Q: What is Nutrition?

A: Nutrition is the ongoing process by which an organism takes in and digests food and liquid for normal functioning, growth and maintenance of the human body. It is an ongoing process that maintains the balance between heath and disease. For the body to function properly and maintain optimum performance, proper nutrition is essential.

Q: What are the main nutrients (macronutrients) for human health?

A: Every cell in your body needs macronutrients, which are: protein, carbohydrate and fat. Also your cells need water.

Q: I’ve heard of the micronutrient; what is it?

A: It is the breaking down of the proteins, carbohydrate and fats you eat into vitamins and minerals to make your food’s nutrition accessible to your body cells.

Q: What is protein and how much is healthy for me?

A: Basically proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids necessary for repair. There are 22 different types of amino acid and the body needs all of them to function properly.

They are a vehicle for the chemical reactions in the body. They are also an important component of muscles and cells won’t function without them.

There are many forms of protein, which all play an important role in the function of the body. For example, collagen is a protein and is vital for the strength, elasticity and composition of our hair and skin.

The recommended serving of protein you need each day is 30% of your daily caloric intake in 2 to 3 servings a day. You can estimate your daily recommended servings of protein in grams to your weight in kilograms (for example, if you weight 76 kilos, then you need 76 grams of protein per day).

Sources of healthy proteins include: lean meats (red meet only once a week), eggs, protein powders (whey & pea (for vegans), soy beans and nuts.

Q: What are carbohydrates and how much is healthy for me?

A: Carbohydrates are sugars and starches which provide energy for you. There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex.

Simple carbohydrates are easily digested by your body. The body breaks them down to be used for energy, which is used up very quickly. They are also often found in processed, refined foods.

Complex carbs take longer for your body to digest and are most commonly found in plant-based food. Complex carbs are recommended for health.

The recommended serving of carbohydrates (complex) you need each day is 40% of your food intake (6 to 8 servings with 80% of it from vegetables).

Sources of healthy complex carbohydrates include: sprouted / spelt breads, whole grain oaks, sweet-potatoes, greens, tomatoes, cucumber, nuts and legumes (beans).

Q: What is nutritional fat and how much is healthy for me?

A: Fat is a nutrient. It is crucial for normal body function and without it you could not live. Not only does fat supply you with energy, it also makes it possible for other nutrients to do their jobs.

At room temperature, fats may be present in either liquid or solid form; this depends on their structure and composition. We tend to refer to fats which are liquid at room temperature as saturated fats.

Fats which are solid at room temperature are generally referred to as unsaturated fats. The word ‘lipids’ refers to both solid and liquid forms of fat.

Avoid man-made fats, called trans-fats (also known as partially hydrogenated oils). Consuming trans-fats raises your risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke.

The recommended serving of fat you need each day is 30% of your food take (2 to 3 servings with 80% of it from unsaturated fat sources).

Some sources of fat are: unsaturated oils (olive oil, nuts, seeds fish oils and so on) and saturated oils (coconut oil and butter, to be taken in limited quantities).

Q: How much water do I need?

A: Water is the essential component of all life. It comprises 75% of the human body and 90% of blood. It is the building blocks of growth and healing energies; it disposes of waste and is constantly cooling, cleansing and purifying itself. Our bodies depend on water (as blood) as a transport system, to maintain our correct body temperature and to supply nutrients and electrical impulses. Dehydration is a common source of illness. Tea, coffee and alcohol all dehydrate the body. Therefore if we drink them, we need to drink more good water to compensate.

The recommended servings of water you need is 2 litres daily. Every 250 grams of a caffeinated or alcohol drink should be replaced with a 250-gram glass of water. With every 30 minutes of exercise, you need an extra 250 grams of water daily.

Source of water include: filter water, un-caffeinated herbal teas (peppermint, rosehip and so on).

1. Getting an education increases the chances that you’ll succeed in life.  It’s true that not everyone who finishes school does much with their lives, but in general, those who went to school tend to be more successful.  This is because it gives them the tools they need to find success.  A solid education provides you with the knowledge you need about the world to be able to recognize if something is wrong and needs to be changed.
2. More education often means a better paying job in the future.  Most employers want to know what kind of education you had, so not finishing school can be a major hindrance when it comes to getting the job you want.  Many jobs have a minimum requirement for education, and the more education you have, the higher the positions you can qualify for within a company.
3. Education adds to social awareness.  In addition to learning information about our world, young people who stay in school are also more socially aware of their surroundings.  They learn about how to relate to each other as they discover how the world works.
4. Education breeds opportunities for exploration.  Your youth is the time to explore and figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life.  By staying in school, you are exposed to many new ideas and have the opportunity to try a lot of new things.  The more you explore, the more likely you will be able to figure out what you want to do with your life.



5. Educated people tend to know themselves more.  Another benefit of exploring everything school has to offer is the fact that you learn a great deal about yourself in the process.  Getting an education isn’t just about everything you learn.  It’s also about discovering who you are and what’s truly important to you.
6. People who have an education tend to make better decisions.  The best way to make a decision that will benefit you the most is to examine all of the information you have available to you.  However, if you never finished school, the amount of information available on different topics will be rather limited.  It is critical that you collect as much information as you can so that you are able to make impactful decisions.

So the next time someone is telling you that education is important, you should listen.  There are many reasons you need an education, and you can’t afford to overlook any of them.

1. You can earn more money without working any additional hours.  People who are looking to get ahead in their finances don’t usually work harder; they work smarter.  The smartest way to work these days is to put your money and other assets to work for you.  Why should you be the one putting in the hours?
2. You’ll probably be able to cut back on the number of hours you work and enjoy more leisure time.  In fact, when you have several different streams of passive income, you may even be able to quit your job and still live quite comfortably.
3. You’ve still got money coming in even if your regular day job suddenly evaporates.  When the economy crashed, the bloodbath in the corporate sector was extensive.  In some cases, there was no telling who would retain their job and who wouldn’t.  The only way to ensure the continued success of your family when the unexpected happens is to have some passive income to fall back on.  It gives you a level of financial stability that can’t be enjoyed by anyone who is relying solely on their day job for income.
4. Your money-making potential is unlimited.  We’ve all seen the estimates of how much money various positions make, and there is almost always a cap on income potential.  Every type of position in today’s world generally has a “going rate,” and you won’t be able to make any more than the highest level of that going rate—no matter how good you are at your job.  However, passive income brings unlimited opportunities for making money.  The only limit is your imagination and ability to stretch, and those aren’t always major factors once you’ve got the ball rolling.  Sometimes all you need is a start.
5. Earn money while you’re sleeping (or on vacation, or on sick leave, etc.) Who doesn’t want to be raking in the cash while they’re doing other things?  Many small business owners don’t feel like they can take time off because they stop making money.  If they aren’t there to do the work, then how can the cash keep rolling in?  This is where passive income comes in.  No matter where you are or what you are doing, the structures you have put in place to make you money will continue operating, even if you take a week away from it all.

There is so much more to life than running after the next dollar, and you don’t have to be running yourself ragged to be financially successful.  Passive income is important for anyone who wants to enjoy leisure time without having to keep their nose to the grindstone.

1. Consuming too much sugar could cause you to get sick.  Studies show that sugar actually works to suppress the immune system by taking away your white blood cells’ ability to eliminate bacteria in your body.  All it takes is two teaspoons of sugar to zap away 25 percent of your white blood cells’ power.
2. Sugar contributes to tooth decay.The reason sugar contributes so much to the decay of our teeth is because it is full of energy that can be used by bacteria, which create acids that attack the teeth.This one is fairly simple.  If your teeth are decaying, they’ll fall out, and you need teeth to eat.  Of course it is possible to replace those teeth with dental implants, but why would you really want to do that?
3. Taking in too much sugar lowers your HDL cholesterol levels.  HDL cholesterol is actually the good type of cholesterol that works to help soak up LDL cholesterol, which is the harmful kind that gets most of the media attention.  By lowering the amount of HDL cholesterol, you could actually be increasing your level of harmful LDL cholesterol because there simply won’t be enough HDL cholesterol to soak it up.
4. High sugar intake raises your triglyceride levels.  Triglycerides are the type of fat that the body creates when breaking down sugar to create energy for the body to use.  Of course there are cosmetic reasons for avoiding fat, but when you take high triglycerides and combine them with low levels of LDL cholesterol, you have a recipe for heart disease.  This can be avoided by limiting your sugar intake.
5. Sugar is addictive.  Although sugar doesn’t get much attention as an addictive substance, it should.  Virtually everyone has access to sugary treats, so it is far easier to get our hands on this particular drug.  The media has given so much attention to drug and alcohol addictions that the more common addictions like sugar are completely overlooked.  And when you’re addicted to sugar, the health problems you experience will simply multiply.

According to the World Health Organization, everyone should limit their sugar intake to less than 10 percent of their total calorie intake per day.  However, other agencies recommend even less sugar than that.  The best way to learn how much sugar you’re really taking in is to read the labels.  You’ll be shocked at what you find and can then start looking for ways to cut your sugar intake.

We’ve all heard the stories of famous athletes who used drugs to improve their performance. How does this make you view these athletes after you learn this? Suddenly the great things they did have less of a luster. They don’t seem as great because they weren’t using their bodies to exceed—they needed drugs to do it. Of course it can still be very tempting to consider using performance enhancing drugs. After all, the benefits may seem great if no one catches you. But there are just too many reasons not to use drugs to enhance your performance in any sport:

• They are dangerous to your health. This is definitely the number one reason you shouldn’t be using drugs, no matter which sport you play. It may seem like the drugs aren’t taking much of a toll on your health right away, but studies show that they do have an adverse effect on long term health. Aside from some of the more annoying side effects like excessive aggression or development of physical features that are more like those of the opposite sex, there is a long list of other problems they can cause, including an enlarged prostate, increased bad cholesterol levels and lower good cholesterol levels, depression, hypertension, heart problems, and liver disease.
• They are against the rules of most sports organizations.  There are few organizations you can play with that actually honor the use of any kind of performance enhancing drug. Of course this means that you will be kicked out of the organization if you are caught using performance enhancing drugs, and this goes even beyond the organization you are playing with now. It could taint any hope of a sports career you have.
• Athletes who use drugs of any kind aren’t good role models for children. Children want to be inspired by someone who is doing great things.  However, when you are only able to do great things because you used drugs, then that decreases the greatness of what you did. A good role model is someone who does incredible things because of his own ability—not an ability that was created by the use of drugs.
• You’ll never know what you can really do. Any athlete who relies on a drug to give him or her abilities can never know what their true potential is because they will always be getting some artificial help.  Just consider for a moment the way you feel when you work really hard at something and then finally accomplish it. Now take that accomplishment and raise it a bit, but add the use of performance enhancing drugs. You’ll never know if you really met your goal because the vehicle by which you did it wasn’t your true abilities.

It is never a good idea to use any kind of drugs to enhance your performance in sports.  Excelling in sports does take a lot of hard work. There is no shortcut. If you try to take a shortcut, you’ll always be wondering what life would have been like if you had truly believed in yourself.