Carbohydrates, proteins and lipids are the three macronutrients that provide your body with energy. Carbohydrates are your body's favorite source of fuel, since it's easily converted into glucose, which powers your brain and muscles. Protein provides the key building blocks for growing new muscles, repairing damaged tissues and making enzymes and hormones. Although fats get a bad rap, they are also critical to good health. Fats are important for maintaining cell membranes, cushioning the organs and helping certain vitamins to circulate around your body.
Carbohydrates
At their basic level, carbs are strings of sugars connected together. Table sugar is a single sugar. What you may call "complex carbohydrates" are three or more sugars linked together. Refined sugar, honey, soft drinks, french fries and flour are all high-carbohydrate foods, and so are the bakery items made with sugar and flour, like muffins, cakes, pies and pastries.
Although experts continue to debate the ideal proportion of carbohydrates you should eat, most people could stand to cut back on the fries and pastries in favor of more nutritive high-carbohydrate foods like beans, peas, steel cut oats, bulgur or barley.
Protein
Proteins are in every cell of your body, and they must be continually built up, torn down and rebuilt. Proteins are made up of amino acids. You can get protein from eggs, beans, meat, dairy products, nuts and fish, but proteins that come from animal sources are the most complete. It is possible to get all the proteins you need from vegetable sources like beans and brown rice -- you just have to eat a wide variety of foods to fill in the gaps a single vegetable source might leave.
Lipids
There are three major types of lipids, or dietary fats, in the food you eat. Saturated fats generally come from animal sources like beef, pork, veal, lamb, chicken fat, lard and butter. There are a few vegetable sources of saturated fats, including coconuts, coconut oil and palm kernel oil.
Trans fats can come from animals or vegetables, but they are formed during food processing when a fat that's normally liquid is hydrogenated so that it becomes a solid. A good example is shortening.
Unsaturated fats come from fish, nuts and seeds and plant oils. Salmon, trout, olive oil and avocados are all high in unsaturated fats.
Recommendations
The American Heart Association recommends limiting total fat intake to less than 25 to 35 percent of your total calories each day, with saturated fats making up 7 percent or less of the day's total calories and trans fats making up less than 1 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that adult women eat about 46 g of protein each day, with a focus on lean whole foods -- not supplements. Although there are a range of opinions about the exact number of each type of macronutrient you should eat, the less processed and refined your diet is, the better your chances of striking a healthy balance.
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