Another nutrition thread - carbohydrates

[Lysander]

For ages I've been listening to people say 'carbohydrates make you fat' and avoiding them in the hope that they'll lose weight.

Looking at this page it all becomes clear to me - carbohydrates will make you put on weight if you have a mid/high sugar diet. But if you have a low sugar diet, you can eat more of them and your body won't necessarily have an excess of sugar to store as fat.

Interesting stuff. And people who avoid carbohydrates altogether have more of a chance of wasting muscle tissue since the body needs to get its energy from somewhere.

However, I heard that if you avoid carbohydrates for too long you can end up dead because your body will start to use up cardiac muscle. Is this actually true?

 

[JBuk]

carbs are good for you if you eat the right kind and dont over do it

infact the body needs them as they are a good source of energy

dunno about the death bit though

 

[Tefal]

However, I heard that if you avoid carbohydrates for too long you can end up dead because your body will start to use up cardiac muscle. Is this actually true?

I think you'd die of starvation well before that point. AS you'd also have to be avoiding sugar fat and protein.

 

[Johnny Girth]

Your body can make energy from fat, protein and carbohydrate so you'd have to be starving yourself.

Carbs will make you fat, just like protein and fat will - if you have too much. Sugars are likely to make you fatter not because they get stored as fat (all excess does) but for several reasons. They spike your insulin which means that your metabolism is affected. They're also very easy to eat in large quantities which means you'll be getting too many calories.

Eating good complex carbs is a good idea as part of a balanced diet. Even a bit of sugar here and there is fine, particularly after working out.

 

[Johnny Girth]

...

 

[chimponarope]

For ages I've been listening to people say 'carbohydrates make you fat' and avoiding them in the hope that they'll lose weight.

Looking at this page it all becomes clear to me - carbohydrates will make you put on weight if you have a mid/high sugar diet. But if you have a low sugar diet, you can eat more of them and your body won't necessarily have an excess of sugar to store as fat.

Interesting stuff. And people who avoid carbohydrates altogether have more of a chance of wasting muscle tissue since the body needs to get its energy from somewhere.

However, I heard that if you avoid carbohydrates for too long you can end up dead because your body will start to use up cardiac muscle. Is this actually true?

Carbs are like anything, eat too much and you'll gain fat (it's your bodies storage pool after all for when starvation periods still existed when we were living in caves and still hunting for ourselves etc). That said, certain carbs will make it more likely, sugars and simple carbs will bump your insulin levels and stop you tapping into your fat stores.

Muscle wasting will only occur if your overall calorie level is too low, your muscles won't inherently waste away without carbs. Your body prefers them but only because it's so much easier convert them to usable fuel than fats or proteins. As above cardiac wasting will occur without enough food in general not due to a lack of carbs.

Have a look into CKD, NHE, anabolic diet, UD2.0 etc. All based on ketogenic dieting, there's a LOT of science out there about it. I've spent years looking into it.

 

[Bakedgoods]

Carbs are essentially sugar..

What you meant to say is, avoid refined (white) carbohydrates and stick to more fibre packed brown and wholemeal varieties.

Generally speaking the lower GI the better.

The thing which essential makes most people fat is eating high GI carbs with lots of fat. (White bread with burgers, lots of cheese etc).

Combining high GI carbs and even low GI to an extend, with lots of fat in the same meal is a sure fire way to put on weight.

You are effectively just shuttling all that fat straight into your fat stores (typically your stomach).

 

[Jonny69]

Muscle wastage occurs as a result of ketosis. An extreme of this would be if a diabetic didn't take insulin, they would simply waste away and die because the body would use up muscle resources to extract its energy. Ketosis is an interesting thing to look up.

Edit: I'm actually wrong it's ketoacidosis with diabetics, not ketosis.

 

[Ben M]

If you want to lose weight, just eat fewer calories than you burn off, it isn't a lot more complicated than that.

Muscle wastage occurs as a result of ketosis. An extreme of this would be if a diabetic didn't take insulin, they would simply waste away and die because the body would use up muscle resources to extract its energy. Ketosis is an interesting thing to look up.

How can anything that givres you sugary sweet breath be a bad thing?

 

[Lysander]

If you want to lose weight, just eat fewer calories than you burn off, it isn't a lot more complicated than that.

I know, I wasn't asking about that.

Carbs are essentially sugar..

What you meant to say is, avoid refined (white) carbohydrates and stick to more fibre packed brown and wholemeal varieties.

Indeed, and they makes you feel fuller for longer.

Combining high GI carbs and even low GI to an extend, with lots of fat in the same meal is a sure fire way to put on weight.

Trust you to know about this, you're about the size of a rake...

 

[Bakedgoods]

I know, I wasn't asking about that.




Indeed, and they makes you feel fuller for longer.



Trust you to know about this, you're about the size of a rake...

I'm short with a good bodyfat percentage, not skinny...

Ketosis doesn't mean you lose muscle at all (providing your protein and fat intake is high enough). It is paticularly useful for loosing weight though and getting down to really low BF levels.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

I thought catabolism was the process of degrading of muscle fibre to produce energy. This normally occurs after training when glycogen levels are low.

 

[Bakedgoods]

I thought catabolism was the process of degrading of muscle fibre to produce energy. This normally occurs after training when glycogen levels are low.

It is, not sure where Johnny heard that about ketosis, totally different thing.

 

[Makunouchi]

-Ketosis (pronounced /kiːˈtoʊsɪs/) is a state in metabolism occurring when the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies which can be used by the body for energy.

Sounds like Ketosis is what you actually want to happen

 

[Bakedgoods]

It's the result of a high fat (very low carb) diet. Useful for dropping your body fat percentage.

 

[Makunouchi]

I guess thats the theory behind the Atkins diet then?

 

[Bakedgoods]

Atkins doesn't really advocate high fat and getting into ketosis as far as I know..

The better thing about getting more calories from protein is that although excess will still be turned into fat, you're body wastes approximately 25% of the energy converting it and storing it as fat.

Your body doesn't have this problem with carbs