Healthy Weight Loss Plan: Nutrition 106 - Carbohydrates

We've learned a lot about the digestion process so far in this Healthy Weight Loss Plan Series, but we haven't gone much into how the different macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) effect the digestive process, energy, and ultimate body composition.

The next three articles will explain this very thing.  We will start here in Nutrition 106 with carbohydrates.

One important thing to keep in mind is the concept of energy.  The body needs fuel to stay alive and perform tasks.  Everything the body does, from breathing to running, requires energy.  This energy is provided to the body by food in the form of calories.  The body then uses the calories for energy and stores the excess. 

This excess storage, when calories consumed is greater than calories expended, leads to weight gain.  There are a number of factors that determine whether this weight gain is in the form of muscle, fat, or a combination of the two.  One such determining factor is the types foods consumed.

If, on the other hand, the calories expended by the body is greater than the calories consumed, the result will be weight loss.  Again, there are a number of factors determining if this weight loss will be in the form of fat, muscle, or a combination.

In these next three articles in the Healthy Weight Loss Plan series, you will see that a calorie is not simply a calorie.  You will also learn what effect each macronutrient has on body composition and change.

This information is critical to planning your healthy weight loss diet.

If you are trying to lose weight, and in particular lose fat, it probably behooves you to know exactly how your body gains fat. Well, the biggest culprit is, in fact, the carbohydrate.

All carbohydrates, once they enter the body, are converted into glucose. Glucose is a sugar. So, basically, all carbohydrates end up as sugar inside your body. This is not just the sugar from sodas, juices, and candy. Foods like pasta, bread, cereal, and rice also end up as sugar inside your body.

The first role of this sugar is to replenish any used glycogen stores for your muscles. These glycogen stores are in need of refueling after a bout of exercise. That's why you will see me recommending that the only really good time to take in some carbs is in the short two-hour window immediately following a good workout.

To help replenish these glycogen stores, the pancreas takes over and secrets the infamous hormone known as insulin to direct the glucose to where it needs to go.

The problem arises when the muscle glycogen is fully stocked and there is still some glucose looking for a home. With nowhere else to go, the excess glucose is then converted to--you guessed it--FAT!

Put simply, any carbohydrate consumed by you that your body does not need for its muscles, will be stored as fat.

The bad situation of excess glucose from too many carbohydrates is about to get worse.  When your body senses an excess of glucose, the pancreas secretes insulin, as stated above.  This is because glucose is toxic in the bloodstream and needs to be directed to a home, which is the job of insulin.  The problem then becomes that insulin is also toxic in the bloodstream.

Every time the body senses an excess of glucose, the pancreas secretes more and more insulin thinking that it did not secrete enough.  This creates an excess of insulin and insulin sensitivity.  Now, muscle cells eventually start to become resistant to the insulin so that less glycogen gets to the muscles.  The muscles will start to break down and be used as fuel when there is not enough glycogen.

Other problems arise from this process including plaque build-up in arteries, fatigue, and thyroid problems.  It really is an ugly situation.

To keep things basic for our weight loss plan, just remember that carbohydrates usually end up getting stored as fat by your body.  And this is not the healthy kind of fat, either!

First of all, you should limit your carbohydrate intake. Limit the breads, the pastas, the rice, the oats, the sugars, the cereals, etc. Most of your carbohydrate sources should be vegetables. Veggies contain a lot of fibrous indigestible carbs that do not get converted to glucose and stored as fat.

Look at the food labels. If a food has a significant amount of carbohydrates, check to see how much of that comes from fiber. If there are a lot of carbs that do not come from fiber, that food is probably not a strong component for a healthy weight loss plan.

The second thing you should do is get in a lot of exercise. Exercise makes your body use the carbohydrates that you do ingest for muscle fuel. This is a good thing. Also, remember that the best time to get in some carbs is right after a workout. If you can't go more than a few days without pasta, have some within a couple hours of completing your workout. That will ensure that minimal amounts, if any, will be stored as fat.

Hopefully this article opened your eyes to the evils of carbohydrates for weight loss and general healthy purposes. I really could write a whole book on this subject, but I tried to keep things simple here so you can just go out and take some action. Make the necessary basic changes to your diet now and then we will go into greater detail later.

The next part of this series will discuss proteins and amino acids.