Anyone who has recently visited a grocery store knows that food producers are rushing to introduce “low carb” versions of everything from bread to candy, soda, and cereal. Do not believe for a moment that these firms are motivated by consumers’ health interests. The truth is that they are primarily concerned with people’ wallets and will market anything they believe a gullible public would buy. Low-carb junk food is still crap.
I know some of you reading this are already raising your defenses since you lost weight by reducing your carb intake. Let me first congratulate you on your weight loss, and then clarify that this is not an anti-Atkins or anti-South Beach post. This essay is simply intended to educate readers on the truth of carbohydrates, “good” vs. “bad” carb choices, what they do, why your body requires them, and how to make better nutrition choices than food corporate marketing attempts would have you believe.
The first thing to grasp is that carbs offer the body’s primary source of fuel, glucose (blood sugar), which is stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen. Any muscle contraction, whether for exercise, getting out of bed, or blinking an eye, is essentially powered by glycogen. So, for those of you who are doing resistance training, this should immediately highlight the fact that you need carbohydrates for fuel in order to maximize your efforts in your resistance program. The second thing to know is that your brain (which burns more calories than any other organ in the body) and nervous system can only use glucose for energy. This is why, particularly in the early or induction phases of carb-restricted diets, dieters frequently feel sluggish and less alert than usual. Cutting carbs eliminates your brain’s primary source of fuel.
Now some of you are surely thinking, “That’s what I want! My body will have to burn fat for energy!” Both yes and no. Your body will burn fat for energy, but it will also break down protein stores in muscles, organs, and other cells to make glucose. As explained in earlier pieces, this will make it much harder for your tissues to grow, repair, and maintain themselves. It will also slow down your metabolism. Obviously, that’s not what was meant to happen.
As previously said, this is not an anti-(insert your favorite low-carb guru here) essay. However, carbohydrates are a nutrient, because a nutrient is defined as a “substance that an organism requires from its surroundings for growth and the sustenance of life.” So, does it make sense to follow a program that calls for the complete abandoning of essential nutrients? Of course not. What is required is an understanding of the distinction between beneficial, high-quality carbs that offer important nutrients and fuel and highly processed and refined carbohydrates that supply empty calories and promote fat formation.
What exactly do I mean by “overly processed and refined carbohydrates”? Consider: white bread, donuts, muffins, pastries, white rice, candies, sugary breakfast cereals, white pasta, potato chips, crackers, and soda. These foods digest fast and cause a sudden surge in blood sugar, which is something we want to avoid when trying to lose fat. After your body absorbs the blood sugar required to rebuild muscle glycogen, whatever remains from that rise is stored as fat.
What distinguishes supportive, quality carbohydrates? They digest more slowly, causing a more steady rise in blood sugar and giving a more consistent source of energy. Look for whole grain breads and cereals, pasta made with whole wheat flour, brown rice instead of white rice, sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, fruits in moderation, and plenty of veggies. Whole grain carbs will keep you content for longer, and you won’t want to consume a bag of chips within an hour of finishing your plain bagel.
So, the lesson here is to avoid succumbing to carb fear and filling your shopping cart with all of the new low carb products. Just like in the early 1980s, when food producers were scrambling to create low-fat versions of every product under the sun, they are doing the same now to sell more things, not because they care about your health. Back then, people stocked up on SnackWell cookies. They’re low in fat, so they must be fine, right? Since the low-fat boom of the 1980s, the obesity rate in this country has risen dramatically. This is not the case because carbs are now the real problem. No, the reason is that junk food, whether low in fat, carbs, or whatever, is still junk food.
