Bad Carbs, or Bad Timing?
You may have noticed some new marketing campaigns and/or health articles and experts chronicling the battle between "good carbs and bad carbs."
It's true: There are many foods that contain "better" carbohydrates than others. Glycemic Index is what determines which category each food falls under, and if you are new to dieting and nutrition, you should start here to choose better carb sources that you can substitute for your current choices.
However, if you already know the difference between high GI and low GI, then this article takes things one step further by introducing nutrient timing as well. Two people could be on the exact same "good carb" diet, eating the same amount of calories per day, but have dramatically different results based on when they eat certain foods.
Put on your "Bill Nye the Science Guy" hats for a second, and let's walk through why nutrient timing is so important:
- Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles as glycogen, which your body uses for fuel.
- Unlike your fat stores (which can expand, allowing your waistline to expand with them), your glycogen tank has a limited amount of space to store sugar.
- When your glycogen tank is full (because you've been stuffing your face with Twinkies and soft drinks), the excess carbs build up in your blood stream, and your body has to use them for energy.
- But what if you're just sitting on the couch, or any other UN-energetic activity? Your body is forced to send the excess sugar to your liver, where it's converted to fat!
- Ideally, you want to keep your glycogen levels low, so your body will use fat for energy, instead of carbs.
Do you see what a difference timing can make here? If you overdose on carbs, not only is your body not burning fat, but it's actually converting the carbs and creating even more fat!
On the other hand, if you keep your carb intake lower, your body doesn't create any more fat, and it uses and burns your current fat for fuel.
Now, this doesn't mean avoid all carbs at all costs. Carbohydrates are essential to a healthy diet and keeping your body running at an optimal level.
The key is to keep your carb intake low, especially during times of inactivity. For most active people, this means eating most of your carbohydrate-rich foods early in the day when you are working and moving around. If you aren't very active later in the day, then work your way up to completely avoiding carbs after 3-5PM.
One exception to the rule is pre- and post-workout. Here, you want a mix of protein and carbohydrates to give your body the tools it needs to repair and benefit from your exercise.
Remember, the extra carbs here will be used for energy, because you will be placing a greater demand on your body.
Employ these tactics, and you will see dramatic improvements in your body, without even changing any other part of your routine.
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Other Posts You'll Find Useful:
[...] Because we all understand things better when we see it in pictures, FitBuff has posted that graph of what high and low GI foods look like in to your energy levels. As you can see, the high GI foods cause your energy levels to drop dramatically, where as low GI foods are increasingly consistent. Check out the original post for increasingly detailed data on timing your carbs. [...]