Carbohydrates also contain four calories per gram, and are the body’s primary energy source. Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, grains, sugars, breads, pastas, etc. They are what the body preferentially uses for energy, and they are also easy to store in the body for future use as glycogen. When you eat carbohydrates, you get an increase in blood sugar, and simultaneous release of the hormone insulin. Insulin can help your body gain muscle, but it can also cause fat accumulation if you’re not careful. The degree to which a certain carbohydrate raises insulin and blood sugar is known as the glycemic index (GI). Typically, dieters want to stick primarily to low GI foods. The reason for this is because you do not want a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin, because this is a recipe for storing fat. The more stable you can get your body’s blood sugar supply to be by breaking foods down slowly, the less chance you have of storing body fat, and greater chance you have of burning body fat. Low glycemic index (GI) foods are ones that break down slowly. Several foods that fall into this category include cruciferous vegetables, sweet potatoes, steel-cut (and certified gluten free) whole oats (NOT the pre-packaged flavored kind), quinoa, kidney beans, navy beans, lima beans, chickpeas, etc. Some foods that raise blood sugar quickly (and are best avoided when trying to get shredded) and have a high glycemic index would be: processed cereals, pasta, bread, muffins, bagels, pretzels, white flour products, white rice, etc. While you’ll want to avoid high GI foods most of the time, if you’re lean enough, you could have some fast digesting carbohydrates within 25 minutes following a training session. You see, an intense workout causes a great metabolic disturbance, which creates the need for fuel. Remember that carbohydrates can either be ✓ Used immediately for fuel ✓ Stored as glycogen ✓ Converted into and stored as body fat When you ingest carbohydrates immediately following exercise they go right into replenishing your muscle glycogen, which helps you refuel for your next workout. As long as you don’t go hog wild, and you’re sensitive enough to your own insulin, you won’t likely store any as body fat. I’ll go over how to introduce this in the section on post workout shakes.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 15:00:00 +0000
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