Have you heard any of the following:
- Night Time Eating Makes You Fat
- Some Sugars Are Bad For You
- Coffee Is Not Good For You
- Less You Eat, The Better
- Switch to Sea Salt to Reduce Sodium
- Drink More Water To Peel Off Pounds
- Sugar Makes You Hyper
- Athletes Need a Ton of Protein
- Too Much Sugar Causes Diabetes
- Carbs Lead to Weight Gain
I can't take all these myths on at once, I'd bore you to death, so let's tackle these one by one and start with the last statement. Do carbs lead to weight gain?
Carbs play a vital role in relation to our energy needs. Specifically, the type and amount of carbs needed day to day IS dependent upon that days specific training intensity and your overall body composition (ratio of muscle to fat) goal. Not all Carbs are created equal tho, so that is where we will start.
Carbohydrates are one of four macro-nutrients we need to survive, the other three being water, protein, and fat.
Carbohydrates either contain mostly starches (amylopectin, amylose) with fiber (grains, potatoes, pastas, rice) or mostly sugar (glucose, sucrose, fructose, galactose, and glucose polymers such as maltodextrin).
Glucose is the only molecule that can be oxidized (used) by muscle. Fructose and galactose must be broken down (and rather slowly) by the liver into glucose before they can be used by muscle. These sugars are monosaccharides.
Disaccharides are a combination of two monosaccharides. Sucrose, lactose and maltose are examples. Sucrose is by far the most abundant sugar in our diet and provides 20-25% of our energy. Beet and cane sugar, brown sugar, table sugar, maple sugar and honey are sucrose. Sucrose is a molecule of glucose and fructose. Lactose is the sugar found in milk. It is composed of a molecule of glucose and galactose.
Oligosaccharides are 3 to 9 monosaccharides combined and are found in most vegetables.
Polysaccharides are 10 or more monosaccharides and are referred to as glucose polymers or maltodextrins and then there is starch, glycogen and fiber which contain up to a thousand monosaccharides (essentially these are storage forms of carbohydrates).
So you can start to see by the above descriptions how all carbs are not equal. To keep this somewhat simple nutritionists refer to carbs as starch (ST) and fruits and vegetables (F/V). The simple carbohydrate sugar is not really something you will see scheduled into your eating plan when working with a nutritionist {darn!}, but it is something you will find abundantly in processed foods when reading food labels. So goes the thinking that the healthiest eating plan involves eating minimally processed foods as to avoid the over consumption of sugar.
Now let's take a look at your blood sugar response as you eat. When you wake up in the morning, your blood sugar will be at its lowest point. When you eat breakfast, your blood sugar rises as you digest the nutrients of your meal. The pancreas kicks out insulin in response to the rise in your blood sugar. The insulin moves the glucose in your blood into the cells for energy. As insulin continues to work on moving the glucose from your blood into your cells your blood sugar levels start to drop, eventually returning to a similar level as before you ate.
Looking at your blood sugar response in relation to what types of foods you eat takes this one step further. Ingestion of carbohydrates alone, such as pasta and breads, causes a much larger spike in your blood sugar versus eating protein along with fiber and smaller amounts of carbohydrates, such as chicken and vegetables, which produces only a moderate spike in your blood sugar. The overall goal is maintain a moderate response in your blood sugar as compared to a large spike, often referred to as a sugar high, followed by that drastic drop often referred to as a crash. The goal then becomes focusing on foods that have more protein and fiber (fruits and vegetables with lean meat) with less refined carbs and sugars. Check this out:
High Carb Day (large spikes in blood sugar)
Breakfast: OJ, Bagel with PBJ, Banana
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich, Pretzels, Soda
Snack: Granola
Dinner: Pasta with marinara, Breadsticks, Sorbet
vs.
Balanced Day (moderate blood glucose response)
Breakfast: Milk, Omelet with spinach, tomato, and mushrooms, Blueberries
Lunch: Mixed greens with black bean, avocado, Hummus with veges, Herbal Tea
Snack: Greek Yogurt with nuts
Dinner: Salmon, Asparagus, Mixed Fruit Salad
The second menu offers a stable blood sugar response throughout your day as well helping you feel fuller longer (greater satiety) with the added protein, fiber and good fats included in each meal. Satiety equates to less cravings so the tendency to overeat can be avoided.
By eating balanced meals, along with training aerobically, we can teach our bodies to use more of its fat stores over time. This helps us reach our weight and body composition goals. Eating too many carbs with little or no fat and protein leads to an increased carbohydrate burn for fuel simply due to the higher insulin response. Insulin inhibits our ability to burn fat.
Carbohydrates eaten alone per meal = more insulin produced by pancreas = decrease fat oxidation = less fat burned for fuel.
Control your blood sugar through balanced food choices and in turn teach your body to use fat stores more efficiently. Or in other words, to control your blood sugar, burn more fat, and preserve your carbohydrate stores, you need balanced nutrition and moderate variable intensity training.
Always include protein with every meal & snack.
When eating before a workout, the goal is to prevent an energy depletion during the training session. The best way to avoid this is to eat 2 - 3 hours before an hour long workout. If it will be longer than 3 hours after your last meal and the end of your training session, have a snack prior which consists of protein and carb to maintain your energy levels throughout. In the hour following your workout, try to get your next meal in to refuel your muscles and avoid entering a catabolic state, one in which your body goes on a manhunt internally for fuel and starts breaking down your hard earned muscle as its fuel source. In other words, no starvation post workout. Listen to your biological hunger mechanisms and eat when signaled.
As you can see this topic is a bit crazed, but hang with me for future postings on good carb (ST) choices and the timing of such in your diet.
Be Well
