The Three Main Macro Nutrients

Macronutrients are the main nutrients that make up the foods we eat. There are three, and you’ve probably heard of them before:

• Carbohydrates

• Protein

• Fat

Most foods contain a mixture of more than one macronutrient but are generally classified as the one they contain most of.

Micronutrients

Not forgetting the micronutrients. Micro may mean small, but micronutrients are far from insignificant. Without a regular supply of micronutrients, our bodies would literally starve. Micronutrients include all vitamins and minerals we take it in.

Water

Water is of course essential even though most sources don't classify it as a macronutrient.

Essential Macronutrients

So of the three micronutrients only fat and protein are essential. We do not need to consume carbohydrates per se. Our bodies can "manufacture" its own glucose without the need to be fed glucose in all its forms including starchy carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can indeed be consumed in order to provide us with energy but our bodies can be run perfectly well on fat. Any glucose the healthy body requires will be generated by the liver.

Zero calories. Five days. 100 miles.

An excellent experiment was conducted only a year or so ago by a small team comprising:

• James Cracknell Olympic Gold Medallist - Rowing

• Steve Bennett

• Jake Thompson

• John Furniss (Type 1 diabetic)

• Doctor Ian Lake GP (Type 1 diabetic)

• Dr Ali Ibrahim (Childhood Eating Disorder Pshychiatrist)

• Nurse Gayle Gerry (diabetes specialist)

• Dr Trudi Deakin (Dietician)

"Double Olympic gold medallist and 2019 Oxford Cambridge Boat Race winner, James Cracknell just ran 100 miles in five days whilst only consuming water. Aged 46, Cracknell defied his age to become the oldest man to ever compete, and win, the Oxford Cambridge boat Race in 2019. According to his social media pages, Cracknell, now 48, took on this feat to prove that the body can be fuelled by fat alone. "

At the 2021 Public health Collaboration annual conference this year, Dr Ian Lake reports on the ZeroFive100 event.

Deep Nutrition

"Physician and biochemist Cate Shanahan, M.D. examined diets around the world known to produce the healthiest people—diets like the Mediterranean, Okinawa, and “Blue Zone”—and identified the four common nutritional habits, developed over millennia, that unfailingly produce strong, healthy, intelligent children, and active, vital elders, generation after generation. These Four Pillars–fresh food, fermented and sprouted foods, meat cooked on the bone, and organ meats—form the basis of what Dr. Cate calls “The Human Diet.”

Rooted in her experience as an elite athlete who used traditional foods to cure her own debilitating injuries, and combining her research with the latest discoveries in the field of epigenetics, Dr. Cate shows how all calories are not created equal; food is information that directs our cellular growth. Our family history does not determine our destiny: what you eat and how you live can alter your DNA in ways that affect your health and the health of your future children."