas, as necessary. Let’s look at carbohydrates first. Understand their importance in the diet and for our bodies, and which ones to choose throughout the day. Identify where you may be able to make better choices and then make one little change at a time. When it comes to adopting healthy lifelong behaviours, we know we can’t try to change everything at once. Little steps will lead you to the bigger picture, so do just that!

Carbohydrates serve many different functions in our bodies, including helping to fuel our central nervous system and brain, to fueling our muscles for the different activities they go through on a daily basis.

Carbohydrates come from many different food sources, and can be classified as sweet or starchy.  These include fruits, vegetables, whole grain products and dairy products. Of course, these are the most natural, less processed carbohydrate-type foods which we need to choose more often. Baked goods, sweets, confectionary and processed snacks also contain carbohydrate, but these types of carbohydrates should be eaten much less often, and serve a particular purpose for their consumption. Most of the carbohydrate used to make these “processed” items are highly refined, which means the majority of the nutrition has been stripped away leaving “empty calories”, not affecting our metabolism in a favourable way.

So what is a carbohydrate? Carbohydrates can, most easily, be thought of as simple or complex. This has been discussed many times throughout previous articles, but let’s break it down even further. Simple carbs are just that, simple to break down, smaller in chemical structure, and [often] quicker to get into our bloodstream. Monosaccharides are “one sugar” molecules, glucose or fructose, whereas disacchardines are “two sugar” molecules. The main dissacharides being sucrose (glucose and fructose molecule attached), maltose (2 glucose molecules attached) or lactose (glucose and galactose molecules attached). Of all of these chemical names, it is important to know that glucose is the primary fuel our bodies are able to use for energy (when needed), so the liver must convert any non-glucose products to glucose first before our cells and muscles can use that food source. If our body doesn’t require the glucose at the time it is ingested and digested, the breakdown product is stored in either the muscle or liver as glycogen, OR as fat (if our glycogen stores are full already).

Complex carbohydrates break down slower, because they are made of many simple carbohydrates linked together by a number of chemical bonds. IF choosing the right complex carbohydrates, there is often more fibre, resulting in a more gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream, ultimately making blood sugars more stable. In simplest terms, the more chains and branches a carbohydrate has, the more complex it is, and the more slowly it is broken down. Some carbohydrates are so complex that the body cannot digest them, and they pass along the digestive tract to be excreted. This is fibre. The non-digestible component of carbohydrate which will be discussed in the next part of this series!

Although carbohydrates tend to get a bad rap, they are an important part of the diet, and for athletes in particular, are required to fuel any activity effectively and safely. For everyone, the TYPE of carbohydrate to choose is key: choose carbohydrate from foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy more often as opposed to carbohydrate from highly processed, low-fibre foods. For very active individuals, glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrate), is the first choice of fuel our bodies prefer to use, from short bursts of exercise to weight training-type regimes. During the first few minutes of any exercise, it is the glycogen stores which the body taps into first. For longer, slower (i.e. lower-intensity) periods of exercise, our bodies will start to breakdown fat, BUT a source of carbohydrate is still required in order for this to happen as our bodies were designed to make it happen.

Some athletes may restrict carbohydrate too much, and increase their protein consumption. While it is important to include an adequate source of protein in the diet, to promote satiety at snacks and meals, if you are a highly active individual, you need to ensure it is the carbohydrate that is primarily fueling your activity. If our bodies do not have enough carbohydrate to help keep us moving, the break-down systems will shift to begin breaking down protein into glucose for energy. We have to remember that protein helps to build muscle, bone, skin, hair, teeth and repair tissue as its primary functions. So, if our body reverts to breaking down protein for energy, it may not have adequate amounts to carry out the repair and maintenance processes it is needed for throughout the body. More importantly to note is the added stress your kidneys take for having to work harder to rid your body of the breakdown products from the protein which do not provide energy, and are therefore not required by our bodies at the particular time. More on protein will also follow in this series!

So, know where your carbohydrate intake is for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Whether it comes from fruits, [some] vegetables, whole grains, or some milk products. Choosing a balance is key, and making sure your complex carbohydrates are included in your evening meals will help your blood sugars remain stable throughout the night and not wake up famished! Make smart choices to fuel your workouts, and more importantly, to replenish your stores following a workout so that your body has substance to perform all of its necessary functions properly!  These particular amounts are quite individual, and it is always best to speak to a Registered Dietitian or Physician for specific guidance on your individual needs.

The power food that’s had many people talking for years is still a popular nutrient rich choice to make any time of the day.

One ½ cup serving of cooked quinoa packs approximately 3 grams of protein, which is a primary reason why many have substituted it in for rice or pasta. The protein content has a complete amino acid profile, meaning it includes all essential amino acids, which our bodies require from food as they are unable to make them.

With a low carbohydrate content (~ 15 grams per ½ cup serving) and good source of fibre for the same amount (~ 2 grams), this helps make quinoa a low glycemic index food which is good for keeping us fuller for longer periods of time.

Many vitamins and minerals also come along with a serving (½ Cup) of quinoa. Calcium and Phosphorus work together in our bodies to help build and maintain strong bones and teeth—both found in quinoa. Potassium helps to regulate our blood pressure and allow our muscles and nerves to talk to one another.

So, how can you enjoy Quinoa? Quinoa cooks up just like rice, in a 2-to-1 ratio of water to quinoa. Try it any time of the day:
• Cook a batch on Sunday and enjoy as you would oatmeal. Warm it up with milk and cinnamon, add fresh berries, peanut butter or a teaspoon of your favourite jam
• Make it plain and enjoy with low sodium soy sauce as a side dish
• Make a quinoa, bean and vegetable salad for a great lunch dish
• Add it to your chilli or minestrone
• Add ¼ to ½ cup on top of your salad for a nutty flavour, along with fresh strawberries, goat cheese and sliced bell pepper
• Once cooked, add it to your favourite meatball with ground turkey/chicken, fresh herbs and spices
• Once cooked, mix it with egg, finely chopped garlic and onion, shredded carrots and zucchini and form into patties for a delicious burger
• Add it to your favourite muffin or cookie recipe

The options are endless. Quinoa can be added into any of your favourite dishes!! Check more recipes online or pick up a quinoa cookbook and let the possibilities be endless!

http://webprod3.hc-sc.gc.ca/cnf-fce/search-rechercher.do?lang=eng

The Holiday season is filled with social gatherings, family, and a little more food than usual! Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away in conversation, paying little attention to what we may be eating. We also tend to make certain desserts and recipes that bring back many memories of this time of year. Making sure you are “eating smart” when you head to a party, asking yourself what you truly want to indulge in, will allow you to savour the choices you make and not make you feel that you over-did it at the buffet table.

Bringing unique, healthy options to a gathering is something I always like to do, so I wanted to share some of my favourite recipes!

Roasted Chickpeas
Ingredients:
• 1 can No salt added chickpeas
• 1 tbsp Canola or Vegetable oil
• 2-3 tbsp Dried rosemary or thyme
• Pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Directions:Preheat oven to 400o F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Drain and thoroughly rinse the chickpeas. Place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Bake for 20-30 minutes until crispy. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before plating.