Low carbs, high carbs, good carbs, bad carbs? Who even knows these days? This whole carbohydrate control thing has been making people crazy for the past four years. I'm sick of it and it's time to end the madness! What people don't understand is that carbs, in general, are all very different. You just can't cut them all out! This week we'll dive into the whole carb-insanity and attempt to shed some light on the differences between nice carbs and mean ones.
If I had to oversimplify the entire eating/fat story I would say this: It's all about the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index (GI) was originally developed for diabetics, but the GI can be useful to many athletes looking for sustained energy and better recuperation. The glycemic index (GI) ranks carbohydrates based on how much they raise blood sugar. The values range from 0 to 100. Foods with a high glycemic index breakdown quickly during digestion and act to raise blood sugar levels very quickly. The effect of the rapid rise in our blood sugar levels overstimulate the pancreas, resulting in a much larger amount of insulin release.
Insulin is a nice little protein hormone that lowers blood glucose levels. The problem is that a large amount of insulin released rapidly mops up the excess sugar in our bloodstream. The outcome is a blood sugar level that dips quickly below normal, causing us to feel hungry all over again. So even though we may have eaten a high calorie meal, we are still hungry and will most likely eat again.
In addition to being hungry all over again, the decrease in blood sugar kills your energy. This is the reason that you find yourself yawning halfway through your workout if you have a pre-workout soda or drink one of those trendy carbohydrate drinks. The soda pumps the blood stream with plenty of carbohydrates. Your body releases insulin to regulate all of this new blood sugar levels in the blood. Our little friend, insulin, pushes all of the glucose in the blood into the liver, muscles and then into fat storage. The end game is feeling lethargic, with mood swings and increased hunger.
As you could probably guess, high GI foods are something you want to stay away from when you're training or dieting. Low GI foods, on the other hand, can dramatically benefit your health and physical fitness. Low GI foods are assimilated at a slower rate so they supply a steadier supply of energy. In addition, low GI foods alleviate hunger, leading to a more controlled appetite. Just when it couldn't get any better, lower GI foods can also result in higher muscle glycogen levels (storing more carbs in the muscle), and less chance of storing the extraglucose as fat.
But you should not cut out high GI foods altogether. It has been shown that using high GI foods after training can be beneficial. After a tough workout you actually want a lot of insulin released. Glycogen (glucose all chained together) storages in the muscle are severely depleted after exercise and the insulin spike helps to replenish the missing glucose.
Additionally, the insulin rise helps shuttle proteins, carbs and other nutrients into the starving muscles. In relation to last week's article, absorption of supplements such as creatine, glutamine and antioxidants can be enhanced if taken with a high glycemic drink.
Now that you know a little about high and low GI foods, a complete database of glycemic indexes can be found at http://www.glycemicindex.com. Here are a few tips courtesy of Chris Zaino, columnist for Bodybuilding.com (one of the best nutritional Web sites around):
First, to stabilize blood sugar levels, eat smaller, more frequent balanced meals. Each carbohydrate in your meals must be combined with a quality protein source and some sort of vegetable.
Second, you should not have a diet too low in fat. The whole craze over high fat, high protein diets is to decrease spikes in insulin and to lower the GI index of foods and meals.
Third, you should purposely use mainly high glycemic carbs after you train. A carb drink with a scoop or two of a low fat protein powder will work wonders right after you train.
Finally, I would combine supplements like creatine, 10 grams of glutamine, and a good antioxidant with the post-workout drink. This will give you a big jump-start to recovery and glycogen replenishment.
Yes, you may lose fat very quickly when you cut out all of your carbs, but you'll probably end up craving sugar all day long like an ant at a picnic. Then when you can't possibly stand not eating carbs any longer, you'll binge on Krispy Kremes and end up fatter than you started.
Marcus Goncalves is not a licensed doctor or dietician - if you require serious help, please consult a physician.
