“Every living cell in your body is made from the food you eat. If you consistently eat junk food then you’ll have a junk body.” – Jeanette Jenkins

“One quarter of what you eat keeps you alive. The other three quarters keeps your doctor alive” – Ancient Proverb.

ou need to eat the right food and drink the right fluids at the right times to help maintain optimal blood glucose or ketone

concentration in your body to provide you the necessary energy for your daily activities. More so when exercising, to maximize the exercise benefits and improve recovery time.

As Michael R. Eades, M.D. and Mary Dan Eades, M.D. write in their book ‘Protein Power’ – all food is composed of macronutrients, micronutrients and a lot of water. The major macronutrients are proteins, fat and carbohydrates, the only food components that provide energy, measured as calories, to maintain life, and everything that you eat is composed of some combination of these three macro-nutrients. The micro nutrients – vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants and trace elements, provide no-calories, but are nevertheless also essential for life. Without macronutrients we would suffer from malnutrition, starvation and death and without micronutrients we would suffer deficiency diseases, a precipitous decline in health, and death.

When it comes to energy sources, the main macronutrients our body can use are carbohydrates (carbs), proteins and fats. Assuming your body is in good working order, both dietary and body fat can be used to fuel your body throughout the day.

The Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins in the food we eat, follow different metabolic paths in the body, but they all ultimately yield water, carbon dioxide and a chemical energy molecule called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). The body uses the ATP to store energy. The body needs less energy to burn carbohydrates compared to Fats or Proteins, also carbohydrates, especially sugar and starch, are rapidly broken down into glucose, the body’s principal energy source. Glucose is used immediately as fuel if required, or is sent to the muscles or liver and stored there as glycogen. However the capacity of your body to store glycogen is limited to about 1800 to 2000 calories worth of energy or only enough fuel for 90 to 120 minutes of continuous vigorous exercise. Also, excess carbohydrates leads to excess insulin, which leads to obesity.

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