Carbs, yummy but are the devil
When asked about dieting, I’m starting to realize that a good majority of people haven’t been exposed or are confused about some basic concepts. Such as, what a carb is or when should they be eating it. What is the difference between complex carbs and simple carbs? People often talk about calories, detox, keto diets, etc. but in order to understand these things, you have to start with the basics like carbs, protein, and greens. What do they really do and why are they essential. How will your body react if you cut them out or how will your body react if you consume an excess amount. Once we understand this, we can further explore and understand the intricacies of existing diets. I won’t get into calorie counting to keep it simple but learning something as simple as carbs is a strong leap forward to having a solid foundation and understanding of what and how you should be eating. Saying that, let’s get started.
What is a carb? A carb or carbohydrates is essentially a macronutrient (a type of food that is required in large amounts in a diet like protein or greens) that provides the body with energy to function properly. The American Diabetes Association notes that carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. They are mainly sugars and starches that the body breaks down into glucose (simple sugars) that the body uses to feed its cells. They are called carbohydrates because, at the chemical level, they contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
For simplicity, let’s focus on the two major types of carbohydrates in food. Simple and Complex.
Complex carbs are found in foods such as whole-grain bread, white rice, brown rice, beans, corn, plain oats, quinoa, barley, pasta, potatoes. Due to its “complexity”, it takes longer for the body to digest it, therefore providing you with energy for many hours and sometimes enough energy to last you throughout the day.
Simple carbs also known as simple sugars are easily broken down by the body to be used as energy. Hence people getting sugar rushes shortly after consumption (results may vary with age). Simple sugars are usually found in fruits and refined sugars such as table sugar, syrups, candy and soft drinks.
Side note, there are fibrous carbs (greens) such as asparagus, broccoli, etc but we’re going to focus on simple and complex carbs for now.
The things you want to look out for are refined sugars and refined carbs. Refined sugars, are usually items that contain table sugar, such as candy, soda, coffee, canned foods, salad dressings, and pastries. Refined sugars and carbs have had most of their nutrients/fiber taken out and consumption of these foods are linked to diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
You might be asking why do refined sugars/carbs exists. It exists due to preference. E.g., white bread. Some people prefer the texture and taste of white bread despite it being made from refined grains. Same goes with why some people prefer white rice over brown rice despite it being less nutritional. Obviously everybody will have their preferences in food but try to understand that the healthier option exists. So next time you’re at chipotle, give brown rice a shot :) I’m confident that I don’t need to explain the importance of selecting fruit over candy but keep in mind the nutritional value fruit provides.
Now that we’ve established what a carb is, let’s get into the importance of when to eat it. Did you ever wonder why breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I think it’s obvious now that the most important factor is the carb consumption. Why do you think all those mornings we had cereal before going to school, or oatmeal, toast, or waffles? It’s simple, the very essence of eating those things (complex carbs) is to provide us energy to function properly and at our best for the entire day. Most of the time, we don’t eat a big breakfast, but we eat enough carbs to last us until lunch where we are able to refuel ourselves with a sandwich or a pizza, which then again provides us energy until dinner or bedtime.
Hopefully by now you understand that carbs provide us with energy but what happens when we eat a surplus of carbs then go to sleep? Do we end up running in our sleep? Definitely not, but our body is smart enough to think “Hey, I have all these carbs/energy but since I’m sleeping, I’m going to store it for later use incase we don’t end up eating breakfast for the next few days or something drastic. However, living the luxurious life of not having to worry about a shortage of food, we repeat the process of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Therefore, the excess carbs we ate prior now becomes fat. Keep in mind that fat is suppose to be a good thing, where in certain scenarios we are able to survive without food for days even weeks thanks to our body storing carbs for us. Unfortunately, in our modern day society, excess fat is often seen as a representation of an unhealthy life style or bad eating habits. I’m guilty of bad eating habits. I used to live on Dr. Pepper, potato chips, and Filiberto’s Mexican food. I’m not saying you should cut them out, well you’ll get the best results if you do but try to start small. Start by rearranging how you are eating.
A good rule of thumb to follow is one cup of rice (45grams of carbs) will get you throughout the day. Another cup (45grams of carbs) will get you through a workout. This should be the optimal amount to consume daily and should help avoid weight gain. However, if you do intend to partake in a strenuous workouts in the morning, then a cup or half a cup of carbs would also be ideal to eat at night. Pro tip though, if you are looking to lose weight, a very good practice is doing fasted cardio in the morning. That way you can utilize the excess fat stored in your body from days prior, all while maintaining a healthy consumption of carbs throughout the day and slowly burning fat over time.
One last note to mention is carb sensitivity. Yes, it is a real thing. Some can function on half a cup of carbs the same way as a person who consumes a full cup. This is often detectable when one becomes bloated after consumption of carbs and this carb sensitivity can be diagnosed through a blood test.
Overall, carbs is essential to our diet and body function. You can’t live without it but you can control the amount you consume and what to do with it. I hope this was helpful and provided you with a better understanding of what a carb is and when to consume it. Play around with the rule of thumb and see how it treats you. Happy dieting and best of luck!
