Nutrition Fundamentals
Start with the concepts that make the rest of nutrition easier to understand: energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, vitamins, minerals, water and digestion.
Start with the basics.
A simple way to learn nutrition
You do not need to memorize a textbook. Start with what nutrition means, then learn how the main nutrients and energy fit together. Use the later lessons when you want more detail about fibre, vitamins, minerals, hydration or digestion.
What Is Nutrition?
Start here: what nutrition means, what nutrients are, and how food, diet and nutrition differ.
Calories and Energy
Understand what a calorie measures and how food energy fits into everyday nutrition.
Protein Explained
Learn what protein does, where it comes from and why protein foods are nutritionally different.
Carbohydrates Explained
Understand sugars, starches and fibre without treating “carbs” as one type of food.
Dietary Fat Explained
Learn the main types of dietary fat and why the food source matters.
Fibre Explained
See how different fibres work and how to add fibre-rich foods gradually.
What Are Vitamins?
Learn what vitamins do, where they come from and why more is not always better.
What Are Minerals?
Understand essential minerals such as calcium, iron, potassium, zinc and iodine.
Water and Hydration
Learn what affects fluid needs and how food and drinks both contribute.
How Digestion Works
Follow what happens to food from eating through digestion and absorption.
You do not need to memorize nutrients. Learn how the pieces relate.
Start with What Is Nutrition? to understand the difference between food, nutrients, diet and nutrition. Then learn energy and the macronutrients—protein, carbohydrate and fat—before moving into fibre, vitamins, minerals, water and digestion. That order makes later lessons easier to understand because the vocabulary is already familiar.
1. Start with the big picture
What Is Nutrition? and Calories and Energy explain what nutrition studies and how food supplies energy.
2. Learn the main nutrient groups
Move through protein, carbohydrates, dietary fat and fibre with everyday food examples.