Put the food in the blender and what do you get?

For the last few weeks, I've been writing about the various macronutrients, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  Something that many do not consider is how these things interact when th
ey enter your body, or better yet, when you start the planning process to eat them. 

When you start planning your meals, how do you begin?   Do you begin with your starchy carbohydrates?  Do you begin with your fats?  What about protein, do you lead off with this under appreciated macro? 

I'm sure, if you're anything like my family and I, you plan meals that you and your kids (if you have them) will eat.  You don't look at macros and assume that you need certain things at certain points.  Now, this approach is valuable especially when you are looking to compete or to have a more fine tuned weight management program.  Generally though, most of us think something along the lines of "I want Chipotle for supper," or "I've had a rough day and I think we're just going to make spaghetti then get the kids ready for bed."  I know in my house this is something we routinely do.

My focal point is usually the protein source.  Everything around it is secondary.  So most of the time we plan our meals our according to the meat, which is usually chicken, pork, or beef. 

This leads me to my next point, what happens when you combine foods, like normal people?  Generally speaking, your food is combined as you chew it and it enters your body (hence the "blender" in the title).  Carbohydrates begin digesting by your saliva whereas fats and proteins do not.  Once in the stomach, these foods are emulsified even further by your stomach acid (hydrochloric acid).   From your stomach, these foods enter your small intestine of which each molecule enters your blood stream by passing through the walls of the small intestine.  This a really brief version of what happens, but it's necessary to understand. 

Next, fats and carbs, both energy sources, are digested more quickly than proteins.  Fats are larger molecules than carbohydrates, plus they need assistance from the liver to be digested, whereas carbs don't need this extra assistance.  Therefore, you can see that carbs are digested first and much more quickly than proteins and fats.   These are more regularly used as energy and used quickly and efficitently. 

Fats on the other hand, take longer than carbs to digest, though not much.  These enter the blood stream next and are used as energy.  However, this energy isn't always immediately needed and likely is stored as energy for later, or our favorite thing, subcutaneous fat (the fat beneath the skin that no one likes).  In the absence of carbs, or in an energy deficit, this happens to a much lesser extent. 

Proteins, finally, are the longest to digest and when they enter the blood they are transported to where they are needed.  Proteins are much more important for structure and transport of other molecules than carbohydrates and fats.  So their overall function is radically different than the function of carbs and fats. 

To summarize, all the macronutrients are of critical importance.  Fats and carbs are energy providers, all at different times, and proteins are structural/transportation providers.  Each need to be regularly a part of your diet to be at optimal health.  Prolonged eradication of one from your diet can potentially have consequences that may be difficult to reverse.  Our foods combine to fuel and build us, not for any other reason.