Saturday, January 15, 2011

Good carbs bad carbs no carbs? What???

There is a lot of confusion these days about good carbs bad carbs and no carbs. For starters a carbohydrate is a starch or in other words a long chain of sugars. The only way that a long chain carb can be bat for your training regiment and add fat is if you consume it 4 hrs or less from bed time. Simple sugars on the other hand cause a release of insulin by the body that can cause excess fat storage. The only time that this is beneficial is after a workout to replace your glycogen stores. To understand the whole thing a little better lets look at that neutral measurement known as the calorie. One gram of protein or carbohydrate has 4 calories of energy in it. One gram of fat contains 9 calories. That is more than twice the energy of the protein and the carb. This is the chief reason why I disagree with no carb diets. They work of the body's insulin response instead of micro nutrient intake. So essentially you are shutting down your body's ability to produce effective amounts of insulin. Your muscles and brain need carbs and insulin to function properly. The key is to eat the right micro nutrient at the right time. Oh yeah also limit your intake of processed foods as they contain high amounts of fats and sugars. The best way to eat is to respect the time line for the carbs and not cut them while also maintaining a low fat and high protein intake. Most of your fats should come from health omega fat sources like flax oil or salmon but the intake should still be low.

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