Carb consumption can alter needs for energy in the body, as well as disease progression. ALL carbs that we consume are broken down into the same simple sugars before they are absorbed by the body, regardless of the food source. However, “smart carbs” are digested and absorbed much slower, while the opposite can be said for “not smart carbs”. Even though the basic process of digestion is the same for healthy/unhealthy carbs, how we tolerate and handle these carbs differs from each person.
When your diet contains mostly processed carbs, which break down very quickly, you may notice elevations in blood triglyceride levels, bad cholesterol, and insulin resistance(in a blood work test).
Conversely, when you eat whole, minimally processed carbs that digest more slowly, you’ll see benefits such as improved body composition, energy levels, better control of insulin response, reduced triglycerides and improved cholesterol. Also, your intake of nutrients like vitamins and minerals will be improved, increased fiber, better control of blood sugar and better satiety(fullness) from meals!
WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT SMART CARBS?
Ok, so I think it’s safe we all KNOW we should eat more fruits and vegetables. But why? What in the heck is so good about them? Let me break it down for you.
- They can help preserve muscle tissue and bone mass, due to their alkaline producing quality.
- They contain plenty of vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, and antioxidants that our bodies need to function properly and keep us healthy.
- They contain water that helps us stay hydrated.
- Because they contain a lot of fiber and water, they are relatively lower in calories compared to the volume of food. What this means is you can eat a good amount of fruits and veggies and not have a big impact on your calories. Fruits and veggies are great to control overall food intake and manage your bodyweight.
- Also, we are evolved to eat fruits and vegetables. While our ancestors obviously ate meat, they didn’t neglect their fruits and veggies either. It’s a lot easier to pick an apple or potato than to kill and cook a lion. We have evolved to take in all of the benefits of eating fruits and veggies.
Regardless of your eating preference, the foundation of our diets should be based on eating fruits and vegetables. Personally, I would describe my diet as “Plant based, with a side of meat”.
Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is the foundation to a healthy, high quality diet.
Having more fruits and vegetables in your diet has been shown to lower incidence of the following:
Cardiovascular disease, Colon cancer, High blood cholesterol, High blood pressure, Prostate cancer, Type 2 diabetes, Obesity, Stroke, Eye disease, Asthma, Cervical cancer, Breast cancer, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Endometrial cancer, Gastric cancer, Lung cancer, Lymphoma, Osteoporosis, Ovarian cancer, Pancreatic cancer and Thyroid cancer.
In addition, most fruits and vegetables are low on the glycemic index. This means that eating these foods won’t significantly impact our insulin and blood glucose levels. This is great for remaining satisfied after a meal, as well as maintaining a healthy body fat level.
To put this in the simplest terms possible, eating a high amount of fruits and veggies not only turns you into a superhero on the inside, but you start to look like one on the outside as well! That’s a win-win in my book.
HOW MANY CARBS SHOULD I EAT?
This is based on a lot of different factors.
As a good rule of thumb, if you have visible abs and upper back muscles, you can likely tolerate more carbohydrates in your diet. If you are trying to lose weight/bodyfat, you may want to stick to mostly veggies as your carb source.
I have my clients use their hands as a unit of measure. This gives them a convenient, “handy” method that they can use with them wherever they go.
For fruits, beans, lentils, grains and tubers, I have my clients used their cupped hand as a serving size.
For all other veggies, they use a fist for their serving size.
Regardless of your goals, I would recommend most people to get in 4-8 servings of each, and then adjust based off your goals.
CARB MYTHS
“But coach, I’m trying to lose fat. Shouldn’t I be cutting my carbs?”
Over the years, I’ve heard this numerous times. Low carb fads have come and gone over the years, but I think it’s safe to say most people think that carbs themselves are inherently fattening. Maybe you have even found yourself thinking something like: ‘Carbs spike your blood sugar and insulin, which slathers on the body fat’ or ‘Carbs, especially sugar and grains, cause inflammation.’ or perhaps even ‘Carbs are not an essential part of the diet like fat and protein.’
This all makes sense, logically. However, these simple statements don’t do the complexity of carbohydrates and how they actually affect your body justice.
Carbs DO increase your insulin levels, but that in and of itself doesn’t lead to fat gain.
Carbs ARE inflammatory, if we’re talking about processed foods. If we’re talking about whole foods, they probably aren’t.
If you’re talking about processed carbs, then YES, those are much less important than protein, fat and other important nutrients your body takes in and needs.
Low carb diets CAN help you lose weight. But that’s not necessarily because it’s low in carbs.
Here’s the thing with trying to adhere to a low carb diet long term: it costs us, BIG TIME. Most of us need some amount of carbs to perform at our best long term, especially if you exercise. If you aren’t very active, you can likely get away with a more restricted carb intake. But if you’re someone who enjoys and trains regularly, lowering your carb intake too much can lead to lowered metabolism, lower muscle building hormones and increased stress hormones.
The worst part is that you likely feel sick, tired, cranky, and you probably didn’t even lose that much weight.
When you look at the research, over the long term, the differences between low carb and other types of diets evens out.
In fact, in most studies that show that high carb diets are more effective than other diets, protein isn’t matched between the groups. This means that the low carb diet group usually ends up eating MORE protein. As we learned in past weeks, more protein is great for retaining muscle mass, helping you stay fuller longer and protein is tougher to digest(our bodies have to turn up the metabolism to get it done).
So in fact, the “big secret” might not be lower carbs, but rather higher protein.
Everybody needs a different amount of carbs in their diet(we’ll get more into eating for your body type next week), but generally, most of us do better with carbs in our diet. It can be tempting to restrict ourselves if we don’t think our eating plan is working. In the long term, more restriction almost never works. Unless you have extreme goals, you don’t need to take your nutrition to extremes. As easy and unsexy as it sounds, strategic moderation is the best strategy for sustainable fat loss.
To wrap all this up, don’t feel like you need to cut carbs out of your diet to see results. Long term, this likely won’t be sustainable for you. Continue to be mindful of how, what and how much you’re eating, and I will give you some more strategies to keep dialing this in.
CARB SUMMARY
Regardless of your goals or current body type, we can ALL benefit from having more carbs in the form of veggies/fruits in our diet. Some of us may need more than others, and some may be able to tolerate different types better than others.
Either way, the internal and external health benefits of carbs are essential to looking and performing your best in sport and in life.
Don’t let the next diet fad scare you away from carbohydrates. Remember, nobody ever got fat eating fruits and vegetables.
Keep your carb quality(and just food in general) high, and you will be just fine!
Now get out there and enjoy a good fruit. Maybe on a piece of cake. Life is all about balance, right? Why should carbs be any different.
Stay evolving!
-Coach Ian