Proteins are the building blocks for your muscles, organs, tissues, etc. Fats are necessary for long term energy storage, they carry certain forms of vitamins and nutrients (Vitamin E, for example) and your body needs fats for many of its metabolic processes.
Carbohydrates are the fuel that your body uses for energy. Your body prefers to use carbohydrates for energy, though it can also use fats and proteins, which is why "low carb" diets work. They are easier to process for energy than either the fats or the proteins and your body gets more energy "bang for the buck" with carbs.
On the molecular level carboydrates are ring molecules. A "simple" carb, like glucose, is one ring of six carbon atoms. Just like the ring on your finger. Table sugar, sucrose, is made up of two of these simple sugar rings. Starches and "complex carbohydrates" are made up of many of these rings. This is why your body takes longer to digest the complex carbs, it has to break them down into the individual rings first and then use them for energy.
This quick digestion is why your blood sugar will leap sky high when consuming a meal of simple carbs. Your body can use them almost immediately. Eat something with a lot of sugar, such as a soda, and bam! Sugar is immediately pumped into the system and your blood suger levels leap. Insulin is secreted into the blood and the insulin causes the sugar levels to drop, along with your energy.
A meal of complex carbs takes longer to digest and as a result doesn't slam sugars into your system, rather the complex carbs provide longer term energy. Fats and proteins take even longer to digest and convert into the carbs your body needs.
Extreme low-carb diets, such as they first part of the Atkins Diet, are not recommended for anything other than short term use. Even the Atkins diet brings you back into carbs after than first section, but they are the complex carbs. Simple carbs are almost completely abandoned.
As far as energy goes, though, your body only needs so much at one time and it can only store so much at one time. Someone exercising regularly or working at hard manual labor need more carbs than someone who isn't, but there are still limits to how much they can use. Those extra carbs are stored in two ways.
One way is conversion into glycogen, a type of starch, which is then stored in the muscles for near term energy reserves. The other way they are stored is fat. The body stores excess carbohydrate as fat after it has used what it needs for energy and glycogen storage. (This is a little over-simplified, but close enough.)
In addition to being converted to fat, excess simple carbs over a long period of time can lead to a variety of health issues, diabetes and heart issues being among them.
So what foods are the simple carbs? Any kind of sugar, rice, white flour, potatoes, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, etc. These are all "high glycemic index" (GI) foods. The GI compares foods to a glass of glucose and measures how fast those foods will spike your blood sugar.
Fruits tend to be in the medium GI range and most veggies are pretty low. Go to Google.com and look for "high glycemic foods" or "glycemic index" and you'll find charts with examples of various foods and their ratings.
Your body prefers to get its carbs slowly and steadily and works best that way. it doesn't need a ton of them at one time. You may have heard of the "eat several small meals" plans? This is one of the reasons they work. Your body has the time to properly process the carbs and so uses them, rather than storing them as fat.
Want to gain weight fast? Eat one big meal a day, preferably in the evening, and sleep afterwards. That's how the Sumo wrestlers of Japan do it.
Carbohydrates are an important part of a balanced diet and many nutritionists recommend that between 40 and 60% of your food intake should be carbs. Carbs give you energy and fuel. You body converts these carbs into glucose or 'blood sugar' to give you energy. If you follow a diet which is low in carbs, you will probably feel lethargic because your body is not producing the energy you need. Starch and sugars are two of the main carb groups. Natural sugars include lactose (milk sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar). Many carb sources also contain a lot of fat. Starches contain carbs as well as natural sugars. Basic starchy carbs are bread, potatoes, rice and such. Complex carbohydrates include yams and oats and are generally preferable than basic carbs.
Carbs and Energy
If you eat more carbs than you burn off, the excess is stored as body fat. This is especially true for carbs which are processed starches or simple sugars because they enter the blood stream quickly to give you a rapid rise in energy levels. Unless you need that energy there and then, the carbs will be stored as fat. These types of carbs are best avoided unless you are extremely active and burn them off as you eat or drink them. They can be stored as fat in less than half an hour! Your body uses energy all the time, even to sleep and breathe. You use a much greater amount when you exercise. When you begin your exercise, your body uses the glucose in your blood for fuel. When there is no glucose left, the carbs stored in your liver and muscles is used. If you do more than about forty minutes of cardiovascular exercise ? something that gets your heartbeat up such as jogging, elliptical, fast cycling or similar ? only then does your body start to burn its stored fat for fuel.
Carbs in a Healthy Diet
For a healthy diet including carbohydrates, you should eat whole fruits rather than just the juices. Whole fruits contain more nutrients. Remember that complex carbs are usually better for you than simple ones, so sweet potatoes or oats can be beneficial. Eat as few simple carbs or processed starches as possible. If you eat bread or pasta, try not to eat more than 2 servings a day. Wholegrain pasta and bread is better for your body than more heavily processed products. A gram of carbohydrate gives you 4 calories. The reason that a lot of athletes prefer to eat complex carbs (whole grains, oats etc) is that they need a low body fat level. Complex carbs are longer molecule chains. They need more digestion to turn them into glucose so that blood sugar levels stay more level without spikes. If they were to eat simple carbs instead, they would get energy spikes, which is insulin overload, causing them to release a fat storing hormone. All carbohydrates have some effect on your body's insulin production and your blood sugar levels so it is prudent to watch your intake. Carbs for Diabetics
Diabetics have to watch their carb intake because of how carbs react with blood sugar levels. A diabetic has to check their blood sugar (or glucose) levels regularly because they suffer from insulin resistance, meaning that their blood sugar levels can remain dangerously high if not monitored properly. It is possible to cause organ damage over time by regularly eating high levels of glucose so a diabetic should plan their meals well in order to limit the intake of carbs and manage their glucose levels. It is also important to balance your fats, proteins and other macronutrients in order to work out how much glucose is being produced.
Both Greg Mee & J Lance Curtis are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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