Today were answering a pretty common question that comes up and once people have it answered, they never forget it again!

Macro nutrients are what you balance for a “balanced diet”, this is commonly what people will track to simplify and avoid tracking calories. Often people will think carbs are bad or fats are bad but no they’re not. It’s just a matter of having the right ones! And of course, everything in moderation.

Macro Nutrients include:

• Protein
• Fat
• Carbohydrate

A general balance of these are:

• 45-55% Carbs
• 35-40% Protein
• 15-25% Fats

Obviously depending on goals, these numbers may fluctuate.

Micronutrients are what make up the quality of that food you’re consuming. You’d be surprised to find out how often people eat “foods” that have no nutritional value whatsoever! They’re consuming calories but what are called empty calories which means, they’re consuming the calories that may or may not attribute to their weight but their body gains nothing at all from those calories they are eating. This person ends up feeling tired all the time.

These include:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B
• C, D, F, K, and probably another I’m missing!
• Folic Acid
• Biotin

Other minerals and trace elements include:

• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Phosphate
• Calcium
• Zinc
• Copper
• Chromium
• And many more!

If you’re curious about the recommended amount of each of these, you can simply google each individually or when a food item contains any of these health benefiting items it will come up on the nutrition facts with the amount and percentage recommended per day. Know that the recommended is typically at the bottom line. It is not likely on most nutrients that you would go over your daily recommended. Also know that different medical diagnoses can have different recommendations for each.