A SWEET TAKE ON CARBS - Fitness and Philosophy

Talks About Carbs:

SCENARIO 2:

A co-worker came up to me not too long ago and said

“looks like you’ve lost weight. Are you trying to?”

“Yes, I’m down about 15 lbs since I started a year ago”

“Wow! How did you do that?”

“I reduced my calories”

“But you’re still eating carbs right?”

“Yes, definitely carbs!”

Not long before that, I ran into a former client that I haven’t seen in a few months and he made a similar observation,

“Ali, you’re looking lean! did you lose weight?”

“Yes, I’ve dropped a few pounds”

“Looks like it, how come?”

“I’m not competing or training as much, so I don’t need or want to eat as much”

“Cool, how are you doing that?”

“I just reduced my calorie intake”

“Right, but I mean what do you do? Lots of protein, no carbs…”

“Well I still eat carbs, I definitely still eat carbs”

“Yea but just like fruit and veggies right? Not rice or potatoes”

“Oh definitely rice and potatoes, I eat what I need!”

SCENARIO 2:

And not too long before that, I was grabbing some coffee from the food court where I work. I was adding some cream and sugar to my coffee when one of the women who works there sees me and says

“You’re putting sugar in your coffee?? That’s bad!”

“Naaa it tastes great!”

“But sugar is not good for you!”

“Why?”

“Because it makes you fat”

Carbs Good, Misinformation Bad:

I could go on with so many stories of people I know, people I don’t know, who have seen me eating carbs in the form of rice, potatoes, donuts, cake, table sugar etc. And have made comments about how it’s dangerous, it makes you gain weight, that’s it’s better to cut it out and so on.

But they all have one thing in common: they are all misinformed about carbohydrates! This misinformation, I have noticed, spreads among the general population as well as health and fitness professionals.

I get frustrated when I think about how even with overwhelming evidence and research, fear seems to always win. Fear of what? Fear of getting fat, fear of getting cancer, fear of diabetes etc. I can’t tell anymore! Even when the research shows that it isn’t the high carbs, sugar, high-fructose corn-syrup, or donuts that can contribute to different illnesses.

Things are much more complicated and nuanced, but it is so bloody easy to point the finger at one thing and attack it with hell’s fury. And carbs just happen to be that thing that lots of people like to hate on and blame for their woes. So they turn to Ketogenic diets, Paleo diets, Low-carb/high protein etc.

I don’t want to get too deep into why this line of thinking has it’s problems. Instead, I want to lay out the basics for understanding Carbohydrates: the different kinds of carbs, their primary function, caloric content, how they are metabolized, and the difference between the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

I’m hoping that by providing some basic nutrition science you’ll be able to dispel myths that you’ve heard about carbs and sugar.

Fun Facts About Carbs:

-1 gram of carbs = 4 kcals

-Carbs are broken down in 2 different ways: glucose for the blood, and glycogen for the muscles and liver

-At any give time, you have about 5 grams (20 kcals) of carbs in the form of glucose circulating in your blood.

-There’s about 350 grams of carbs (1400 kcals) in the form of glycogen stored in your muscles.

-You have about 90 grams (360 kcals) in the form of glycogen stored in your liver.

Types of Carbs:

You’ve probably heard about simple carbs, complex carbs, the words fructose, glucose, may have come up. You may also have heard that some carbs are “better” than others. The fact is, while there are different types of carbohydrates, it is misleading to say that some are “better” than others.

What do you consider better? Better for who? Children, adults, athletes, or people with celiac? But let’s break down carbs (pun intended!) before you can answer these questions.

There are three different classes of carbohydrates: Monosaccharides, Disaccharides, Polysaccharides. Monosaccharides and disaccharides are commonly referred to as simple carbohydrates, while polysaccharides are referred to as complex carbohydrates.

All carbohydrates have the same amount of calories (energy): 4kcals/gram. The rate at which that energy is supplied to the body is what differs. Simple carbs provide energy to the muscles and the brain much quicker than others.

Complex carbs take longer to break down and digest, and offer a more steady release of energy into the bloodstream. So before going further, here’s a table of terms for you to refer to before I get a little deeper into the topic

Monosaccharides:

These are the basic unit of all carbohydrates. They are single-molecule carbs that all have six carbons (for all the chemistry geeks).

Glucose is the basic monosaccharide that human cells can use, and our bodies have different biochemical pathways that allow us to turn other monosaccharides into glucose

There are 3 different types of monosaccharides: Glucose, fructose, and galactose. Most of the food we eat has at least one or a mix for all three in different ratios. Ex. A sweet potato has less fructose than an apple, which is why an apple can taste much sweeter.

Glucose is found in pretty much all dietary carbohydrate, fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes etc.

Fructose is also found in many different foods but is most highly concentrated in fruits. It is the sweetest tasting of all 3 sugars.

Galactose is typically found in dairy products, avocados, and sugar beets.

(Advanced Sports Nutrtion, p.6-7)

Disaccharides:

These contain different combinations of monosaccharides. The 3 main disaccharides are: Sucrose, Lactose, and Maltose.

Sucrose: Table sugar,composed of equal parts glucose and fructose. Found in cane or beet sugar.

Lactose: is a milk sugar, and composed of glucose and galactose

Maltose: is a malt sugar, made up of two glucose molecules (glucose + glucose…seems a bit redundant…) (Advanced Sports Nutrtion, p.6-7)

Polysaccharides:

These are complex carbohydrates, made up to 10 or more monosaccharides arranged in chains. Polysaccharides are further classified into: Digestible, Partially Digestible, and Indigestible.

Digestible: Amylose, Amylopectin, Glucose polymers. Starch, mainly glucose, food sources include grains (wheat, oats, barley, rice…), potatoes, breads.

Partially Digestible: Maltodextrins, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Raffinose, Stachyose, Verbascose. Are commonly found in legumes and, although they may cause gas and bloating, are considered healthy carbs. Food sources include beans, lentils etc.

Indigestible: Cellulose, Hemicellulose, Pectins, Gums, Mucilages, Algal Polysaccharides, Beta-Glucans, Fructans. Complex carbs that provide fibre (roughage), which is important for GI tract health and disease resistance. (Advanced Sports Nutrtion, p.6-7)

Helpful Terms:

How much glucose we get from a given food and how quickly it can get absorbed into the bloodstream can influence the level of insulin the body produces, which is why eating a lot of simple carbs at once can cause an blood sugar to spike and the production of insulin to rise.

Insulin is a hormone that’s released by the pancreas to help bring glucose into the muscles. When the pancreas produces too much insulin we can end up with low blood sugar or hypoglycemia, and if produces too little insulin we can end up with high blood sugar or hyperglycemia (which can cause diabetes). So, when blood sugar is high insulin production is high.

Glucagon is another hormone produced by the pancreas to help break down liver glycogen, so it can be turned into glucose and injected into the blood, when blood glucose gets too low. When blood sugar is low glucagon production is high.

GLYCEMIC LOAD:

While the glycemic index helps us figure out how quickly the carbs from food are digested into blood glucose, the glycemic load tells us how much carbs load supplied by a given food.

For example, carrots are considered pretty high on the glycemic index (>85) they contain very little calories and carbs (Advanced Sport Nutrition, p.19).

To put the example a different way, 100 grams of carrot has about 40 kcals, with 10 grams of carbs, .2 grams of fat, and 1 gram of protein. Compare that to 100 grams of regular white bread which has about 260 kcals, with 49 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat, and 9 grams of protein.

To find out the glycemic load of food we multiply the glycemic index by the grams of carbs in the food, and divide the total by 100.

ex: Carrots = (GI 85 x 10) / 100 = 8.5 GL

Bread = (GI 71 x 49) / 100 = 34.7 GL

So why is this important and how does it help us? Well, this represent somewhat of an issue with the glycemic index. A person with diabetes is usually instructed to stay away from foods that have a high GI rating. But in this case, if they choose the food with the low GI rating they’re sure to cause a massive spike in their blood glucose!

Personally I find it much easier to consume 100 grams of bread, but after 100 grams of carrot I’m ready to call it quits! I would have to eat over a pound of carrots to get the same amount of carbs from 100 grams of white bread!

Final Thoughts:

You should now have a good understanding of the basics about carbohydrates. They are not evil, they are not bad, and eating them will not make you fat, or give you cancer. Let’s just stop with that nonsense.

Some people do well on a carb rich diet, while others don’t, and that is perfectly fine. But it does not mean that we get to make far reaching claims about anecdotal evidence. Just because you have a bad reaction to certain foods, or a bad relationship with certain foods, doesn’t mean other people do.

I am always amazed how quickly the health and fitness industry jumps on top of new studies that show correlation between Disease X and Food Y. For example, when a headline comes out saying “High carbohydrate consumption is linked to obesity”, people immediately loose their mind.

Consequently, people get on this bandwagon of demonizing certain foods, and anyone who consumes them. Fries, noodles, potatoes, rice, chips, all of a sudden are “unhealthy”, and must be avoided like the plague. And anyone who eats those things is automatically viewed with a negative lens and accused of promoting ill health.

And if that’s not enough, suddenly all kinds of food labels start appearing with “Low Carb” this and “Gluten Free that” that. Yet when you compare these foods with their counter parts, the caloric content is usually the same (usually due to more calories coming from fat).

The main issue that people have with carbs, in my experience, is “eating carbs will make me fat.” which is just preposterous. Consuming too many calories is what makes you gain weight (muscle, as well as fat), whether those calories come from carbs, protein or fat.

That being said, it may be easier to over-consume simple carbs from some breads, sweets, candy etc. and those foods almost always come with extra calories from fat as well, but it does not mean they are unhealthy. Restricting any food, for most people, is usually a recipe for disaster (pun intended).

At the end of the day 200 kcals from fat and 200 kcals from carbs will have the same net effect on weight gain and weight loss. It is still either 200 units of energy that can either be too much or too little. It’s just a lot easier in most cases to consume 200 kcals of carbs. So unless you have Celiac or some other auto-immune disease, or sensitivity, carbs are perfectly safe AND FUN AND DELICIOUS to eat.