Carbs – one of the most misunderstood foods of all.
Firstly lets put a end to no carbs before marbs mentality many of us have tried when wanting to lose fat.
In all honesty could you live without
Pizza?
Bread?
Pasta?
Fruits and vegetables? – yes these are carbs too!
When we eat carbs they taste goos and they give us energy, they are our bodies prefered energy source and when they are broken down like any other macronutrient they are stored as glucose and these are stored within a fat cell as glycogen or adipose tissue, so that it can be converted into energy on a rainy day – so for example you walk a mountain but only eat half the calories you need, your body will use the stored glycogen within your muscles and convert it to glucose so you can actually do it, same goes for breaking down lipids – fat!
Its all about energy balance in losing weight or gaining weight.
Yes all macronutrients have roles and while protein can be used as a energy source we want to avoid using them as a energy source and have carbs within our diet to promote clear thinking, as carbs are broken down into glucose as we know this is a type of sugar and it can have some impact on our blood sugar levels.
Ideally we want to eat food with long molecules – so think of these sugar molecules as like a long string of tightly packed pearls rather than a few packed onto a chain, we want foods to take longer digest to keep us feeling full and have less impact on insulin levels.
When we have high sugar foods we release insulin – think of this like a key, so when we consume high sugar foods, we can open cells to store energy.
Without insulin we can’t store foods as energy and it remains in our blood making blood sugar high, with type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the cells within your pancreas that make insulin, – the immune system attacks itself by mistake causing diabetes type 1
Type 2 – this can occur by the food choices we make and being overweight as we can then develop resistance to insulin, the cells put up a wall to stop insulin so that the body works harder to make more insulin, and then over time your body will stop making it all together so that type 1 people with type 2 will need insulin. The western diet of having too much sugar and over processed foods and having as much food available to us than we could ever want – think in the years say of rationing, or when we had to hunt for our food – our appetites is what drove us to stay alive but unfortunately this has meant many of us have over consumed these foods which can lead to type 2 diabetes,
Carbs can taste great nut they taste a whole lot better when we add fat – this adds the flavour to foods and takes carbs that are 4 cals per gram and fats that are 9 cals per gram to a whopping 15 cals per gram.
So we need to be more mindful of the amounts of carbs we consume and the amount of fats we add to them
How much butter do you add to your toast?
Do you like a buttery croissant?
How much cheese do you add on your pizza?
Do you like a creamy korma over a biryani?
Be mindful of the sauces you add to pasta or how you cook you potatoes –
creamy mash? Chips or boiled potatoes with or without butter?
We could all cut out carbs and lose weight as when you cut out a entire macronutrient your eliminating a whole host of foods but honestly you won’t sustain a life without carbs and if you did your likely to suffer bowel issues as a result, I was paleo (low carb) for about a year in that time I regularly had digestive issues – severe cramping when eating bread, sudden pains after eating meals and loose bowel movements. All resolved once I SLOWLY moved back to a balanced diet. We can develop what may look like allergic reactions to foods when we cut them out completely so be mindful of that.
My eating carbs your offsetting protein do do the role its meant to do – you won’t for example gain twice the amount of protein if you eat twice the amount of protein you need, but whatever food group you eat and you eat more than you need it will be broken down and stored as glycogen and then adipose tissue – fat.
45-65 % of your calories should come from carbs, but as I have clearly laid out in the protein article you need to aim for a minimim of 1 gram as a beginner of protein and then aim for 1.6- 2.2 gram per kg of body weight per day (easier to go for the lower 1.6 or if your a vegan or veggie it may be more achievable for you to hit the 1grm. So depending on your favourite foods the rest of the foods should be balanced out by fats and carbs just being mindful of
Carbs – aim to hit more long chain sugars – known as complex carbs. Look perhaps to have grains in your bread rather than white bread to help to take longer to digest and avoid added sugars, aim for more whole foods like fruit that are packed with natural sugars and contain vitamins.
Reminder to ensure you have a good balance of fats and avoid lots of saturated animal fats. include fish, nuts, seeds, avocado and fish.
Inadequate carb consumption can result in the inability to restore muscle glycogen and be ergolytic (adversely affect performance) and over time contribute to overtraining (Antonio et el 2008)
They will give you the ability to add intensity in sessions
They will help you have foods you enjoy
They will stop you feeling hangry – they will help give you energy
Fruits won’t make you fat – aim to eat your five a day and get a wide range of micronutrients, these are vitamins and minerals within foods.
Limit the amount of starchy carbs if you’re wanting to lose fat – check your total amounts, and be mindful how you prepare/cook them. So limiting fried food and avoiding added sugar and salt.
Add all the colours to you plate!
Hope this helps
B xx