Introduction into Nutrition

There's a lot of key nutrients that you need in your day to day life, and in this post, we're going to be talking about the basics. In later articles, blogs, whatever you wish to call this, we will be talking about everything more in depth.

Our key nutrients are as follows;

• Proteins
• Carbohydrates 
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Fiber
• Fats
• Water 

We'll get the most basic one out of the way in this portion. Its a well known fact that everyone needs water to survive. Humans are basically walking house plants, so we need plenty of water and sun every day. Our bodies are made up of 60% water, and all aspects of the body heavily depend on it. For example, your heart is 73% water, lungs are $83%, our skin is 64% water, our bones are 31% and the kidneys are a whomping 80% water. So clearly, we need it to function at least semi properly. You can only live three or four days without any water.

Its been said that you're supposed to drink two gallons of water every day; however its since been proven that the amount does vary per person.

This is judged based off of your weight, height, age and activity. Obviously if you're outside in the heat, sweating and running around, you're going to be dehydrating further. Internet calculators have told me, based on the fact that I am 25 and roughly 105 pounds, that I should be drinking about 40oz a day of water. That's a total of five 8 ounce glasses as day. That being said you can also eat your water through many fruits and vegetables. 

Examples of watery fruits are; watermelon, strawberries, grapefruit,  cantaloupe, honeydew, blackberries, peaches, lemons, pineapples, even apples. The highest one though is grapefruit as it is 92% water. Apples even have 87% water, plus they're great sources of fiber as well. 

As for veggies with lots of water, you can go with many different options. Cucumbers, lettuce and celery are all tied into first place with more than 90% water, then are followed by things like bok choy, radishes, watercress, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, Swiss chard cabbage, cauliflower and turnips. Just behind all of that is broccoli with still almost 90% water, and spinach just behind that. 

It seems like a no brainer, but water does tons of different things for the body. It helps deliver oxygen throughout the body, keeps your temperature normal, and obviously prevents dehydration. It also lubricates and cushions your joints, protects your spinal cord, blocks the development of kidney stones, helps keep you regular by ushering waste through your intestines, reduces the severity of headaches (fun fact; 60% of headaches are caused by dehydration), can fill you up before meals to aid weight loss if you're going for that, and can blunt sink disorders and forms of wrinkles. 

After that, there are recommended amounts of each other nutrient that you should get per day, but we will discuss that further in a later post. 

In our next post, we're going to be talking about vitamins.