With obesity rates in Britain soaring and nearly a quarter
of adults now classed as clinically obese, nutritional
awareness has never been so important.
There is lots of confusion when it comes to carbohydrates
and diet. Experts recommending; low carb, high carb, no
carb, complex carbs, net carbs...... and the list goes on.
Carbohydrates or carbs for short are one of the most
difficult food types to fully understand because so many
foods- some very good for you, and some not - fall under
the same umbrella. They include fruits, vegetables, grains,
a can of fizzy drink, a donut, or a bowl of corn flakes,
for example.
When it comes to staying lean and healthy are carbs ally or
enemy?
A study by the American Journal of Epidemiology on 'How
Carbohydrates & Obesity are Linked' found it is the kind of
carbs you eat -not the amount - that determines your risk
of obesity.
What researchers need to do is start differentiating
between "good" and "bad" carbs. Some researchers are
already doing that, but many still fail to consider the
difference. Carbs can be classified in the following
groups: complex, simple, starch, fibre, sugars, refined,
and unrefined.
So for example:
Vegetables would be in groups; complex, fibre, and
unrefined. White pasta would be in complex, starch and
refined. Brown rice would be in complex, starch and
unrefined. Fizzy cola would be in groups simple, sugar and
refined.
Confusing huh?
It is actually not that difficult to know what carbs you
should and shouldn't be eating. The best classification to
go by is the two groups, "good" unrefined and "bad" refined
carbs.
Never before have most of us eaten so many refined carbs.
A refined carb refers to foods where machinery has been
used to remove the high fibre bits (the bran and the germ)
from the grain. White rice, white bread, pasta made from
white flour, all processed foods(cakes, biscuits etc),
sugary cereals, drinks and sugar are all examples of
refined carbs.
What have been "refined" out of these processed carbs are
all the beneficial nutrients that nature originally put
into them. The bran, the fibre, and most of the vitamins
and minerals have been stripped away, leaving a bland,
white, longer-lasting and shelf-stable product. For example
white flour has only 20 percent of the vitamins and
minerals and 25 percent of the fibre of the original whole
wheat kernel.
Why are refined carbs so bad for you?
Any meal or snack high in refined carbohydrates causes a
rapid rise in blood glucose. So to compensate for this your
body secretes the hormone insulin into your bloodstream,
which lowers your blood sugar. Insulin is essentially a
storage hormone that helps you store the excess calories
from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine.
Basically high insulin levels means your body will be less
likely to use fat as fuel and more likely to store it,
where you don't want it!
Dr. David Ludwig, who treats childhood obesity at Boston
Children's Hospital, says that highly processed refined
carbohydrates and refined sugars are causing hormonal
changes that "drive hunger, cause overeating, and increase
the risk of diabetes and heart disease."
The fluctuations in blood sugar can give you highs and lows
which may cause brain fogginess, fatigue and depression.
You might get a great hit of pleasure eating that donut but
later you may find yourself feeling sluggish or even a bit
down. Due to the processed nature of refined carbs your
body does not recognise them in the gut, and finds them
hard to digest which can lead to bloating and stomach
cramps. IBS Irritable bowel syndrome can often be caused by
over consumption of refined carbs.
So now you know how bad refined carbs are, what they do to
your body and that the key seems to be to keep glucose and
insulin levels low. So what changes can you make to bring
about the best results for you?
Well keeping insulin levels low and achieving your ideal
weight is much simpler than you think. Trouble is we are
bombarded with diet and weight loss info and products that
confuse the hell out of us. By avoiding processed foods and
refined carbohydrates you can keep your insulin levels low
and maintain a healthy weight.
So what carbohydrates should you eat?
Think natural!
It's the unrefined natural carbohydrates that should
replace the processed, refined and sugar carbohydrates.
Your carbohydrates should come from foods such as, fresh
organic fruit, vegetables, salads and healthy grains like;
organic brown rice, Quinoa, Amaranth, millet, buckwheat,
oats and rye bread. All of these foods are in their natural
state as nature intended.
Unfortunately you just can't seem to get away from refined
carbs.
At a restaurant- 'Bread sir/madam?' Nearly always white and
so hard to resist when you're hungry before the meal
arrives.
At a dinner party- 'Oooh I've made a lovely (white) pasta
dish AND garlic (white) bread' you've been invited for
dinner; it would be rude not to eat it!
At the hotel breakfast bar- Emmm? Shall I have special K
(yes special K is refined!), cheerios or corn flakes this
morning? You've got to eat something your meeting starts in
half an hour and could last till lunch.
Even at the gym- 'Try one of our high energy (High refined
sugar!) drinks to give you a POWER workout!' Must be good
if it makes my workout powerful!
These situations will pop up all the time but with
willpower and planning you can deal with them and stay
healthy. At the restaurant be strong and say no thankyou to
the white bread and ask the waiter if they have any brown,
if they don't skip the bread and look forward to your meal.
At the hotel be prepared and take breakfast with you, some
nuts and a couple of pieces of fruit is an easy option. At
the gym, that's easy, drink water and ignore the energy
drink hype. So what about at the dinner party when you
really have no control and you don't want to upset the
hosts? Skip the garlic bread and have a little pasta, if
you are eating well 90% of the time a little deviation here
and there will not hurt you.
You don't have to deprive yourself either, there is a
healthy alternative to all refined carbohydrates and great
ways of using them to make delicious meals, here is some
ideas:
- Swap your white bread for whole wheat or Rye breads, I
like toasted German rye. - Try brown basmati rice instead
of white, it is not as nutty as regular brown rice, in fact
you might not even notice the difference. - Try natural
herbal and fruit teas instead of squash, fizzy drinks and
juices. If you don't like hot drinks like me make a big
batch of tea and keep it in the fridge. - Swap sugar for
Stevia, a natural leaf sweetener from south America, it
takes a little bit of getting used to but after a couple of
weeks you'll love it! -Challenge yourself to getting five
portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Keep a record of
your success. -'What about my coco-pops!' I hear you shout.
Try this; add one beaten egg, a mug of oat milk, half a mug
of oats, two to three teaspoons of organic raw coco powder
and a pinch of stevia to a saucepan and heat until it
thickens. Not coco-pops exactly but a great tasting
chocolate porridge. You could even add some berries or a
teaspoon of nut butter.
A client of mine Alan, a 55 year old retired business man
needed to lose a lot of body fat! Over the years those
business lunches and long days sitting at the laptop had
taken their toll. Knowing his health was at stake he
challenged his friend to a six month charity weight loss
competition. Alan was always reluctant to make changes to
his diet and had tried heavy exercise to lose weight in the
past and failed. Trouble was he was fighting a losing
battle against a diet high in refined carbohydrates. With
the will to win Alan finally gave in and made the switch to
natural carbohydrates for the competition. In the six
months Alan lost 3 stone of body fat, raised a load of
money for charity and won the competition. Now that's what
I call an achievement! With simple diet changes Alan saw
improvements in his skin, hair, energy levels and mood. He
loves cooking and creating great tasting healthy meals and
doesn't miss his old diet one bit.
There is a lot out there to confuse us about carbohydrates
but remember, think natural! Stick to this simple rule and
you can't go wrong. Get creative in the kitchen and see
what healthy alternatives and meals you can create. With
the switch to natural carbohydrates your moods, sense of
vitality and weight will improve dramatically, go on try it!
----------------------------------------------------
Mark Lawrence is an experienced fitness professional
specialising in fat loss. He runs his own Personal Training
business in Greenwich, London along with his partner and
women's fitness expert Judit Rago. To find out more and to
download a free report on The Truth About Weight-loss go to
http://www.lawrenceandrago.com
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