Carbs - To eat, or Not to eat???

Up until just a few years ago, I was SO confused about carbohydrates.

I mean you hear all these things about the different diets...

• No carb diet

• Low-carb diet

• Atkins diet

• Paleo diet

• Caveman diet

With so many diets to choose from and so many opinions about carbohydrates, it is no wonder you may be left scratching your head, wondering what to do.

It wasn't until I started studying to become a certified nutritionist with Precision Nutrition that I got a handle on carbohydrates. My goal is ease to your confusion and share with you what I have learned in order to help you make an educated decision.

We're going to touch base on 3 things-

1• Healthy carbs (yes, some carbs are actually incredibly beneficial to our bodies)

2 • Unhealthy carbs (these are what you should stay away from unless it's a treat meal during the week, and that does not mean everyday.)😜

3• Carb timing (yes, there are better times during the day to eat carbohydrates than others. When you figure this out, carbohydrates can help you lose weight)

HEALTHY CARBS:

• Sweet potatoes

• brown rice

• long grain wild rice

• whole oats

• fruit

• quinoa

• chickpeas

• lentils

• beans

• corn

• carrots

• whole grain bread (if you are not celiac or sensitive to gluten)

UNHEALTHY CARBS:

• starch (potato chips, french fries)

• sugar (breakfast cereals, Sports drinks, pastries, soft drinks, juice, and candy)

• margarine (this has no health benefits and research has said it's been linked to asthma, allergies, and inflammation)

• beer (this is like liquid bread)

CARB TIMING:

• 1 to 2 hours Before a workout.

• 1 to 2 hours after an intense workout

How many carbohydrates should I eat a day?

I hear this often. The methodology of Precision Nutrition uses our hand to measure out our food intake. For instants, we'll take carbohydrates as an example today, since that's what we're talking about.

Women: one cupped-hand size for you. That equals about 20 to 30 g of carbohydrates per serving depending on the size of your hand.

Men: two cupped-hand size portions of carbohydrates. That equals about 40 to 60 g of carbs, depending on the size of your hand.

As you begin to use this method, you'll notice the portion size may be smaller than you're doing now. This will keep you in check to make sure your eating what's right for your body size. Plus, there's no need to carry a food scale everywhere you go, how embarrassing!

===> Healthy carbs are digested and absorbed slower than unhealthy carbs.

===> When broken down and absorbed, they are transferred to the liver to fuel our energy stores.

===> It's then that they enter the bloodstream and out to the cells of the body. At this time, insulin is delivered to control this "sugar load" on the body.

===> Carbohydrates primary role is an immediate energy source for our body's cells.

P.S Watch out for "LOW-CARB" food items in the supermarket. Companies are trying to trick us into buying their junk which is full of starch, processed artificial ingredients, sugar alcohols, sweeteners, and additives.

These do not help us, in fact, they do the opposite.

Here's to our Journey,

#healthycarbs