Food Fridays - The Skinny on Carbs

As many that follow me know, I am currently going to school to become a Registered Nurse. One of the classes necessary to even be considered for a nursing program is Clinical Nutrition for Medical Professionals. I took the class over a year ago and I must say, it has been one of the most valuable classes I have ever taken.  If you have a few extra bucks and a little bit of time, I encourage you to enroll in your local community college and take this class.  In a matter of months you will have a whole new understanding about how we fuel our bodies!

One of the most important things you can do for your health is to properly fuel your body. Consider what happens if you put gasoline into a car that is too rich; deposits form in the engine and over time, build up. Once a threshold has been exceeded - the car stops running.  Consider what happens if you fail to fuel it at all - or you replace the gasoline with some other compound - again, the car stops running. For optimal performance the vehicle needs the correct fuel with the correct composition.

Our bodies aren't much different than that. We, like the rest of the organisms on earth, use glucose as our basic energy source. We cannot live without it.

When we consume carbohydrates, they are broken down to glucose which in turn fuels our bodies. Any glucose that is not used is then stored as glycogen in our liver and our muscles as an energy reserve.  However, that energy must be used, otherwise, where is it stored?  EVERYWHERE!  It is converted to fat and stored all around the body. So when we say that cupcake is going straight to our ass - we are more than likely correct!

So this is where the type of carbohydrate that is consumed comes in - as it really is of utmost importance.  We all hear the talk about how great whole grains, high fiber, whole wheat is (all complex carbohydrates), but do we really know why?  A complex carbohydrate is a long chain of glucose molecules. Our bodies must work, using energy, to break the bonds of the compound to make it in the form our bodies can use.  Fiber is basically wood.  Since our bodies cannot break it down, the ruffage is used as a "scrubber" to clean our intestinal walls taking with it bacteria, toxins and cholesterol. It also acts as a filler and we don't get hungry as quickly.  A simple carbohydrate is like having an injection of straight glucose - we don't need to work to put it into a usable form and in turn, use it (or store it) faster. 

If we run into a situation where our bodies are not receiving enough carbohydrates to fuel the body, it then begins to use the glycogen reserves; however, these usable reserves are not plentiful. Once depleted, the body then goes into a cycle of turning protein and lipids (fat) to glucose.  Ideally, we need to minimize the amount of protein converted - as protein is our muscle. Muscle waste, while does show large weight losses, is not healthy weight loss. 

When we convert fat to glucose byproducts (ketones) are produced.  This is why slower weight loss is advised.  High levels of ketones for an extended period of time can be dangerous.  The more fat converted to glucose and burned, the more ketones produced.

While there is a lot of information out there about "low carbohydrate diets" or "no carbohydrate diets" and even some diets recommending a constant state of ketosis - I can honestly say I know better than to buy into the hype after receiving formal education on the topic.

The reason I write this is there is a lot of hype about carbs. It is thought that carbs are "bad for you."  That simply isn't the case!  We NEED carbs in our diet to survive.  However, it is not an all or nothing deal.  Complex carbs, high fiber, lean proteins and lower fat intake is absolutely the way to go.  Balance is key.