Dispelling the myths
As part of my quest to understand the science behind weight loss I am delving deep into diet and discovering some fascinating insights. There’s so much confusion around what to eat and “good” and “bad” foods. Particularly when it comes to carbohydrates. Research says that labelling foods as “good” or “bad” is not helpful. One way to avoid using such labelling is to use more descriptive words such as processed, whole and nutritious.
What are carbohydrates?
Essentially carbs are all foods which are not proteins, fats and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. So bread, pasta, potatoes, legumes, vegetables, fruit and everything else in between.
There are three main types of carbohydrates: sugar, starch and fibre.
Why do we need carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are essential for healthy bodily function. They provide fuel for the body and allow us to function to maximal capacity. When we consume carbohydrates the food is converted into glucose in the liver and then distributed to the muscles and cells to be used as energy. If excess carbohydrates are consumed, than the body needs to function, then the energy is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles.
How much carbohydrate should we be eating?
The eat well food plate and the NHS tells us that carbs should form 50% of most meals. However, I think the amount of carbs you eat really depends on several factors. For example, if you are training for a marathon and out doing long endurance runs then you need more carbohydrate than if you are mostly sedentary. Generally it is a good idea to be carbohydrate aware and eat around a fistful as part of each meal.
Do carbs make us fat?
This is where the confusion lies. We have been told many fabricated myths about food over the years. In recent years carbs have taken the hit with the popularity of low and no carb diets taking centre stage.
It is true that if you consume excess carbs you will probably gain weight. This is why: unused glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles ready for use. If it is not used it is converted to fat.
However…what is important when it comes to weight gain/loss is the type of carbs and when you are consuming them
Types of carbohydrates
There’s a vast difference between highly processed and refined carbs, also known as simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.
Processed or simple carbohydrates
Almost anything bought in a shop with more than one ingredient constitutes processed or simple carbs: cookies, white bread, cakes, biscuits, ready meals, crisps etc.
Anything made with white flour has been processed and refined to the point where a lot of the nutritious content, such as fibre, has been removed. The digestive system doesn’t need to work very hard to process these types of foods. After eating highly processed carbohydrates there is a sharp increase in insulin levels and a spike in blood sugar levels. This process creates imbalance and in particular interferes with leptin, the hormone telling the brain the body is full. Blood sugar levels will drop quite quickly promoting hunger and triggering the reward pathways in the brain which in turn encourage further consumption of these foods.
Dr Rangnan Chatterjee calls these “blissy foods” which have been designed specifically to become addictive by activating the dopamine response in the brain.
You know what I am talking about: crisps, chocolate, pastries, cakes, pizza, burgers, chips, sugary drinks etc.
“Dopamine helps create intense feelings of reward, and this motivates us to repeat the same behaviour – eating those blissy foods – over and over again”.
Feel Great Lose Weight – Rangan Chatterjee
Have you noticed how you don’t have the same cravings to devour an entire cauliflower compared to a huge bar of Dairy Milk?
Complex carbs
Complex carbohydrates consist of wholegrains, legumes, such as pulses, fruit and vegetables. They contain dietary fibre, starch and are rich in vitamins and minerals. Fibre counteracts the effects of highly processed foods by slowing down the digestive system and making the body work harder to process food. Energy is released over a much longer period of time. So anything made from wholegrains – brown rice, pasta, brown bread full of seeds, rye bread as well as fresh vegetables, legumes and fruit are healthier for us and generally lower in sugars.
Insulin Resistance
Eating large amounts of refined and processed carbohydrates, particularly without taking breaks between eating of more than 4 hours, can contribute to insulin resistance. In the simplest terms this is what usually happens in the body when everything is working as it should:
- Glucose is produced from the food we eat in the blood
- This blood sugar triggers the pancreas to release the hormone insulin. Insulin is a very important hormone as it regulates blood sugar in the body
- Insulin signals the blood sugar to enter the body’s cells for use as energy as well as telling the liver to store glucose for later use
If this process becomes unbalanced insulin resistance can occur:
- Sugar enters the blood steam in high quantities and the pancreas has to work harder to pump out insulin to get the blood sugar into the cells
- Cells eventually stop responding to the insulin and become resistant
- The pancreas makes more insulin to encourage the cells to respond
- If this process continues the pancreas can’t keep up and blood sugar keeps rising
Increasing blood sugar in the bloodstream is seriously unhealthy for the body. Higher levels of insulin can mean that the liver and the muscles get too full of blood sugar. When this happens excess blood sugar is sent to the cells and is stored as fat.
It’s not surprising that eating too many refined carbohydrates is thought to be one of the main causes of insulin resistance leadingn to type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
My next post will cover what you can aim to do if you are trying to lose weight when it comes to carbohydrates!
