The Carbohydrate Conundrum

Choose from the left not from the right!

     In my first blog I talked about how truly believing in yourself will result in achieving the things that you never thought were possible. Now I will begin to tell you the secret to my weight loss success! It all started with a little word called Paleo. When I was first introduced to this lifestyle (thank you Crossfit Wilmington) I thought it sounded a little absurd. Note that I said lifestyle, not diet. As a long time weight lifter and athlete I was being told that the way I ate, for every sort of physical activity and sporting event, was wrong. What I thought was my greatest ally athletically, carbohydrates, turned out to be the reason I was plagued with weight issues my entire life. "What do you mean Chris? Isn't our body supposed to get those twelve servings of breads, grains and pasta per day?" Absolutely, positively, and without a doubt NO!!! There is no reason whatsoever that we should be eating a SINGLE serving of breads, grains, or pasta per day let alone twelve. In fact, there are many things that have become staple parts of our diets that we not only don't need, but shouldn't eat!

     Carbohydrates are not the root of all evil, in fact carbohydrates are necessary to replenish our bodies' stores of muscle and liver glycogen. The problem is the sources and types of carbohydrates, the quantities in which we eat them and the other nutritional content of the foods that contain these "bad" carbohydrates. To put it simply, the only types of carbohydrates we should be getting are those from vegetables, preferably leafy and green. Colorful vegetables are good too, in fact it is a good thing to eat a variety of vegetables so that you get a broad spectrum of vitamins and nutrients. That is not to say that all vegetables are good, tubers i.e potatoes, should be very limited because they contain high proportions of carbohydrates which will cause your body to produce insulin which in turn causes you to store fat. If weight loss is your goal, it would be better to just cut out the tubers all together. "Hey now, what about fruit? An apple a day keeps the doctor away right?" Fruit contains sugar, and sugar, when consumed willy nilly, can wreak havoc on your weight loss goals. However, I do not advocate the elimination of fruits from our diets. It is perfectly fine to eat fruit, in fact, much of our bodies free radical fighting antioxidants come from fruit. A good rule of thumb when dealing with fruit is to follow one of two rules. If weight loss is your goal, then for every four servings of vegetables eat one serving of fruit. If weight maintenance is your goal, then for every two servings of vegetables eat one serving of fruit. Just like with vegetables, there are fruits that are better for you. Berries, small and dark, eat them, they are antioxidant packed power houses. Again, variety is a good thing, but beware, many fruits contain ALOT of sugar, which causes a rise in insulin, which in turn causes the body to store fat.

     Changing the way you eat isn't rocket surgery, the biological processes by which your body breaks down and utilizes nutrients are. That being said, there is a great deal of information that we the people are just not informed about. We are taught our whole lives to live and eat a certain way. There is a reason why disease, cancer, malnourishment, and other problems plague our society. Most of today's health issues are directly linked to the way we eat. This brief segment is just one of many to follow where I will inform and educate those who need help. If you are at your wit's end with trying and failing to get in shape, get healthy, lose weight and be happy, then stay tuned. I'm reaching out to aid all of you along your journey to better health. I have spent the last three years of my life delving deep into the world of nutrition, how every facet of what we eat effects the way we perform and function. The best part is, through personal trial and error I have done all the work for you! I have done the research, I have applied the knowledge and the results are a direct reflection of what I have achieved for myself. Have questions? I have answers. Subscribe to my blog and stay tuned. Remember, the body achieves what the mind believes, so truly believe in yourself and I will help you along the way!