Carbohydrates are evil?
There is
probably no more confusing, and misunderstood aspect of nutrition than
carbohydrates. Like many things in life,
the problem with carbohydrates is not that they are inherently evil; the vast
majority of people just have no idea how to appropriately utilize carbohydrate
intake into creating a healthy and well-balanced diet program.
Who needs carbohydrates, aka carbs? The answer is EVERYONE.
However, the amounts of
carbs needed vary depending upon physical activity and exercise. Also, the sources of carbs will vary
depending upon fitness and physical activity levels. The more physically active a person is the more carbs are needed
to fuel performance. Think of it like gasoline, if you
drive a Ferrari, you need high performance gas. If you drive a pinto, the low grade stuff is just fine.
The roles of carbs
Before going any further,
let’s discuss the roles carbs play within the body. Understanding this, will help to better
understand what good sources of carbohydrates are.
Carbs
are the primary source of energy during exercise and athletic
performance. They are not the
primary source of fuel when the body is at rest. Fat
is the primary fuel when the body is at rest and, on the surface, this sounds
like a good thing, but it is not. Carbs
are stored in the muscles as muscle glycogen, typically numbering between
1200-1600 calories. In addition to this,
blood glucose circulates through the blood stream 280-440 calories. This blood
glucose, when the body is at rest, is broken down from fat. However, this is done at a much slower rate
than after exercise. The more intense
exercise is the more muscle glycogen is used to sustain the exercise. Muscle glycogen that is depleted by exercise is replenished from the
blood glucose both by nutritional intake and body fat break down.
Carbs
are the fastest digesting of the macronutrients and will restore muscle
glycogen faster than protein or fat.
Carbs, as a primary fuel for exercise, are best used immediately before,
during, and after exercise. A meal
should be consumed 60-90 minutes before exercise. Carbs should only be consumed during
exercise if the session will last more than one hour. Carbs should be immediately consumed after exercise to enhance the recovery process.
It is vital to
eat as quickly as possible
after the end of a workout. The more
rapidly that nutrition is consumed after exercise the more efficiently the body
will begin to repair itself. It is
through the repair process that metabolic rates become elevated and body fat
becomes used at a higher rate as energy while the body recovers. Waiting more than two hours to eat
after exercise can reduce recovery efficiency by as much as 50%. The question then is how much of
the carbohydrates should be consumed when?
Personally, I think half of the total daily
carbohydrate intake should be allocated to the meal before the workout, and if
necessary, during the workout, and the recovery meal after the workout. The other half of the total daily
carbohydrate should be split so that 20% of total daily carb intake occurs with
breakfast and the remaining 30% is taken in with the last meal of the day. As an example, let’s say that a person is
consuming 150 grams of carbohydrates per day.
Half of that would be 75 grams that should be split between the
pre-workout and post-workout meals. With
some consumed during the workout session if it lasts longer than an hour. Following the guidelines of 20% at breakfast
and 30% at dinner, for the remaining half of the carbohydrates, that leaves 30g
consumed at breakfast and 45g consumed at dinner.
Types of Carbohydrates
There are two primary types of carbohydrates: simple and
complex. Simple Carbohydrates are quickly
digested by the body and more likely to be used as energy, if a person
exercises regularly, instead of
being stored as body fat.
For this reason the best time to consume simple carbohydrates is immediately
before, during exercise, and after exercise.
Consuming simple carbs are exercise is the best way to replenish muscle
glycogen levels. In addition, these are naturally occurring forms of sugars such as fruit,
vegetables, 100% whole grain products, and dairy products. There are six forms of naturally occurring
sugar referred to as simple sugars or simple carbohydrates.
•
Glucose in the body,
•
Fructose in fruit and vegetables
•
Galactose one of the sugars in dairy
products
•
Sucrose is table sugar
•
Lactose the other sugar in dairy products
•
Maltose the sugar in grain products
Complex Carbohydrates are made from various combinations of the simple
carbohydrates. Sometimes these are
slower to be digested than simple carbohydrates and more likely to be stored as
body fat without regular exercise. Not
all, but many complex carbs are known as starch. Starch based carbs are not as easily used by
the body from energy are more likely to be stored as body fat. This includes baked goods, potatoes, pastas, anything
made with refined flours, ice cream.
In reality, unless a person is moderately to very active, a healthy diet
will consume very little of these
forms of carbohydrates. Consuming carbs
from these sources withoutbeing physically active will make it almost
impossible to maintain healthy body weight.
Exceptions to this do exist, oatmeal and other oat based products being
an example. However, because there are
exceptions to the simple and complex carbs, it is not the easiest way to
identify what carbs are healthy to eat and when it is best to do so.
Gripping
the Glycemic Index
This easiest way to know whether or not a carbohydrate is
healthy is to understand the GI rating. Carbohydrates that have high GI ratings should be avoided
while carbs that are low GI
should be consumed the majority of the time.
The best time to consume high GI foods is immediately before, during
or immediately after exercise that lasts more than an hour and burns
more than 400 calories. If this exercise
requirement is not met it will mean the high GI foods will likely become body
fat.
Optimizing Carbohydrate Control
Remember, controlling carbs is about controlling blood
glucose levels to minimize the insulin
reaction. Insulin is a hormone released
into the bloodstream to lower blood glucose levels become too high. Its primary role is to remove excess glucose
from the blood. It does this by storing the excess as body fat. In excess, all types of macronutrients, fats,
carbs, and protein will result in a strong insulin reaction. However, the body reacts more strongly to
carbohydrates than fats and protein. It
reacts most strongly to high GI carbs.
It is because of this high insulin reaction excess carbs are more
likely to be stored as body fat.
To eat carbs successfully
Focus on non-starchy complex carbs that are low GI such as leafy
green vegetables, berries, round fruit that grows on trees, and oat-based
products. Do this when eating carbs on a
day that you will not exercise. On the exercise days; the meals and snacks
not close to the exercise session the cards should also be consumed from these
food sources. Focus only on
simple carbs that are medium to high GI immediately before, during, or after
exercise.
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