The Truth About Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are misunderstood and needlessly made confusing by so many self assuming experts. Carbohydrates are often viewed as the enemy and consuming them is a fate worse the death! Well not that bad, but why are so many people scared of Carbs?
It comes down to understanding. Understanding carbohydrates can be confusing because there are many different ways to categorize carbohydrates and (systems used to measure carbs). Here in lies the problem. So my solution is to give you a schooling in carbs, lets begin.
The eight main different types of carbohydrate are (with examples):
- Low G.I Carbs (Sweet Potato)
- Hi G.I (White potato)
- Fibrous Carbs (Green Vegetables)
- Starchy Carbs (Rice, Potato)
- Refined Carbs (Processed sugar, white sugar or Soft Drink)
- Natural Carbs (Fruit, Fructose)
- Simple Carbs/Sugars (Glucose, Lollies)
- Complex Carbs (broken down into 2 categories, fibrous and starchy)
Carbohydrates are broken down into sugars.
Types of Simple Carbohydrates (sugars) are:
-Monosaccharides:
- Glucose (blood Sugar)
- Fructose (fruit Sugar)
- Galactose (found in Milk, makes up half the sugar Lactose)
-Disaccharides:
- Sucrose (table sugar)
- Lactose (dairy sugar)
- Maltose (malt sugar)
From the list of eight carbohydrates (above), it’s easy to understand why some people can get confused. To add to these terms, the labels ‘good carbs’ and ‘bad carbs’ are often given to different types of carbohydrates
What exactly are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are the body’s primary and premium fuel source. As carbohydrates digest they turn into glycogen. An excessive carbohydrate intake will result in “storage” in fat cells.
Exercise burns muscle glycogen and if the muscle stores of glycogen are not replaced the body’s system just slows down, lethargy sets in and this is not a desired state if you are concern with getting stronger and building muscle.
Severely depleted carbohydrate stores will ultimately result in a reduction of the body’s protein stores and lean tissue mass, obviously not the intent of any trainer.
So it’s a catch 22, we don’t want to consume so many carbohydrates that they are stored as fat and we don’t want to consume too little carbohydrates so that our glycogen supply causes muscle wastage and no energy during workouts thereby making building muscle and getting stronger nearly impossible.
SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES
Simple carbohydrates have a ‘simple’ molecular structure which allows them to be digested very quickly, producing a rapid rise in blood sugar.
Simple carbohydrates can be both natural (good) or refined (bad). Natural simple carbohydrates include fruit (fructose) and Lactose (found in dairy products). People can have problems digesting Lactose (Lactose intolerant). The term Hi GI carbs is often (but not always) another way of talking about simple carbohydrates.
Avoiding all simple carbs in natural foods (such as fruit) is not necessary but it is highly advisable to avoid simple-refined carbohydrates namely any products that contain white processed sugar. These are poison.
COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES (Polysaccharides)
Complex Carbohydrates are made from thousands of sugar molecules linked together in long chains. As a result, these chains take longer to break down and digest compared with simple carbohydrates. The term Low GI is often used to describe complex carbohydrate digestion. There are two categories of complex carbohydrates:
- Starchy Carbs
- Fibrous Carbs
Starchy Carbohydrate sources:
Oats or Oatmeal
White Rice
Basmati or brown rice
White potato
Sweet potato
Rice cakes (make sure its 100% brown puffed rice and not maize or corn)
NOTE: Starchy carbs are higher in calories than fibrous carbs.
Fibrous Carbohydrate sources:
Broccoli
Lettuce
Cauliflower
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Asparagus
Green Beans
Squash
Cucumber
Spinach
*Most Green Vegetables fit into this category
REFINED CARBOHYDRATES- THE BAD CARBOHYDRATE
(AKA Refined sugar, Processed carbs or Bad carbs)
Refined carbohydrates are complex carbohydrates (starches) that have been highly processed to remove the bran, hull, fiber and most of the nutrient from the grain. In essence, refined carbohydrates are complex carbohydrates that are changed into simple carbohydrates with high concentrations of sugar. They are “empty calories”- Empty in a sense that they are nutritionally void but at the same time they are loaded with ‘bad’ calories.
Sucrose (white table sugar) is a perfect example of an empty calorie. It has no vitamins, no minerals, and no proteins, just calories. It does nothing positive for the body. A brief study of my clients food diaries show that they will consciously restrict wholefood carbohydrates such as sweet potato, bread and pasta in the belief that they are eating “low carb” yet their diets include foods such as soft drinks, donuts and ice cream not realising that these foods are much worse.
A pet peeve of mine is when people restrict their carb intake but then eat chocolate and or drink soft drinks or sugar laden energy drinks. These are carbs! Not just that, they are bad carbs! People will cut things like bread, potato and paste, only to mess it up by eating things that are ten times worse.
Manufactures promote and market refined carbohydrate products as ‘fat-free’ or ‘low G.I”, this over hyped marketing leads to confusion as to what nutrients the product actually contains. For what ever reason people don’t understand that these products are full of bad carbs. A great example of this is Milo (in Australia), it’s classified as “low GI” but the sugar content is through the roof. The marketing of this product has made people actually think its low in sugar and a great source of energy.
For a strange reason, be it misinformation, cleaver marketing or just plain stupidity, people don’t necessarily see these foods as ‘carbs’ per-say. Reality is they are the worst type of carbohydrate- Refined carbohydrate. To an extent, people want to be sold ‘sweet things’ because they enjoy them.
Refined carbohydrate products have a very long shelf life. Big businesses dealing in food sales prefer a product that does not expire as there is never any loss from over production. From a business stand point refined carbohydrates are a ‘hot product’, from a health stand point they are poison. Marketing of these products over time has seemed to confuse the masses of people to the point where people don’t know what’s in the food they eat or drink. It’s a common practise for manufactures to add vitamins and minerals to a refined product to give the impression that its healthy.
Restrictions on carbohydrate may cause cravings. Consuming refined carbohydrates cause Insulin to shoot up, this leads to more cravings! There is a hormonal reason why people crave foods. To counter-act unwanted hormone reactions, pre-planning a correct carbohydrate intake must take place so cravings can be stoped dead in their tracks (or limited).
The body is a smart system, if you restrict carbohydrates you deplete muscle glycogen and energy so the body does what it’s designed to do, it sends out signal in the form of cravings so you can quickly replenish its stores. Cravings signals want to be satiated and fast! Without a plan in place you find yourself searching the house for chocolate or ice cream (which obviously impacts fat loss goals in a negative way.)
Being more sensible about carbohydrate selection and timing will stabilise blood sugar and fight off cravings. Again, it comes back to sensible planning.
NOTE: If one is to be successful in pursuit of their health and fitness goals, clear distinctions must be made between unnecessary cravings, genuine cravings and discipline. Unnecessary craving characteristics are:
- Eating out of boredom,
- Eating out of emotion,
- Eating because it’s a special occasions or event
- ‘The other person effect’, e.g someone else is having ice-cream so you want it too.
- Lasts about 15 minutes
Cravings like these usually only last about 15 minutes. If you can wait 15 minutes and the cravings gone, it was an unnecessary craving
On the other hand genuine cravings are satiated by good food and will not go away after 15 minutes. The cravings (or hunger) will sit calmly in your stomach until you can eat.
Still uncertain about what refined carbs are?
Any uncertainty about food containing refined carbs, always check the ingredients list. Refined Carbohydrates are not always listed on nutrition fact panels as sugar. Be on the look out for products that carry any of the following ingredients:
- Fructose corn Syrup
- Corn syrup
- Rice syrup
- Sucrose
- Glucose syrup
- Invert sugar
These are different varieties of the refined carbs. If one of these is a main ingredient in a food then it should be avoided.
LOW CARB?
To decrease body fat, carbs are often the first macro nutrient to be restricted, next to saturated fats. A low carb strategy undeniably works to shed body fat. However, fibrous carbs should always be included in any nutritional plan.
Low Carb plans require Starchy Carbs to be reduced and optimally placed in the diet. This is important to understand as many people will restrict fibrous carbs which is often unnecessary. It must be understood before we proceed, there is a major deference between Fibrous Carbs (green vegetables) and Starchy Carbs. It may sound like I am repeating myself (I want to make it clear), don’t restrict Fibrous Carbs.
Fibrous Carbs contain very few calories and are loaded with vitamins and minerals and have much less impact on Insulin. Starchy carbs are higher in calories and have a greater impact on Insulin, thus why they need t be controlled.
For the majority of people, there are optimal times for starchy carb intake, they are:
- Breakfast
- Before training
- After training
Depending upon your goal, a trainer may need to choose from simple and complex carbs at these times. Trainers wanting to lose weight will gain benefits from sticking to a simple approach and keeping all carbs sources at the above outlined times to complex sources.
Trainers who are leaner, and are wanting to gain more weight (in general) will gain benefits from including both simple and complex carbs at these times. They may also want to include a malto-dextrin or glucose drink during training sessions or a post workout supplement such as Surge for enhanced muscle recovery. In introducing pre, post or during workout shakes it’s recommended that the trainers’ body-fat does not exceed 15%. Leaner trainers have a better Insulin response therefore can merit the consumption of glucose around training.
The three times of the day as outlined above are not absolutes. However they are a great starting place. Sometimes in extreme phases of dieting (such as before a bodybuilding show) carbs may have to be cut from one or more of these times. For most of you who just want to get in great shape, consume a starchy carb source at all times as outlined above to get bigger, stronger and leaner.
When on low carbs, be on low carbs, don’t mess it up by eating spoons of sugar. Sugar is often the critical error in most people’s diet.
CARBOHYDRATE TO SUGAR RATIO
I designed the term “Carb to Sugar ratio’ when working with clients to help explain and simplify quality carb sources versus empty carb sources (using food labels). You may even use it to distinguish a complex and a simple carbohydrate.
What is the Carb source made up of? Using the food label, check the ‘Carbohydrate to Sugar ratio.’ Below is an example of rice cakes per 100 grams is given:
Rice Cake:
| Total Carbs | 77g |
| -Sugar | Less than 1g |
Compare this with Marshmallows per 100 grams
Marshmallow
| Total Carbs | 83.3g |
| -Sugar | 64.8g |
This is an example of a very bad carbohydrate source. Over half of this product is sugar. It is recommended that you back up this ratio test with checking the ingredients. In the case above (the marshmallow) glucose syrup was found on the ingredients list which of course is a refined carb/sugar.
When using this method, there are exclusions to be aware of. For example, glucose powder will read 100% sugar on the label, however after training it may have its use for the RIGHT PERSON. Fruit is also another exemption of this tool as it contains natural sugars. Remember to check ingredients for refined sugar when using this tool.
As a general rule, try to keep sugar as low as possible when looking at carbohydrate and sugar ratios, particular when containing refined sugar.
Author Bio: Mark Ottobre started his journey to success as “The Fat Kid”. At school he had the nick name ‘Pork Chops’ and was told by a teacher that ‘on of a scale of 1 to 10 in useless lumps he was an 11!’ At the age of 14 he fell into the category of gym goers “trying to lose weight”. It wasn’t until the age of 15 that he was introduced to bodybuilding and found the necessary tools to transform his mind, body and life forever. Found out more about Mark at http://thetruthaboutsupplements.com
Categories: Nutrition Tags: carb to sugar ratio, carbohydrate to sugar ratio, carbohydrates, carbs, mark ottobre, scared of carbs
Protein Supplements
Before we discuss and consider protein supplements, a discussion about protein and its role in the body is required
So what are proteins?
Definition
Protein is a macro nutrient needed to maintain and repair the body. Protein is important to muscle cells, improving the overall function of muscles. Improving muscle function can lead to increased power, strength and muscle size (hypertrophy). Protein is the building blocks of muscle and makes up approximately 75% of our dry muscle weight.
Protein is made up of chains of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. There are twenty-two amino acids, eight are considered ‘essential’ and the rest are considered ‘non essential’. The essential eight amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body and must be supplied in diet. No synthesis of body protein can take place unless all of the essential amino acids are present in diet.
A list of amino acids
| Essential | Non-essential | |
| 1 | Isoleucine* | Alanine |
| 2 | Leucine* | Asparagine |
| 3 | Lysine | Aspartate |
| 4 | Methionine | Aspartic Acid |
| 5 | Phenylalanine | Cysteine |
| 6 | Threonine | Glutamine |
| 7 | Tryptophan | Glutamic Acid |
| 8 | Valine* | Glycine |
| 9 | Proline | |
| 10 | Serine | |
| 11 | Tyrosine | |
| 12 | Arginine | |
| 13 | Histidine | |
*BCAA, Branch-Chain Amino Acid
*Histidine is considered semi-essential.
Protein is necessary to build muscle. Adequate protein (amongst other nutrients) must be consumed for protein synthesis to take place (building new muscle.)
For the same reasons, finding high protein foods is vital for our health in general and for an active athlete, a person who eagerly wants to lose weight or a body builder in particular.
Recommended Dietary Intakes/Allowances (RDI/A’s) for protein
Recommended Dietary Intakes/Allowances (RDI or RDA, dependant upon country) were developed in the 1940’s-1950 during the war with the purpose to identify what soldiers needed to survive and avoid malnourishment. RDI/A’s are based on NEED, not improvement. It was never intended for optimum health, but rather the absence of deficiency and disease. Unfortunately, RDI/A’s are now ‘standard’ in many western countries based on out dated research.
The problem with the majority of health organizations is that they promote one size fits all answers dogmatically. Everyone is different. Advice from such organisation is so general that often it must be disregarded, especially by people wanting to build muscle and strength. This is why you will see serious athletes show complete disregard for such recommendations.
The Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation of 1985 defined the protein requirement of an individual as “the lowest level of dietary protein intake that will balance the losses of nitrogen from the body in persons maintaining energy balance at modest levels of physical activity’. This set the average protein requirement between 0.75g to 0.84 grams of protein per kg of body weight.
The two key points in this definition are the “the lowest level” and “modest levels of physical activity”.
- Approaching nutrition with a mind set of “The lowest levels of dietary protein” is not recommended for individuals trying to building muscle and strength.
- “Modest levels of physical activity” does not apply to people training intensely at a minimum of 4 days a week. Therefore 0.84 grams of protein per kilo of body weight cannot be recommended to the weight training community.
Many of the world’s governments including, Australia, American, Canada, and most of Europe recommend the following:
(Figures are approximate and are presented as the mean of organizations studied)
- 0.75g/kg for adult women
- 0.84g/kg for adult men
- Around 1g/kg for pregnant and breastfeeding women, and for men and women over 70kg
RDI/A’s are not clearly stated for training individuals. This is simply because there has never been a mass study conducted on a weight training community and protein.
For weight trainers, the above recommendations are too low. To confirm this point, these figures are based using BMI (Body Mass Index) as a recommendation of what people should weigh as a reference to protein intake.
BMI’s do not take into account lean muscle tissue. Athletes, bodybuilders and anyone else who has built a lean, muscular physique should not consider using a BMI as a form of measurement. Therefore, these recommendations are not applicable to those wanting to excel at building their body.
The RDA handbook states; “No added allowance is made here for unusual stresses encountered in daily living which can give rise to transient increases in urinary nitrogen output. It is assumed that the subjects of experiments forming the basis for the requirement estimates are usually exposed to the same stresses as the population generally.”
In other words, the intended use of RDI/A guidelines are for sedentary, non weight training individuals. Training is stress beyond usual stress in ‘daily living.’
An interesting example of protein requirements
An interesting fact and a good example of how some requirements become “requirements” is German physiologist, Dr. Carl Voit’s (1831-1908) research. He recommended 118grams of protein per day. He based some of his finding on what people could afford as well as what soldiers were eating at the time and not on how to build a super lean muscular, tone physique.
Dr. Peter Lemon is one of the world’s foremost researchers on protein needs and exercise. He is well respected by elite sports figures and elite coaches, when Dr. Lemon publishes something we take notice. Here is an extract from his findings:
“Exercise causes substantial changes in protein metabolism. In fact, recent data suggests that the protein recommended dietary allowance may actually be 100% higher for individuals who exercise on a regular basis. Optimal intakes, although unknown, may be even higher,
especially for individuals attempting to increase muscle mass and strength.”
-Dr. Peter Lemon, world’s foremost researcher on protein needs and exercise.
Peter Lemon’s research published in “Nutrition Reviews,” (54:S169-175, 1996) indicates that strength athletes need up to 1.8g of protein per kilo of bodyweight to maintain positive nitrogen balance. Some studies showed that even higher protein intakes may be necessary in hard training strength athletes. In a study done on Polish weightlifters (Nutr. Metabolism 12:259-274), 5 of 10 athletes were still having negative nitrogen balance even while consuming 250% of the RDA!
PROTEIN PUSHER!
Of course, with anything, there is the opposite extreme end of RDI/A’s and there recommendations are no better. Who am I talking about? Supplement companies and Bodybuilding Magazines.
Supplement companies and Muscle Magazines are on the extreme end of protein pushing. (Keeping in mind, supplement companies own a large majority of Bodybuilding Mags.) They will find every piece of evidence and study to support consuming protein. They want you to believe that if you don’t eat enough protein you will soon catabolise and loose all your hard earned muscle.
Some bodybuilders and (particular the ones from supplement companies) encourage as much protein as four to five times your body weigh per day. Four to five times your weight in protein is a ridiculous recommendation unless large amounts of anabolic steroids are being used.
These companies are in the business of selling supplements/protein powders, so the more you consume, the more you buy, the more you buy, the more money they make. Supplement companies endorse athletes and as a result they also promote high protein diets.
The problem is that they recommend high amounts to everyone, but not everyone needs a high protein diet. Not everyone trains hard. High protein diets are not recommended or useful if someone isn’t training hard.
So who do we believe? The RDI/A’s and health organizations, or the supplement companies and muscle magazines? The answer is neither (as it often is in situations like these) and the solution is found somewhere in the middle ground.
There is no absolute answer to give you. It would be pure ignorance to state a recommendation amount every one should follow. Some people have more body fat, faster metabolism, train harder, naturally stronger, etc. There are way too many factors to have a dogmatic approach. However, you must feed your body, other wise you won’t recover. A good start for someone wanting to
build lean muscle is 1.7 grams per kilo of lean body weight. The rest is trial and error…
How much protein you need?
Intelligent factors that trainers, bodybuilders and athletes need to take into consideration for protein requirements are:
- Body weight
- Individual goals
- Training regime
- Training intensity
- Training duration
Having trained numerous bodybuilders and athletes, I have never recommended following RDI/A’s for building muscle and performance. It is only natural for people who want to build their bodies to increase protein consumption to assist in achievement of your goals. How much will be dependant on the factors outlined above. The only way to know if you are getting it right is to monitor your progress and how you feel.
For someone wanting to look like Mr. or Ms. Australia, a high protein diet is recommended.
Protein optimizes muscles and muscle equals strength, speed and a faster metabolism. There is not one sport or activity that does not benefit from being stronger. The old adage is true; a stronger athlete is a better one.
As a result of intense and frequent workouts’ more protein is required. This is due to the demand placed on the body. If you do not place a demand on the
body, you simply will not need as much protein compared to some one who does.
Conclusive, absolute scientific data of what “optimal” protein intake is for gaining muscle and losing fat is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Following charts or “recommended amount” of protein need to be compared with the lifestyle of the individual. For example a bodybuilder would never follow a chart that said one kilo of protein per one kilo of body weight. Likewise, it would not be healthy for a sedentary individual to follow a bodybuilder’s protein intake. Protein needs to be tailored to meet the needs of the individual.
Protein & weight loss
Protein has a thermal (heat producing) effect on the body as it accelerates the body’s metabolic rate. Approximately 25-30% of the energy provided by protein is used for digestion. For example, if you ate 50g of protein, approximately 30% of the foods energy would go towards digestion. Compare this to Carbohydrates, 6% to 8% and fats use only 2% to 3% (of food energy for digestion).
Protein accelerates your metabolism to a far greater degree than fats or carbohydrates. In a nutshell, protein foods take more energy to digest which increases metabolism.
Unfortunately the metabolic benefits are not in reference to protein powders. They are in reference to protein found in food. Protein powders have been processed/pre-digested/hydrolyzed for the intent to be faster absorbed. Powders will not have the same effect on the metabolism as wholesome food.
With that said numerous dieters have been buying and using high-protein diets all across Australia, Candia, America and Europe, over the past several years in a hope to lose weight. If you are after weight loss, protein powders are not necessarily required as it is far better to get your energy from real food that has to be digested.
Why use a protein supplement?
Because of the demand training places on the body, extra protein is required. Often diet does not supply all the needed quantities of protein, especially in people in whom proteins demands are higher. Many athletes and bodybuilders choose to enhance their protein intake by using high quality different protein supplements.
Other reasons to use a protein supplement include:
- Convenient and easy to carry and consume
- Relatively cheaper than other lean protein sources (compared to fish, red meat, etc)
- Brings a variety to ones diet (taste)
- Easily digestible and after a intense workout preferable
- If on a restricted eating plan (vegetarian or vegan) its great way to consume complete proteins.
A word to the wise
Don’t be a fool and ever consider going on a protein powder or shake diet plan. A protein powder diet plan is where you mainly consume protein shakes and if you’re lucky, you may have one real meal a day. Don’t be fooled, these diets are always given as a marketing vehicle by companies to sell more supplements.
The two biggest problems with these plans are:
Problem 1- They are not a sustainable way to live, and they never will be.
Problem 2- If we were meant to live off liquids we wouldn’t have teeth (or a sophisticated digestive system). Our digestive system must have real food to digest for our bodies to function correctly.
I have worked with a number of people who have tried to follow a shake diet and every single one of them gained body fat and weight after concluding a shake diet. Not giving your body real food will put the body into starvation mode, which basically means when you do eat real food again, it will surely be stored. This is because the body thinks it has to store the energy from the food as it doesn’t know the next time it will be fed. This function prehistorically is what kept the human race alive thousands of years ago as hunter gathers. As hunter gathers, we were never certain of the next time the tribe would be back from a successful hunt.
Author Bio: Mark Ottobre started his journey to success as “The Fat Kid”. At school he had the nick name ‘Pork Chops’ and was told by a teacher that ‘on of a scale of 1 to 10 in useless lumps he was an 11!’ At the age of 14 he fell into the category of gym goers “trying to lose weight”. It wasn’t until the age of 15 that he was introduced to bodybuilding and found the necessary tools to transform his mind, body and life forever. Found out more about Mark at http://thetruthaboutsupplements.com
Categories: Featured, Nutrition Tags: mark ottobre, Protein Supplements
