Are You One of the Many that are Scared of Carbs?!

[BodyBuild03]

I see too many people around these boards trying to cut out carbs from their life completely... with all the media attention and fear of carbohydrates there is a lot of misinformed people dieting and cutting out carbs...

First of all... your body needs carbs!!!
Carbohydrates play MAJOR roles in our bodies:

1. Carbohydrates provide the immediate source of energy for physical and or mental activity.

2. Carbohydrates also provide the sustained energy for aerobic activity.

3. They also provide the major source of energy for high intense activities... Such as WEIGHT TRAINING or HIGH INTENSITY CARDIO/Training.

4. Carbohydrates are known to be “Protein Sparing”... This allows for the protein that you consume through your diet to be used as needed for muscle recovery/building etc. and not go through a process known as Gluconeogenesis which is the process by which the human body convert protein to glucose for energy needs; whether it be dietary protein or your hard earned lean muscle mass!

5. Carbohydrates are needed to completely metabolize fat... without the byproducts of carbohydrate catabolism… now to get a bit scientific, stay with me!
When your body actually gets around to using that ugly stored fat as energy a lot of things must happen… Once the Lipase enzyme is activated by Cyclic AMP triglycerides that are to be broken down into fatty acids inside adipose tissue are then released into the blood and can then be shuttled to other tissue to be oxidized. In the presence of oxygen (thus oxidized) fatty free acids are used by Slow twitch fibers, these are the major fibers used during lower intense periods as opposed to High twitch fibers which are dominate in High Intense Training. Slow twitch fibers are loaded with mitochondria organelles. To be oxidized the FFA must enter the cells, then it must be activated through several reactions and finally can be carried to the mitochondria for beta oxidation. The important party here is that the end product of Beta Oxidation is Acetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA must combine with Oxaloacetic Acid to enter the Krebs Cycle to produce energy. Here is the important VOILA… Oxaloacetic Acid is Pyruvate dependent and Pyruvate is the byproduct of CARBOHYDRATE catabolism. Thus the fatty acid cannot be fully degraded! So in situations where carbohydrate depletion is extreme… Fatty Free Acids from adipose tissue and Acetyl-CoA from Beta Oxidation accumulate and must be transformed by the liver into Ketone Bodies. Thus FAT BURNS from the byproducts produced by carbohydrates!

6. Glucose is the only fuel for your Central Nervous System… Without carbohydrates in extreme cases someone will experience fatigue, weakness, dizziness, can develop tunnel vision, nausea and irritability. You may have noticed when you cut your carbs you aren’t the nicest person or the brightest person!

Cutting Carbohydrates will prove to lose WEIGHT.

This diet will prove to lose weight... WEIGHT yes...
You will lose about 450-500g of stored muscle and liver glycogen... each gram of glycogen is stored with about 3g of water... thus with the depletion of these storages alone you will lose about 1.5kg or about 3.3lbs...
Then your body will look to other storages for energy... sorry to tell you but it is most likely going to go for….your lean muscle mass... protein once again will be catabolized by your body through the process of gluconeogenesis into glucose for energy needs...

So DO NOT starve your body of carbs.

The key here is what carbs you eat… This comes to play into talking about the Glycemic Index…
You can find common listings of food here…
http://diabetes.about.com/library/m...gi/ngilists.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/gi_index.htm

Remember to get proper pre and post during nutrition…
Pre Workout – 0.25g/lb of bodyweight in protein and 0.33g/lb of bodyweight in carbs…
Post-Workout – 0.25g/lb of bw in protein and 0.5g/lb of bw in carbs…
The choice of going high GI (i.e. dextrose) or low GI (i.e. rolled oats) is a long heated debate and I say try both and do what’s best for you… for me that is about 1 cup of rolled oats with 2 scoops of whey protein.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=272067

Here is a quick list of the greatest top 5 of carbs IMO…
1. Oats
2. All Bran Cereal/Fiber One Cereal
3. Most Veggies
4. Beans
5. Most Fruits

For me a diet that has worked great is carbohydrate cycling and you can read up on it here…
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par30.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par32.htm
and a “For Dummies” here.. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=336012

So I hope I’ve change some people’s views on carbs and pull up a chair and a bowl of oats!

[Redolance]

I heard that these kiw carb diets can be dangerous. Me, I eat three meals a day of anything. I don't over eat and i don't under eat. I as well do cardiovascular workoutys and lift weights. According to my doctor, the meals i eat should be well enough.