This guide covers the essential nutrients your body needs to function optimally, whether you're sedentary or physically active. Understanding these fundamentals is crucial for anyone looking to improve their health, body composition, or athletic performance.
Calories
What Are They and What Are They For?
Calories are used to perform all bodily functions that require energy. Calories are not a tangible object but rather a measurement of energy.
Daily Requirements
- Sedentary individuals: Need between 1,400 to 2,000 calories for daily activities.
- Physically active individuals: A single exercise session can burn as little as 200cal up to 1,000cal or more. This expenditure must be added to regular daily expenditure, so an active person may need from 1,600 to 3,000cal daily.
Source: World Health Organization, NSCA
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Chicken: 170 calories
- Almonds: 579 calories
- Pizza: 266 calories
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Water
What Is It and What Is It For?
Water, among many functions, regulates body temperature, transports nutrients, and represents up to 70% of body weight.
Daily Requirements
- Sedentary individuals: On average 2.4 liters of water daily.
- Physically active individuals: What's lost during exercise can range from a few milliliters to several liters of fluid. To replenish these fluids, it's necessary to consume about 250ml of fluids every 15 to 30 minutes during exercise.
Source: World Health Organization
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Broccoli: 89ml of water
- Watermelon: 91ml of water
- Pork chop: 60ml of water
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Carbohydrates
What Are They and What Are They For?
They serve to provide energy to body systems such as the muscular and nervous systems.
Daily Requirements
- Sedentary individuals: Between 45 to 55% of total calories consumed each day.
- Physically active individuals: 55 up to 70% of diet calories should come from carbohydrates.
Source: International Society of Sports Nutrition, NSCA
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Baguette bread: 52g of carbs
- White rice: 78g of carbs
- Plum: 67g of carbs
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Proteins
What Are They and What Are They For?
They serve for muscle reconstruction, cellular structure, and tissue formation. In certain occasions, they can also serve as an energy source.
Daily Requirements
- Sedentary individuals: 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
- Aerobic exercise only: Approximately 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
- Resistance training only: 1.8g per kilogram of body weight.
- Both types of exercise: Up to 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight.
Animal sources are preferable due to their amino acid composition.
Source: International Society of Sports Nutrition
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Canned tuna: 28 grams of protein
- Skim milk: 3.1 grams of protein
- Egg: 13 grams of protein
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Fats
What Are They and What Are They For?
They serve to regulate hormonal processes, transport vitamins, have cardio-protective functions, and are used as an energy source.
Daily Requirements
- Sedentary individuals: Between 25 to 35% of diet calories can come from fats.
- Physically active individuals: Between 35% up to 50% of total daily caloric intake. This variation depends on factors such as health status, body composition, and type of training — fats being more useful for those who perform long-duration aerobic exercise or very high intensity training.
Source: ISSN, United Nations
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Olive oil: 100 grams of fat
- Mixed nuts: 67 grams of fat
- Mayonnaise: 81 grams of fat
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
Vitamins and Minerals
What Are They and What Are They For?
They are used in extremely varied functions: regulating metabolic processes, preventing cell destruction, bone formation, nerve function, disease prevention, immune system, among others. These micronutrients are involved in all bodily processes.
Daily Requirements
Sedentary individuals and physically active people: Requirements are minimal, sometimes at microgram scales. For this reason, it's accurate to say that the necessary daily dose is easily achieved with daily consumption of foods from all primary sources — mainly fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and water.
- Vitamins: Are necessary only in normal doses for athletes. There is no additional benefit in performance with consumption above regular levels. However, some important vitamins for athletes are C, D, and E.
- Minerals: Have been shown to be useful for athletes, improving performance with normal consumption and increasing it further with elevated consumption above the recommendation for sedentary individuals. For example, sodium can increase performance by up to 10% in long-duration endurance exercises, and zinc consumption reduces the potentially negative effect on the immune system after an exercise session.
Source: ACSM, National Academy of Sciences
Important Warning
It is extremely important to remember that excessive consumption of vitamins and minerals leads to health problems. Therefore, both athletes and sedentary individuals should only seek to consume foods from different sources to meet all their needs and not fall into excessive consumption through exaggerated supplementation.
Food Examples (per 100g)
- Broccoli: Calcium 40mg, Potassium 293mg, Sodium 41mg, Vitamin C 65mg, Vitamin E 1.4mg
- Orange: Calcium 40mg, Potassium 181mg, Vitamin C 53mg, Vitamin A 225µg
- Beef liver: Calcium 6mg, Iron 6mg, Potassium 352mg, Phosphorus 497mg, Vitamin B12 70mg, Vitamin A 9442µg
References
- World Health Organization (WHO). Nutrition guidelines and requirements.
- National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning.
- International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). Position stands on protein and carbohydrate intake.
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). FoodData Central nutritional database.
- American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Exercise and fluid replacement position stand.
- National Academy of Sciences. Dietary Reference Intakes for vitamins and minerals.