Nutrition...

• Water
  
  

  I mentioned it first because I think that 60-80% of people suffer from dehydration and yet they don't know it. Water is the most most abundant liquid on this planet and its a pity that people still don't get the required amount. You must know that hydrated muscles repair themselves quickly. If you remain dehydrated, your muscle gain will be much slower. You heard a lot about the the guys who gained 10000000 pounds in first month with creatine. Now get it in your brain that it was water that creatine stored in his muscles. You lose litres of water as sweat in a one hour intense workout session so you must replace it before your body starts breaking other cells to get it. You need not take as much water as an athelete, but just be sure that you are not dehydrated.
  
  In some stupid magazine I read about something like over-hydration. Well, take my word or still better use your own common sense. When you've got enough of it, your body will tell you so keep on taking as much as possible untill it doesn't. Also don't add those soft-drinks, tea, milk etc to your daily qouta of water. They contain too much of other things that actually consume water to digest properly.
  
  One last thing, don't take too much of distilled water. It doesn't contain the essential minerals that your body expects. So, distilled water acts as a virtual-dehydrant. Use mineral or tap water to get the fullest benefits.

• Proteins
  
  

  Constituents and functions.
  
  Proteins are mainly made up of a number of amino-acids (> 20) required by the body to build/repair tissues (when you workout, your muscle tissues break or get damaged and proteins are required to repair them). But functions of proteins don't end up here. They are needed for other very important functions like helping muscles contract, carrying different substances, regulate body functions as hormones, fight off infections etc. But ofcourse, here we are mainly concerned about the structural proteins (form structural elements of tissues).
  
  Complete & non-complete proteins
  
  I understand that most of the people know why proteins are required but I've seen plenty who don't know that even a so called high protein diet may not fulfill the exact requirements. I mean to say that human body requires a balanced amount of all the amino acids and although all protein rich foods have all the essential amino acids, the relative amount of each amino-acid differs in each food making some of them deficient in some. If you don't know about that, you may end up eating too many proteins and yet remain protein-deficient. So, you need to reconsider your diet plan to ensure that you get all the essential amino acids. I need not say that the same applies to the supplements too. You can get most of the amino-acids from milk products, meat and eggs. Unfortunately, there are no such plant foods that contain all the amino acids, so if you are a vegetarian, you may consider combining some foods to make them complete.
  
  How much
  
  Well for a normal person, there is a simple formula :

  Proteins to be consumed (in grams) = Body weight (in lbs) * 0.4

  So, you MUST eat ATLEAST that no matter you exercise or not. If you workout, then ofcourse it depends on your program and you'll have to ask the doctor at the gym for more complete information. But there is something that I must tell you. The process by which proteins are digested is rather complex so it is not guarenteed that each gram of the protein you take will get assimilated. So, you need not restrict yourself to that, infact taking a little more proteins will actually help build more muscles.
  
  Sources
  
  As I said before, Milk (and milk products), eggs and meat are the best sources of peoteins as they contain all the essential amino acids in good ratio. Other sources are : pulses, fish, beans, ground nuts, whole cereals etc. Ofcourse, protein shakes and other forms of protein supplements are good sources too but you need to be sure about whether they constitute the required amino acids and about the possible side effects.

• Carbohydrates.
  
  

  Types and functions.
  
  Carbs are basically the energy supplying foods. They come in three forms namely : cellulose, starch and sugar. Only starch and sugar provide energy. Sugars can be further decomposed into sucrose and glucose. Starch and sucrose need to be digested before they can be used/stored. Glucose is of simpler form and the body can absorb it as such. So now you know what those energy repleneshing drinks contain. It makes a pretty useful sports drink too (I mean in-between your workouts to keep you from becoming too exhausted).
  
  A note on insulin.
  
  Well its a little out of the track, but you should know the basics (and I won't bore you with too much science). Whenever food gets assimilated in the blood stream, insulin is released. It lowers your sugar levels and sends a signal to store more fat. I hope you got my point. This fluctuation of sugar levels is bad, so as a rule, always give a thought to what you are eating and don't go overboard. Still there are times when you MUST let go of this rule. I know you've already guessed it.....yes...you are free to allow your body to store as much carb as it wishes after a full 1-2 hours workout.
  
  How it is stored and used.
  
  To know how carbs are stored is very important if you want to maintain a healthy diet routine. Once broken, if the absorbed glucose is more then what your body immediately needs, it stores it in the liver in the form of Glycogen. Then if the glucose still remains, the body stores it in the form of fat. Glycogen is the first source of energy that comes into picture when you need some energy for day-to-day tasks. Then comes fat and finally if you are doing something that takes up more energy then what the body can produce per unit time (ie, your are consuming energy faster then your body can generate), proteins come to rescue. It was quite off the line, but its worth knowing. Apart from the workout part, you should know that your brain too needs plenty of glucose. So, if you want your brain to function at the highest level, you must provide it with glucose. This was the part of standard advice we all get during exams. Now let me clear something. If you take too much sugar down, the serious fluctuations in your insulin level may make you feel sluggish too. But still it is glucose is very important keep your brain in the top notch performance. Just don't overdo it. Infact the swings in insulin levels are never good, so don't eat too much sugary substances just for the sake of them.
  
  How much
  
  A normal person requires 400-500 carbs daily. The exact amount depends upon the level & intensity of your workouts and your goal. But I find it quite common for the people to consume far more then they ever need. And the cliche is that you find it very very late that you have over done it. Trust me, at first almost everyone ignores the rather small increase in waistline by tightning a little. It is only when you can no longer do that, that you realize your nice and firm abs are no where and your pants have become too tight. Then all the trouble begins (All this has actually happened to me). I'll complete the story at some other part of the site, I mentioned it here just to tell you one major fact : Although fats are said to be the cause behind weight gain, but its carbs that are the real culprits in majority of the cases. So, it is a good idea to keep a close watch upon how much of carbs you are taking.
  
  Sources
  
  Well, everyone know the sources. Still, it goes : cereals, potatoes, peas, sago, anything sugary, almost all junk foods etc.

• Fats

  
  
  Functions
  
  Fats are generally considered something that get adds to your cellulite and just sits there with no too important purpose. Actually fats are vital to the formation of structural materials of cells and tissues (cell membranes for example). Also, they store the fat soluble vitamins etc.So you can't discard fats from your diet. Still fats are the richest source of energy. Same amount of fat may give about double the amount of energy that a carbs give.
  
  Saturated & non-saturated.
  
  I understand that you've probably already heard too much on the subject. So, I'll try to sum up the main points as briefly as possible. First of all saturated fats are solid at r.t. Essential fatty acids are the fats that our body can't be synthesized by our body. They are found in unsaturated fatty acids. Hydrogenation (process of converting non-saturated to saturated fatty acids by reaction with hydrogen) destroys the useful properties of the non-saturated ones. So always avoid the saturated ones.
  
  How much
  
  Not a single ounce of saturated fat. For the amount of unsaturated fats, you can go for 75 to 90 grams fat per day. Again you need to consult your doctor for fuller and more useful information
  
  Sources
  
  Saturated fats are found in all solid fatty acids. Examples are butter, coconut oil, animal/mutton fat, hydrogenated oils, ghee etc. Unsaturated fats can be found in almost all vegetable oils (like ground-nut oil, sunflower oil etc).

• Vitamins & Minerals
  
  Well almost all of us know quite well that these are necessary for proper functioning of body. There is no need to go into the details of various vitamins etc so I'll stress some important points here. First point is about the intake and assimilation of calcium and phosphorus. As you know well, calcium is very important for bone development and an average person requires about 1 gram daily. But the problem is that only some percentage of your total calcium intake gets assimilated. So, you may take it as a high priority nutrient. Now, one last thing about the vitamin/mineral supplements. I recently studied in an article that vitamin A helps prevent the risk of cancer. But it also stated that it was true only for the cases when the subjects were given vitamin A as carrot. I mean it didn't work as Vitamin A pills or anything. So try to take all the nutrients in there natural forms as much as possible.