It appears that the diet industry likes to pick on a particular food group and label it as the ultimate enemy to becoming fit and skinny. In the past we’ve heard that fat was bad, anything that had cholesterol was bad, sugar is the devil, and forget about dairy and gluten, etc. These days all you hear is carbs are bad, carbs make you fat, say no to carbs and you will achieve your skinnyness in no time.
My take? Well, I literally have not heard a more ridiculous notion. I think we all need to take what we hear from these “diet experts” with a grain of salt since their story changes a million times. It’s important to recognize that carbs are energy and we need energy to function and LIVE! Also, carbs help your body hold on to water so that you don’t become dehydrated. This is why people who go on these extreme low carb diets are moody and lethargic. They are not really fit since they didn’t lose any fat, just water, which means that they are severely dehydrated. They are also at a risk of infections, diseases and loss of brain function. Seriously, do you really want that?
Eat this!
One of the confusing things is that some carbs really are bad, in the sense that they add no nutritional value and if you are eating them mindlessly, all that extra energy food will be stored as fat. They also have high glycemic index which causes spikes in blood sugar. Examples of this would be anything that’s white, like bread, pasta, sugar.
Don’t eat that!
These types of carbs really should be limited. Notice that I didn’t say eliminated because I don’t believe in eliminating anything (expect for junk food). So, please keep foods with simple carbs to a minimum. These carbs do nothing good for you and will most likely sabotage your fitness goals.
Let me show you a better way. Think of carbs as your energy supply that you need in order to accomplish whatever level of activity you plan for the day. For example, if today you are doing cardio, you need to up your carb intake. Go ahead and eat oatmeal in the morning, and fruit before your run! It will feel like you’ve injected a special power serum into your veins! Try running on no carbs and you will see why it’s a bad idea. And if you are lifting or taking a rest day, you can cut back a little and focus on super good quality complex carbs like veggies and grains.
Carbs are not just energy food, they also help you burn fat! What??? Yes, it’s true! There’s science behind it. I’ve written many posts on the subject of fat and how much it doesn’t like to budge. The body wants to hold on to it for its dear life. Fat will burn, however, under some very special circumstances. And when it does, oh man, it does it so well. In order to start the fat fire you need the presence of oxygen and carbs. Remember the mantra, fat burns in the carb flame. No carbs, no fat burning. No oxygen, no fat burning. So, what you going to do from now on? Say it with me. Eat carbs and exercise!