I planned a review of Gary Taubes book ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’. Seems it’s already been reviewed six ways to Sunday. I decided to make references to it instead of reviewing it when its subject matter has relevance to what I want to write about.
The premise of Mr.Taubes’ book is that carbohydrates are unhealthy in the amounts recommended by the medical establishment, the US government, and the USDA food pyramid (the USDA Dietary Guidelines For Americans 2005 Chapter 7 states carbohydrates are part of a healthful diet).
"The AMDR for carbohydrates is 45 to 65 percent of total calories" or 900 to 1300 calories from carbohydrates for a daily calorie intake of 2000 calories. "Consequently, it is important to choose carbohydrates wisely. Foods in the basic food groups that provide carbohydrates—fruits, vegetables, grains, and milk—are important sources of many nutrients." From USDA Dietary Guidelines For Americans 2005 Chapter 7.
This is a startling contrast to many low carbohydrate advocates recommended carbohydrate levels that run as low as 20 grams a day (80 calories) on induction diet phases and 50 to 100 grams a day on Atkins For Life maintenance (200 or 400 calories a day).
And yet Taubes uncovered evidence that the low carbohydrate recommendations may be lower than necessary for good health. On page 159 of ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’ Mr. Taubes actually states that one study showed even carbohydrate sensitive people could tolerate three times what Atkins recommended as a low end figure for maintenance.
When a researcher studying 286 atherosclerosis patients in which 90 percent had carbohydrate induced lipemia and an elevated sensitivity to carbohydrates “put his patients on a sugar-free diet with only five to six hundred calories of starches a day, both their trigyceride levels and their cholesterol lowered.”
Using this one index of what constitutes health or a healthy diet (for controlling lipemia, an indicator of heart disease risk) 500 to 600 calories of carbohydrates a day won’t harm you. That equates to a range of 125 to 150 grams of carbohydrates a day.
So what does this mean to healthy normal weight people pursuing fitness through aerobics and resistance training? Eat your damn oatmeal.
Seriously, if you’ve been exposed to the low carbohydrate message on the web lately you’ll realize we’re under pressure to become carbohydrate phobic in the same way we were pressured to be fat phobic by medicine, government, and big food for years. Both ends of the spectrum are unbalanced. Even going by Gary Taubes information listed above most of us, and particularly exercisers and athletes, can tolerate a lot more carbohydrates than the so-called low carbohydrate advocates preach.
There is evidence that exercise changes how carbohydrates eaten beforehand are used and how carbs eaten after weight training when muscle glycogen is depleted are used.
There is a big difference between sedentary or moderately active people eating a moderate to high carbohydrate diet of refined and unrefined carbohydrates, or overweight and obese people eating refined and processed carb indiscriminately, and serious exercisers and athletes who carefully carb load with unprocessed and unrefined carbohydrates like oatmeal and fruit for energy and performance. Taubes even admitted activity affected carbohydrate use as well as lowering cholesterol (page 14). Unfortunately I can’t find his reference on exercise and carbohydrate use.
But I found this:
”In the classic carbohydrate loading study of Begstrom et al. (1967), the ingestion of a high carbohydrate diet, following a period of relative carbohydrate deprivation, resulted in a marked increase (supercompensation) in muscle glycogen (to as high as 200 mmol * [kg.sup.-1] wet mass) and enhanced subsequent endurance exercise performance.” More.
And this:
“If you don't know by now that carbohydrates are important for exercise, you might want to take up a new hobby. Yes, the low-carb diets are currently all the rage, but those of you who have tried them can surely attest to the fact that your energy levels are much higher when eating some hearty, whole grains on a regular basis. Carbs are particularly of importance in endurance activities, such as cycling, running, or in this case, mountain biking.” More.
And this:
“To the average person who is not exercising, the principles of nutrient timing are not very important. Sure, glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity is altered during the course of a day but these changes probably are not critical to determining one's dietary needs.
For these individuals (athletes), what and how much they eat is the most important thing. While nutrient timing isn't critical to the average person, its importance must not be underestimated in the athlete (including team sport athletes, endurance athletes, and weight trainers).” More.
I guess the bottom line in deciding how controlled you want to be about carbohydrate consumption is a matter of lifestyle, activity levels, and goals. If you’re sedentary or your only physical activity is a 30 to 45 minute session of moderate aerobic activity 3-4 days a week keeping your carbs under 100 grams a day (400 calories) is a viable option. Consuming under 75 grams (150 calories) is appropriate if you’re sedentary, overweight, or diabetic. But those carbohydrates should be those of maximal nutritional value including fruits, vegetables, a whole grains.
Not refined foods like potato chips, snack foods, desserts (including so-called low carb treats), candy, white bread, refined grains, etc).
But fit people who exercise intensely, be it mountain biking, bodybuilding, surfing, skating, or long distance running, need carbohydrates for energy and performance. Not to mention their burn rates won’t be the same as a couch potato. The beauty of exercise, serious bodybuilding aimed at gaining muscle mass in particular, is your energy needs are greater and you can eat more.
In a healthy, fit, non-diabetic person a one cup serving of potatoes at 138 calories, 32 carb grams and 3 fat grams served with a sirloin steak and salad isn’t going to mean a hill of beans health wise after an intense weight training or aerobics workout that burned 500 calories and depleted your muscle glycogen stores. It in fact is valuable to replace those glycogen stores for muscle repair, growth and adequate fuel reserves for the next workout.
Let’s put carbohydrates in perspective. Although our food supply is glutted with unhealthy refined and processed carbohydrates in serving sizes fit for giants there’s still plenty of healthy options that support a healthy lifestyle if eaten in appropriate serving sizes.
Portion control and calories still count for weight loss. There’s no way around this, not even the erroneous belief that lowering carbs totally negates the need to consider your calorie intake.
And this is not a black or white issue. Carbohydrate consumption is a rainbow spectrum. We have sedentary obese individuals suffering from an overload of refined carbohydrates and calories and the diseases associated with that lifestyle. We have fairly sedentary overweight individuals eating an average standard American diet flirting with illness or suffering milder cases of illness associated with excess. We have moderately active healthy people who exercise regularly and watch their calories and carbohydrates. And we have fit people, most striving to be fitter, who engage in intense or prolonged exercise and have a larger energy demand.
You cannot recommend the same diet or carbohydrate intake range for all of these groups.
One of the most persuasive arguments Gary Taubes made in his book was that it was a misguided and dangerous idea to recommend one set dietary policy – namely low fat - for the general public. Later studies bear out that low fat is of limited benefit to a healthy population and may actually be a harmful approach for many.
This is also why recommending a low carbohydrate diet to the general public is not a good idea either. It’s time to be precise when it comes to telling people what they should eat. Our diets should be specific to our personal needs. And a sweeping diet recommendation for a whole nation is illogical, possibly harmful, and negligent at best.
My carbohydrate threshold will not be the same as yours. Even if our lifestyles are similar our bodies and metabolism may not be. Some people are carbohydrate sensitive, some are not. The idea that a low carbohydrate lifestyle is healthy or appropriate for everyone at all phases of life is preposterous.
True or false?
1Carbohydrates provide the body with fuel for physical activity and organ function.
2Carbohydrates come from all types of foods, including bread, dairy, grains, fibers, starches and sugars.
3During digestion, the body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar).
4The glycemic index measures how quickly food is converted into blood sugar.
5Diets that include a lot of high-glycemic-index foods (foods broken down quickly) have been linked to an increased risk for diabetes and heart disease.
6The more fat a food contains, the faster its carbohydrates are converted to sugar.
7Finely ground grains have no more impact on the glycemic index than more coarsely ground grain.
8For optimal health, select carbohydrates that include whole grains such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice or whole oats.
SOURCE: Harvard School of Public Health
ANSWERS: 1. True; 2. True; 3. True; 4. True; 5. True; 6. False; 7. False; 8. True.
