New Horizon Fitness
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Personal Training - for living!
Live a healthier, longer life!
CARBOHYDRATES
Years ago the traditional medical establishment enshrined the carbohydrate (carb) as the most beneficial of nutrients compared to fat and protein. This position is overly simplistic and dangerous as explained in Best Diet. While there is certainly a place for carbs in human nutrition, excess carbs are probably more responsible for the epidemic of obesity and diabetes than high fat in a diet. Some points to consider:
1. Of the three macronutrients, carbs, protein and fat, only carbs can be almost entirely eliminated from the diet with little consequence. The native Inuit and Masai diets are almost exclusively animal fat and protein and very low carbohydrate. They are almost free of heart disease.
2. Blood glucose levels are not elevated by fat and only modestly affected by protein intake. Most carbs cause dramatic spikes in blood glucose levels. This contributes to the develop of diabetes and produces Advanced Glycogen End products, a major contributor to aging.
3. Nutritionists have made fat (lipids) a bad word. However, it is in the presence of high glucose that lipids wreak the most havoc to the pancreas, glucotoxicity, that leads to diabetes.
4. The faster a carbohydrate is digested, the more it contributes to elevated blood glucose levels. Nutritionists initially thought foods containing long molecular chains of carbohydrates, polysaccharides, were healthier. However these "complex" carbs can raise glucose levels as fast or faster than pure sugar. The only reliable means to evaluate a carbs affect on glucose levels is refering to the glycemic index.
5. Carbs are neither good nor bad. Look at the whole package, what food, healthy or unhealthy, contains the carbs. Identify special athletic requirements for higher carbs such as post intense workout or before/during endurance events. Carbs by themselves, such as sugar, are rarely healthy. However, many healthy foods such as fruit naturally contain fairly high levels of carbohydrates.
6. During sustained high athletic activity, carbohydrates can become depleted and should be optimized with the knowledge that in excess, carbs are stored as fat. Carb loading to build glycogen stores is easier in theory than practice.
7. Endurance athletes can maximize carbohydrate intake and utilization during events by consuming a glucose/fructose blend in a 2:1 ratio. This method improves uptake since the body uses separate pathways to ingest the different sugars. Total carb uptake of 1.3 g per minute can be achieved, a 20-30% improvement over glucose alone.
8. Realize that in any long endurance activity the majority of your energy will still come from fat stores and those metabolic pathways respond to training stimulus. In other words, train as you plan to compete. I am a advocate of shorter, higher intensity exercise, but it does not improve endurance as much as longer, steady state training.
1. Of the three macronutrients, carbs, protein and fat, only carbs can be almost entirely eliminated from the diet with little consequence. The native Inuit and Masai diets are almost exclusively animal fat and protein and very low carbohydrate. They are almost free of heart disease.
2. Blood glucose levels are not elevated by fat and only modestly affected by protein intake. Most carbs cause dramatic spikes in blood glucose levels. This contributes to the develop of diabetes and produces Advanced Glycogen End products, a major contributor to aging.
3. Nutritionists have made fat (lipids) a bad word. However, it is in the presence of high glucose that lipids wreak the most havoc to the pancreas, glucotoxicity, that leads to diabetes.
4. The faster a carbohydrate is digested, the more it contributes to elevated blood glucose levels. Nutritionists initially thought foods containing long molecular chains of carbohydrates, polysaccharides, were healthier. However these "complex" carbs can raise glucose levels as fast or faster than pure sugar. The only reliable means to evaluate a carbs affect on glucose levels is refering to the glycemic index.
5. Carbs are neither good nor bad. Look at the whole package, what food, healthy or unhealthy, contains the carbs. Identify special athletic requirements for higher carbs such as post intense workout or before/during endurance events. Carbs by themselves, such as sugar, are rarely healthy. However, many healthy foods such as fruit naturally contain fairly high levels of carbohydrates.
6. During sustained high athletic activity, carbohydrates can become depleted and should be optimized with the knowledge that in excess, carbs are stored as fat. Carb loading to build glycogen stores is easier in theory than practice.
7. Endurance athletes can maximize carbohydrate intake and utilization during events by consuming a glucose/fructose blend in a 2:1 ratio. This method improves uptake since the body uses separate pathways to ingest the different sugars. Total carb uptake of 1.3 g per minute can be achieved, a 20-30% improvement over glucose alone.
8. Realize that in any long endurance activity the majority of your energy will still come from fat stores and those metabolic pathways respond to training stimulus. In other words, train as you plan to compete. I am a advocate of shorter, higher intensity exercise, but it does not improve endurance as much as longer, steady state training.
You are half right if you think the amount of fat in the meat above is too much. But for years the food police have been too busy looking under the bun for their favorite culprit fat. Meanwhile, they overlooked the bun (white flour) and sugar that make up a typical bad meal. Carbs got a pass for years despite mounting evidence that carbs were a big part of the problem as well.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:
The Glycemic Index Website. COMMENT: find the glycemic index of just about any food here.
Mendosa D Website. The Glycemic Index. COMMENT: A great explanation of the glycemic index, glycemic load and food listings.
Weston A Price Website. "Adventures in Macro-Nutrient Land". COMMENT: Great overall website with dozens of good articles on nutrition and the value of a more primitive, whole foods approach.
Jentjens R, et al. “Oxidation of combined ingestion of glucose and fructose during exercise”. J Appl Physiol 96: 1277-1284, 2004. COMMENT: By using the proper glucose fructose mix, endurance athletes can increase carb uptake by 30% over previous limits.
Poitout, R and R. Paul Robertson. “Minireview: Secondary B-Cell Failure in Type 2 Diabetes—A Convergence of Glucotoxicity and Lipotoxicity”. Endocrinology 143.2 (2002): 339-342. COMMENT: Too much of anything is bad, but it is high carbs that really make fat part of the problem.
Whitney E. Understanding Nutrition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (2005) A standard textbook for budding nutritionists, I was pleased to see they are backing off a little from the low fat dogma.
Mendosa D Website. The Glycemic Index. COMMENT: A great explanation of the glycemic index, glycemic load and food listings.
Weston A Price Website. "Adventures in Macro-Nutrient Land". COMMENT: Great overall website with dozens of good articles on nutrition and the value of a more primitive, whole foods approach.
Jentjens R, et al. “Oxidation of combined ingestion of glucose and fructose during exercise”. J Appl Physiol 96: 1277-1284, 2004. COMMENT: By using the proper glucose fructose mix, endurance athletes can increase carb uptake by 30% over previous limits.
Poitout, R and R. Paul Robertson. “Minireview: Secondary B-Cell Failure in Type 2 Diabetes—A Convergence of Glucotoxicity and Lipotoxicity”. Endocrinology 143.2 (2002): 339-342. COMMENT: Too much of anything is bad, but it is high carbs that really make fat part of the problem.
Whitney E. Understanding Nutrition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (2005) A standard textbook for budding nutritionists, I was pleased to see they are backing off a little from the low fat dogma.
