You have all heard it, ‘carbs are the enemy’. This statement couldn’t be further from the truth and, I know, sometimes it is thrown around loosely and expected to be taken with a pinch of salt. However, they still seem to carry around a negative stigma, especially with weight loss diets. Carbs in a diet should never be the enemy. They are just as important, if not more important than the other two macronutrients, protein and fat. If there was going to be any saying, I guess it would be something along the lines of ‘calories are the enemy’. At least if your goal was weight loss, and that’s still a little misleading.
To better understand carbohydrates, let's have a little bit of a more scientific look at them.
As briefly mentioned above, carbohydrates form one of the three macronutrients available us. The others been proteins and fats. We use these macronutrients mainly for energy, and carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy, ahead of protein and fat. They provide energy for our muscles and our central nervous system, especially the brain.
There are two main types of carbs. Simple and complex.
The only real difference you need to know about is that simple carbs are absorbed faster and the energy can be utilized faster, whereas complex carbs will be absorbed slower by the body and are a more sustainable form of energy. If you wanted a more nerdy fact, then simple carbs contain one or two sugars and complex carbs contain three or more.
Examples of simple carbohydrates include;
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Bagels
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White bread
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Sweets
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White pasta
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White potatoes
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Sugary fizzy drinks
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Fruit
Examples of complex carbohydrates include;
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Wholemeal bread
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Wholemeal pasta
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Sweet potato
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Oats
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Beans
Once the carbohydrate has been broken down in your body, it is used for either mental or physical energy. If the energy is not needed, the body can store it in the muscles and liver as glycogen. This can then be used later. However, there is a limit to what the body can store. If you reach this level, any additional carbohydrates are stored as fat, so you do need to be somewhat cautious. For the bodybuilders out there, if there aren’t enough carbohydrates for your body to use for energy then the next source of energy is protein and as protein is the building block of your muscles, you can see why this could be problematic.
Although both simple and complex carbs have the same job (to provide energy), there are some key differences and you should still focus on fuelling your body with carbs that are nutritious and healthy for your body. If we are going to class carbs as good and bad, then the below points explain why they land in each category.
Good carbs;
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High in nutrients
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High in fibre
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Low in saturated fat
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Low in sodium
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Low or moderate calories
Bad carbs;
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High in calories
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Low in nutrients
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High in sodium
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Low in fibre
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High in saturated fats
So, you know what carbs are and how the body utilises them, but what are the benefits of eating them?
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They help regulate your mood
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Improve brain performance
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Help you sleep (yes, really)
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Better digestive health
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Increased energy levels
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They are muscle sparing
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Promote satiety
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Important for hormone balance
Quite an eye-catching list of benefits! But what about some of the cons to eating carbs?
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Could lead to high insulin levels
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Easy to go overboard on, which could lead to fat gain
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Could impact your future health due to a high level of processed carbs containing chemicals and fillers
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Poor for your health if your only carb source is simple carbs, containing lots of sugar and little nutritional value
It’s up to you to decide whether or not you feel carbs are still the enemy.
In my opinion, they aren’t. They are a tool that can help you build muscle and preserve It when dieting down. They are a great macronutrient found in many forms. You don’t have to limit yourself to complex or good carbs all the time, just have a healthy balance and be mindful or tipping the scale towards more nutritional carbs.
If you don’t overindulge, you will limit your chances of gaining weight, all whilst experiencing the positive benefits associated with them outlined in the list above.
#Teamcarb
