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Carbohydrates: What You must know
By Gary Matthews
This scares me to death, every day you walk down
the street it is becoming more and more apparent
that the average person is becoming larger and this
trend has escalated over recent years. Why are they
getting fatter? Here are some reasons...
¡¤ Less incidental activity
¡¤ Automated and computerized lifestyle
¡¤ Longer working hours and less leisure
¡¤ Increased consumption of
processed foods
¡¤ Our food servings are larger
than ever
Being overweight, or obese, has now moved from a
social nuisance and domestic embarrassment to an
official disease. The American Heart Association has
announced obesity is a major risk for heart disease.
Obesity itself has become a major and dangerous
epidemic. More than 70% of US adults are
overweight and that figure is rapidly increasing.
What do most people do to rid their body of
unwanted fat? They diet! Dieting is now a trillion
dollar industry and just about every month a new
diet is announced.
If you do have weight problems how do you find a
diet that is safe, effective and sustainable?
What you do is try to find a diet that includes a
variety of foods that you can live with
comfortably. You have to take a long-term view and
include plenty of exercise.
A good diet is one that supplies all of the essential
vitamins and minerals, and is not high in fat or
protein.
Research on people, who have successfully lost a lot
of weight and kept it off long term, shows that the
vast majority succeeded by consuming a low fat diet
high in fibre coupled with strength training and
cardiovascular activity.
Be wary of diets that
¡¤ Ban a specific food group
¡¤ Promise a quick fix
¡¤ Replace a balanced meal with a
drink or a snack bar
¡¤ Make recommendations based
on single studies
¡¤ Make recommendations to help sell
a single product
Excess weight does not appear overnight and nor
will it disappear overnight! In fact the faster you lose
weight, the more likely you are to pile the pounds
back on.
Seek out a program that will help you maintain long-
term body fat losses by providing attainable
solutions such as a program that promotes lifestyle
changes, healthy eating and regular exercise.
Regular exercise is important (i.e. strength training)
as it burns fat, boosts your
metabolism and also increases your energy levels.
Dietary changes can lead to initial
weight loss, but this is only for the short term.
Exercise is essential for maintaining weight loss for
the long term.
Now let¡¯s take a closer look at what food is made up of and
then you will have a good idea of what to look for in your daily
eating plan. Firstly we need a wide range of nutrients to
perform various functions for a healthy life.
These nutrients include carbohydrates, proteins and fat and
are all present in the food we eat on a daily basis.
The foods containing these nutrients are cereals, legumes,
nuts, vegetables, fruits, milk products and flesh foods (fish,
meat and poultry).
We need all these nutrients to live and thrive and since we
receive them through the food we eat, our food must be well
balanced and in the proper proportions.
Food is a fuel; the body requires this fuel for energy, which is
measured in fats, carbohydrate and protein.
Each of these nutrients provides different amounts of energy
and these are measured in calories.
Nutrient Calories per Gram
Carbohydrate 4
Protein 4
Fat 9
Let¡¯s look at carbohydrates first, carbohydrates supply energy
for our body, they provide fibre for the prevention of disease
and taste and texture to food. They are found in cereals,
potatoes, fruits and vegetables.
They come in two basic forms, simple and complex. Simple
carbs are easily identified by their taste and are sweet.
Complex carbs, such as potatoes are pleasant to the taste
buds, but are not sweet.
They are then divided into two groups, high fibre and low
fibre.
High-fibre foods are the healthiest choices for nutrition and
the intake of these foods is associated with a lower incidence
of cancer and diabetes. Carbohydrates supply the sort of
calories easily burned during cardiovascular exercise.
They are often wrongly feared and considered fattening, but
the most important factor in weight control is balancing the
energy (calories) consumed.
Please remember:
Energy In is more than Energy Out = Weight gain
Energy In is equal to Energy Out = Weight maintenance
Energy In is less than Energy Out = Weight loss
Different foods affect the ability to exercise at different levels.
High levels of exercise (cardio and strength training) require
carbohydrate as a fuel source; at lower levels it is fat.
A lack of carbohydrate in the diet will lead to fatigue, the
inability to exercise
effectively, and excess fat consumption. When our food is
digested, carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars.
These sugars are absorbed by the body and used by the
muscles or stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. As
our glycogen storage capacity is limited, carbohydrate needs
to be continually topped up by the foods we eat.
But the body has an unlimited storage capacity for fat!
The average person is extremely vulnerable to fad diets and
extreme dieting behaviours. The low carbohydrate diet is one
of the latest eating plans to hit the streets.
This current diet craze is very popular but there are safer and
more effective methods based on scientific research, to
reduce body fat levels.
Low carbohydrate dieting is simply wrong.
Why is this? Just as a car runs better on a certain fuel, so
does the human body. Unfortunately the latest low-
carbohydrate fad diets are not the fuel mix the human body
was designed to run on.
Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, whereas fats
contain 9 calories per gram. For weight loss, the priority is to
decrease total calorie intake. Reducing the amount of fat in
the diet will make the biggest difference in reducing total daily
calorie intake and hence weight loss.
Carbohydrate intake is not fattening, excess calorie intake is
fattening.
If you aren't having enough carbohydrates in your diet you will
experience:
¡¤ Fatigue due to low blood sugar levels
inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals
¡¤ Low fibre intake, which may affect
bowel movements
¡¤ 'Bad¡¯ breath due to the breakdown products of fats
(called ketones)
The bottom line for carbohydrates and weight loss is to:
¡¤ Try to balance carbohydrate intake
with activity levels
¡¤ Maintain energy levels by
eating carbohydrate rich foods on a regular basis
¡¤ Carbohydrate rich foods are normally low in
fat and nutrient-rich
A real weight loss program includes all the food
groups, strength training, and low-level aerobics, a
slight decrease in your daily calorie levels and a
program that can be followed for life.
In conclusion try to achieve a balanced diet, eating a
balanced variety of foods will help you to feel great
every day, ensure better long-term health and
improve weight control
About the Author
Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss or muscle building e-courses.
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