If you want to maximize your potential with nutrition, you need to know a lot more than a few key ratios and when to eat what. Breaking down the science of nutrition is confusing and wisdom about what’s good for you and what’s bad for you is constantly evolving—remember when we were supposed to avoid fat like the plague? But there’s some science around nutrition that has become cannon, and we’re here to help you sort through all the information (and misinformation) that’s out there.
You’ve got your training dialed in, but does what you put on your plate still have you scratching you head? Get to know each of these four major macronutrients as if they were your four favorite workouts: what they do in your body, how they work best, and if they serve you any deeper purpose beyond just making you look like a boss.
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AleksandarNakic
Protein
It’s the King of the Macros! You pound shakes and devour protein bars. Chickens flee in terror when you step onto a farm. But scientists have actually discovered more than 100,000 different proteins to date, many of which do far more than sculpt your guns.
1. BEYOND BUFF
Sufficient recovery requires a lot more than adequate rest between workouts. Whey protein is a key component for rebuilding your muscles, plus it contains plenty of amino acids needed to build a rock-solid immune system. Whey’s aminos have shown to boost levels of glutathione [1], one of the body’s most powerful antioxidants, better than any other source of protein.
2. THE SWOLE FACTOR
Low protein levels (usually caused by malnutrition or disease) can cause “edema,” a condition of excessive swelling, most often seen in the feet, ankles, and lower legs. Protein helps hold salt and water inside your blood vessels, so fluid doesn’t leak out into tissues. Go eat some more chicken so you don’t let yourself get too swole, bro!
3. PERCENTAGE, NOT GRAMS
Not all protein blends are created equal. The best way to tell the true potency of a protein powder is with a simple calculation:
P/Cal – The amount of total calories that come from protein.
A gram of protein counts as four calories, so take that number (protein x 4), divide by total calories… and bam, P/Cal! That “50g Protein Per Serving” sticker on the label is just so damn enticing… until you realize that’s from four scoops and 650 calories (no wonder Gainers come in 5-lb. jugs). Powder brands with P/Cals in the 80-90% range allow you to add in extra carb or fat powders afterward if you need those to meet your macros. Don’t be fooled by “proprietary” blends; only you know your own exact nutritional goals.
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Fat
A former black sheep macro of our nutritional world, fat actually comes with a fat stack of benefits, the least of which is winter insulation. Let’s flip into ketosis for a minute and see what happens when we’re burning ketones instead of glucose…
1. EAT TO STAY LEAN
A ketogenic diet (high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb) forces the body to become “fat adapted,” burning fats as fuel rather than carbs. The best part about “going keto”: you don’t need fear missing out on great flavor. Keto-friendly foods are known for having an incredibly rich and taste, and they’re incredibly satisfying. Once you’re nice and lean, you can still eat fats instead of carbs (for the most part) to remain shredded like you never before thought possible. Just ask Mike Rashid!
2. THERAPEUTIC DIET FOR EPILEPTICS
Ketogenic diets can prevent seizures, which is why they’ve been used for decades to treat epilepsy in children. Kids unsuccessful with medicinal treatment have, in many cases, been cured immediately and entirely of the condition through therapeutic ketosis [2]. It’s not as simple as taking a pill, though, as the toughest thing about staying in ketosis is your own body’s preference for burning carbs before fat. Stock up on the right foods ahead of time… keto isn’t something you can just flirt with like a cute co-worker. You need to go all-in.
3. BE AQUAMAN
Keto-scientist and researcher Dominic D’ Agostino suggests that a diet-induced ketosis (especially when combined with the use of nutrition supplements like MCT oil powder) can greatly reduce the brain’s need to use oxygen for burning glucose [3], therefore extending breath-hold time. A brain primed with fat is better equipped to withstand low oxygen levels. It can even resist potential cell damage from extended time with low oxygen (hypoperfusion) when fueled up to 75% from ketones.
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Carbohydrates
They’re the sweet, sweet siren of every damn store you walk into. Seriously, you can get Skittles at the fabric store these days. Sugar has overrun western civilization in fun, colorful, kid-friendly packaging. And it’s celebrated by just about every ordinary man, woman, and child out there. But you don’t need to remain ordinary.
1. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE
Don’t get completely obsessed with complex carbs. Sure, there are plenty of reasons why brown rice is a bodybuilding staple. But there’s also a reason why marathon runners choose a plate of spaghetti the night before a long race and why kids get wired off candy. It’s the same reason why high-glycemic index carbohydrates like white bread and white rice are the perfect post-workout anabolic booster. Different sugars trigger different responses in your bloodstream (glucose, for example, spikes insulin, while fructose has no measurable effect). This is all by way of saying, sometimes it isn’t as simple as carbs vs. protein. Different carbohydrates serve different purposes in a mindful eater’s diet.
2. YOUR BRAIN (AND BODY) ON DRUGS SUGAR
Take a look at brain scans from cocaine users vs. sugar eaters. The same parts light up! An average person can’t tell them apart. Through the process of glycation, digested sugars in the bloodstream attach to proteins and form harmful new molecules called ‘Advanced Glycation End-products’ (AGEs… no joke). The more sugar in your diet, the more AGEs you develop, which damage adjacent proteins such as collagen and elastin. As these springy and resilient proteins are damaged they turn dry and brittle, leading to wrinkles and sagging. [4]
3. DAMN NEAR DIABETIC
Being type 2 diabetic can be a tough condition to manage, but you’d be surprised to know just how little sugar it takes to make a huge difference in your bloodstream. A quarter teaspoon of glucose throughout a person’s entire circulatory system is the only difference between a typical bloodstream and that of their diabetic counterpart. Don’t think you can call yourself an armed assassin just because you’ve filled up a syringe with sugar, though. The human body’s built-in insulin response triggers and defense mechanisms kick into high gear if someone nefariously injects you with a tiny dose of glucose, but at a resting state the difference truly is quite slight.
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A Note on Alcohol
We saved this one for last because we knew a lot of this would be tough to hear (for some). Power though with your thinking cap intact and we’ll see you on the other side.
1. THE SUPERCARB!
Alcohol is your body’s most preferred energy source… sort of. As we learned earlier, carbs burn before fats, but alcohol goes before everything! That’s why you get drunk in an hour, not in a day. But it also means that even light beer gives you double duty to work it off after: before even getting around to fats, you’ve now gotta burn the carbs AND the alcohol. Worse yet, because of how harmful alcohol is to the body (ie: hangovers and overdoses), your metabolism prioritizes it and effectively slows the down the conversion of other macros for energy.
2. BOOZING SINCE MONKEYS
Humans’ initial tolerance for alcohol may date farther back than any anthropological studies currently show. A recent paleogenetics experiment [5] (sequencing and analyzing genes from contemporary species to estimate how enzymes evolved over time) suggests it was a lot earlier than nine thousand years ago, as formerly suspected—try ten million. One mutation in a common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas likely enabled them to more effectively metabolize ethanol (the type of alcohol found in today’s drinks) starting with rotten fruits that fell onto the forest floor.
3. FAT(ASS) INSURANCE
Once alcohol is in your bloodstream, your liver routinely breaks it down into acetate. The acetate then re-enters your bloodstream and inhibits fat burning throughout the body, not just exclusively in your liver. This decrease in fatty acid oxidation & synthesis results in most of the fatty acids in your blood being stored, whereas they’d otherwise be burned away in a normal metabolic state [6]. That’s why alcoholic people are usually fatter than others, as alcohol is metabolically quite effective at storing your fat. EVERYWHERE. The bottom line: Alcohol serves no positive metabolic purpose.
Looking to change any habits yet? Cheat days are one thing, but cheating science is a whole different game. And here’s a pro tip: you can’t. If you’re training to be the best, then arm yourself with more than just the right size weights.
