FLAB ATTACK: THE ART OF CARB
We all know “food” forms the most essential component in the physiological trio of needs (the other two being shelter and clothing). Yet, often, do we know what we put in our mouths? Do we know how it affects our bodies? Conversely, when it comes to what latest fashion items to buy or what houses to live in, we analyze our options until our brains hurt and our bank balances plummet! But we do not give food the same respect. All we know is that when we are hungry, we eat. In a day and age of homogenized, prepackaged, and mass marketed foods, convenience and pleasure have become the overriding factor in our dietary choice. This article hopes to bring some focus back into analyzing what we eat. We all complain of getting fat. We’ve all tried going on a diet that a friend of a friend of a friend had undertaken to much success. It’s an urban myth! No diet suits everybody and you must understand how food works in your body in order to discern a suitable diet from an ineffective one, even if Cosmopolitan magazine says it works!
Lets start with something you do know. Food is made up of three major macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats. Since these categories embody a vast area of discussion, this article will focus exclusively on carbohydrates. The underlying reason for this approach lies in the fact that carbs (short for carbohydrates) are the most active macronutrients. Carbs are the primary source of energy for our bodies, and can cause drastic chemical changes in our hormonal response system. They influence our susceptibility to obesity, disease, insomnia, hypertension and even mood swings! Proteins and Fats, on the other hand, are not as much a source of energy as they are the building blocks for our muscles, bones, organs and other tissues. That being said, mastering the “art of carb” can help you lose weight, look great and keep it off! (You don’t even have to give up your sweet tooth!)
PUTTING THE “RATE” IN CARBOHYDRATE!
Let’s dive right into the treasure horde of secrets most lean people never reveal! Carbohydrates fall under 4 main categories. They are:
1. Monosaccharides: These are sugars comprising of only one carbohydrate molecule. The more well known monosaccharides include glucose and fructose.
2. Disaccharides: This class of carbohydrates represents the endless combinations of any two single sugars, such as Sucrose (Fructose + Glucose), lactose (Galactose + Glucose) or maltose (Glucose + Glucose). In case you didn’t know, the household names for the three aforementioned disaccharides are: castor sugar, milk sugar, and malt (that stuff used in Horlicks and Ovaltine!), respectively. Together, mono- and disaccharides are called “simple sugars”. They readily penetrate into the bloodstream with minimal assistance from digestive enzymes.
3. Polysaccharides: As opposed to simple sugars, polysaccharides are called “complex carbohydrates” because each polymer can contain thousands to millions of sugar molecules bonded in branched chains! Rice, noodles, potatoes, taros, yams, tapioca, flour and cornstarch are some of the more popular polysaccharides. Our body also consolidates and stores sugar in the liver as glycogen (a glucose polymer), which is technically one very large polysaccharide! As the size and complexity of the carbohydrate molecule increases, enzymes have to work more vigorously to break them down into single sugars to allow digestion. It is important to note that refined complex carbohydrates, such as white bread and white rice, require significantly less enzymatic action than its unrefined counterparts and are thus converted to blood sugar relatively quickly (only slightly slower than simple sugars!).
4. Fiber: Fibers are carbohydrate polymers that consist primarily of cellulose, a sturdy and rigid carbohydrate that the human body cannot digest for lack of the appropriate enzyme. Classic sources include wheat, oats, granola, and most leafy greens and vegetables. The hollow cellular structure of these fibrous compounds act like a sponge, “sucking in” the simpler sugars and slowing down enzyme efficacy. Simply put, fiber, when taken in conjunction with other carbohydrates, allows the slow and steady release of sugar into the bloodstream.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Now that we know the major classes of carbohydrates, how do we make sense of it all? How do we incorporate such information into daily practice? Understanding how the human body reacts to and manages its energy resources will help in answering such a question.
Inducin’ the Insulin!
Simple sugars, as previously discussed, absorb almost immediately into the bloodstream. As a result, our blood sugar levels spike within minutes (a condition called a “sugar high”, as most parents will acknowledge when their kids have had too much candy). Spiking sugar levels, in turn, signal the pancreas to release equivalent amounts of insulin, whose function is to bind the sugar, convert it to glucose, and carry it off for storage as glycogen in the liver. If our glycogen stores are full, then the insulin deposits the excess sugar as fat in the abdominal and pelvic region (that’s the tummy and the hips!) As a rule of thumb, a person’s typical glycogen reserve allows him to run comfortably at jogging speed on the treadmill for 20 to 30 minutes.
The Body Balance Sheet!
Our body continually burns maintenance calories at any given time (100-200 calories per hour) during the day, which spikes when we engage in aerobic or resistance exercises (350-600 calories per hour). This leads us next to the concept of a caloric deficit. Theoretically speaking, during the day, when we are not exercising, if we can feed the body with the same amount of energy at the same rate as it is expending, we are metabolically stable. On the other hand, if we decrease the input and maintain the output of energy, we coax the body into metabolizing stored fat from the adipose tissues. Maintaining input while increasing output of energy also serves as another means of creating a deficit. This is where exercise can be used as a way of increasing energy expenditure.
So, which deficit-creating method is better? Nutrition experts point to the latter strategy. By exercising more, we create a deficit without having to decrease our eating. Furthermore, after exercise, our high body temperature dissipates gradually over the next few hours, helping us to maintain our elevated metabolism for most of the day. Choosing to lower food intake without exercise, on the other hand, is unwise. It works only temporarily because our metabolism soon compensates by “crashing” after a few days into the program. This switches our body on “starvation” or “fat-collecting” mode, especially when there is no impetus, such as exercise, to keep that metabolism up. Consequently, we experience the popular “Yo-yo syndrome”, where a person loses a few kilograms in the first few weeks only to gain it all back (or even more) eventually, and they are none the wiser for it!
Being a G.I. Joe?
So how do carbohydrates fit into this metabolic balancing act? By now, most of you will already begin to see connections between the effects of carbohydrates and the body’s energy management system. We can use carbohydrates as a tool to manipulate our body’s metabolism in order to unleash one lean mean fat burning machine!
The final piece of the puzzle that will bring it all together is a measurement mechanism called the Glycemic Index (or G.I.) The G.I. is basically a measure of how much your blood sugar rises in response to the food you eat. This is important because carbohydrates induce insulin, a powerful hormone that can wreck havoc on your body if not properly managed. It is noteworthy at this juncture that eating pure protein (such as meat) or pure fat (such as olive oil) will usually elicit a negligible blood sugar response, although there are special cases.
Here are two basic G.I. concepts: 1. Simple sugars will cause a quicker and greater spike in blood sugar than complex carbohydrates of the same quantity! 2. Refined carbohydrates will cause a quicker and greater spike in blood sugar than fibrous or unrefined carbohydrates of the same quantity! That is to say that a cup of processed apple juice (25g of carbs in the form of pure sugar) will cause an almost immediate spike followed by a crash in blood sugar levels (and hence, a High G.I. food), while eating a whole apple (also 25g of fibrous sugar) will raise the blood sugar level moderately over a period of time and gently ease it back down to normal levels (Low G.I. food).
Why is this the case? For those of you who have been paying attention, it becomes clear that the 25 grams of sugar from the apple, when eaten whole with the fibrous pulp, allows those same simple carbs to be gradually digested and released into the bloodstream, as opposed to the juice.
What does this mean in terms of metabolic stability and the idea of a caloric deficit? Well, first let us refresh our memories with a concept introduced earlier: metabolic stability is when the input of energy occurs at the same rate as the output. So if you are burning 200 calories an hour, you should feed your body with food that releases that same amount of energy in the same time frame in order to maintain your weight. (On the upside, if you increase your activity through exercise to burn 400 per hour, you can still eat 100 extra calories and still lose weight!)
If you are a sedentary individual, a high G.I. meal, say a 450-calorie bar of Haagen Dasz ice cream, will empty all the sugar (about 250 calories) into your bloodstream within 30 minutes of consumption, while your body is expending only a 100 calories in that same time frame. Considering that your glycogen stores are full, what does that mean? That’s right! Insulin carries the excess sugar straight off to your tummy and hips!
On the other hand, if you had a low G.I. meal, such as a 450 calorie sandwich with chicken breast, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce on rye, not only are there fewer carbs to process (150 calories of carbs while the remaining calories are in the protein and fat), these carbs are emptied into your bloodstream over a period of two to three hours, thereby meeting or even falling short of your energy output! Additionally, the meal is much more filling, thus aiding in appetite control.
This is where I get to break another bad news to you! High G.I. foods, when coupled with fat, form a lethal combination! Fats are chemically inert and do not trigger insulin response; they either travel directly to the muscle tissues, where they are on standby for energy metabolism; or to the skin and various bodily organs, where they provide insulation and shock absorbency. Once these two functions have procured adequate quantities of fat, the rest is usually discarded by the body. However, when eaten with too many carbs, the surplus insulin will metabolize and store the excess fat in the flab factory! So, if you don’t want your waist to grow, learn to be a G.I. Joe!
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
So what does it all boil down to? Here are 7 simple lessons that can last you a lifetime:
Lesson 1: All carbs are not created equal! Carbs that take longer to break down, especially unrefined complex carbs, are better than refined or simple carbs. If you can’t control your hunger and are not discerning in what you eat (while raiding the fridge at midnight perhaps!), it is better to have a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut better and jam instead of a packet of Oreo cookies. At the theatre, have lightly salted popcorn instead of M&M’s. Of course, it would behoove you to eliminate snack foods altogether, but then Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Lesson 2: Eat your greens! (and other fiber foods of course) Remember how your mother used to rant and rave all day long? Apart from complex carbs, fibrous foods help balance a high G.I. meal. We should strive to eat about 20 to 30 grams of fiber each day. Also remember this rule of thumb: The closer to nature the food is, the more fiber it generally contains!
Lesson 3: Mix and match! If you are in the mood, and we hope this is rare, for something sugary like ice cream or a soft drink, have it with a bag of roasted or steamed peanuts, for instance, as they are rich in fiber. If you eat at an Italian restaurant and have a large serving of pasta on your plate, don’t forget to load up on the salad first (with a light dressing!).
Lesson 4: Substitute! In a day and age where excessive variety has become the answer to consumers’ growing needs, what is stopping you from opting for a healthier option when it comes to common food products? Why have white bread when you can have whole wheat? Why have polished rice when you can have brown rice that is replete with fiber? How about granola instead of cornflakes? Or using some milk in your coffee instead of the creamer? I think you get the picture!
Lesson 5: Portion control: Keep your carb intake to about 200 to 300 grams a day (depending on your size, weight and sex). A medium plate of rice has roughly 50g and a plate of pasta about 75g. An average sized fruit such as a banana, apple, guava or orange contain roughly 20g to 35g while salads and greens hold about 10 to 15g per palm size. Stay away from low-fiber sugary fruits such as watermelons, lychees, longans or durians! In recent years, an increasing number of commercialized products have nutrient profiles labeled on them; Get into the habit of looking at and analyzing them!
Lesson 6: Exercise for the rise! The ONLY time to safely consume pure simple sugars is immediately after rigorous exercise or training. Following a grueling session, your body needs just the right amount of sugar and the resulting insulin spike to help restore your depleted glycogen reserves (about a 30-40g serving of anything sweet will do). That could be a can of coke, a glass of apple or grape juice, an electrolyte drink, or even a scoop of sorbet (not ice cream!). But here’s the catch: You have to exercise!
Lesson 7: Eat less and more often! Yes, we want you to eat between 5 to 6 meals a day! Most of you are probably very confused at this notion, but it’s an infallible truth. Frequent meals keep your enzymes active and your metabolism up all day. It is one of the few ways to ensure your body does not go into starvation mode. Divide your daily eating into 5 or 6 meals spaced out 3 to 4 hours apart. Each sitting should not exceed 300-400 calories because that is all that is needed to sustain you till your next meal. Try to lay off carbs in the evening, as you are most metabolically inactive during that period, unless you exercise of course. Lastly, by frequent meals, I mean proper food, not junk! A cinnamon roll and a mug of hot chocolate is NOT a proper meal!
SWEET SENTIMENTS TO END WITH
It all comes down to this: Common sense, common sense, and common sense! Use the aforementioned seven lessons to judge your daily dietary intake and you should be well on your way to a healthier lifestyle. For example, the fact that complex carbs are preferable to simple sugars does not justify forgoing a fudge sundae only to devour a white-bread triple jam sandwich. With a modicum of self-control and smart thinking, you can easily opt for two whole-wheat bread slices instead. Failure to do so means you are abusing Lesson 1 at the cost of Lessons 4 and 5! If you play by the rules of nutrition described throughout this article, you should be able to eat all you want and still keep that fat off!
There is abundant information to be gotten should you want to learn more about nutrition. There are several good websites out there to explore from the comfort of your very own home. There are, of course, other huge areas of possible discussion topics on healthy living including Proteins, Fats, Vitamins, Minerals and Exercise nutrition. These topics will be covered accordingly in upcoming issues.
Our bodies are a natural miracle, a gift from God whose workings we humans even cannot fully unravel till today. It is a complex system more intricate, meticulous and precise than any computer, robot or man-made apparatus ever constructed. You must treat it with the diligence it deserves. Otherwise, there’s always diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity and a host of other ailments waiting around the corner!
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