Nutrition 101: What are carbohydrates?

The government touts a diet high in carbohydrates, while many weight loss experts and low carb advocates swear by low carbohydrate diets. So, what exactly are carbohydrates?

The scientific definition of carbohydrates is that they are biomolecules. Biomolecules are simply molecules produced by living organisms such as plants.

The main function of carbohydrates, or plant based foods, is to transport energy to our cells in the form of starch (the scientific term for starch is glycogen.) When we eat carbohydrates, our bodies produce the hormone insulin. Insulin tells the carbohydrates we eat whether to go to our muscle cells to be used as fuel when we move, or whether to be stored as fat. If our muscles have enough carbs, or glycogen, already then the carbs we eat are stored in our fat cells. If we eat more carbohydrates than our muscles need, the excess is converted to body fat.

There are two types of foods rich in dietary starches. Foods that your mother and grandmother commonly called "starches" and knew were "fattening" are foods high in carbohydrates, low in fiber, and energy dense. Energy dense means they deliver a lot of calories in a small amount of food, versus carbohydrate based foods that deliver very little calories per serving. An example is a cup of lettuce has about 20 calories versus a cup of plain white potatoes that has 170 calories.

The energy dense carbohydrates in foods like white rice, white pasta, white breads, and sugary fruits, fruit juices, and sodas are examples of carbohydrate foods high in calories. Most commercially produced carbohydrate rich foods like breads, baked goods, cakes, cookies, donuts, snack foods like crackers and chips, even those "diet" 100 calorie snack packs, are all high in refined carbohydrates. This means if you don't burn them of through activity right away, they will be stored as body fat.

Refined calories have been processed to removed most of their fiber. Fiber is the part of plant based foods that make them filling and generally low in calories like vegetables and most fruits. Removing the fiber makes carbohydrate based foods less filling, and higher in calories than when they're in their natural state.

The second type of dietary carbohydrates you'll find in grocery stores are unrefined carbohydrates like those found in unprocessed, whole vegetables, beans, legumes, and lower sugar fruits. These carbohydrate foods are rich in fiber. They're more filling and generally lower in calories than refined carbohydrates. This means you can eat more of them without getting a lot of calories. These carbohydrate foods are less likely to be stored as body fat. But research shows carbohydrates, particularly starches, should not be the bulk of your diet as the US government advises.

Next: What are the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet?

FATLOSS 101: How carbs, sugar and grains fatten you up!
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Nutrition 101: What are the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet?

Most people view low carbohydrate diets as weight loss diet. Actually low carb diets promote health as well. Does this mean eating now carbohydrates including fruits and vegetables? No. But following the government's dietary guidelines of a diet of primarily carbohydrates is not healthy, nor is it based on solid science.

The US government's recommendation to eat a diet rich in carbohydrates is based on a 1970s panel on nutrition chaired by then Senator George McGovern. McGovern was a fan of the Pritikin diet and believed vegetarianism was healthy. His aid who wrote up the guidelines was a vegan with no nutrition degree. Although nearly all of the nutrition scientists who testified before this panel disagreed with McGovern's strict dietary guidelines, McGovern prevailed. See video below. We were told as a nation to eat less meat and animal fat, and to eat more carbohydrates. This included eating plenty of government subsidized crops like corn, wheat, beet, and cane sugars. Unfortunately, most Americans eat too many processed, high calorie carbohydrates, and not enough unrefined low calorie carbohydrates.
These two things have driven the current obesity epidemic.

Science has since prevailed on the side of a low carbohydrate diet as a healthier option over the government's recommendation of approximately 300 grams of carbohydrates a day depending on body size and caloric needs. This type of low carb diet is hard to achieve on unrefined carbs like whole fruits and vegetables. To achieve the government's recommendations for carbohydrates, you'd have to eat a generous and fattening amount of low density, refined carbohydrates.

While whole fruits and vegetables deliver vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber. To manage body weight, limiting refined, processed carbohydrates that are high in calories is key. Most healthy, moderately active adults find they need between 20 to 100 grams of carbohydrates a day (depending on body size) to lose weight. Active people seeking to maintain weight need roughly 75 to 150 grams of carbohydrates per day. (Endurance athletes need more.) Simply put, the average Joe and Jane should swap the white potatoes for sweet potatoes, switch from bread to broccoli, and replace the donuts with oatmeal and berries. And don't be afraid to eat a healthy portion of meat, eggs, nuts, cheese, or other proteins and fats with your unrefined carbs.

The McGovern Report: The official government policy of promoting a lowfat diet had nothing to do with science and everything to do with politics.



For more info: The soft science of dietary fat: low fat diets don't help you live longer by Gary Taube. from "Science" Volume 291.

Health: The Myth of the Low-fat Diet ; For Years, We've Been Advised to Eat a Low-fat Diet in Order to Help Prevent Heart Attacks And Promote Weight Loss. But, Says Jerome Burne, the Latest Research Suggests That Such a Diet May Actually Do More Harm Than Good

The Association of Misleading Studies

Dr. Michael Eades, M.D. on studies showing low carbohydrate diets superior to low fat, and the resistance of the low fat diet advocates to admit the truth is out, Ancel Keyes' Lipid Hypothesis was a lie.

How many carbohydrates should I eat?

Can you eat too few carbohydrates? Can you eat too many carbohydrates? Ask different people and you get different answers. What are the facts on carbohydrates? Let's look at the science versus the cultural zeitgeist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist

Low carbohydrate diets have been much maligned by the media and many people believe they're unhealthy. The misinformed will readily tell you low carb diets limit fruits and vegetables, lack fiber and vitamins, have too much fat, and that you'll only lose water weight. They warn of harmful side effects like the dangers of ketosis and weakened kidneys and bones. They'll tell you you'll lose only water weight, and you'll starve your brain. All of the above are myths. Read "What is gluconeogenesis?" and why low carb diets don't starve your brain.

So, how many carbohydrates in your diet are too many? How many carbohydrates are too little?

High carbohydrate diets in which you eat up to 60 percent of your calories from carbs per the US government diet pyramid, particularly from refined grain products and starches, didn't exist for most of human existance. We ate mostly animals, berries and other fruits when they were in season, roots, nuts, and some wild plants like herbs until agriculture was developed. The US department of agriculture developed the food pyramid to promote sales of argricultural products. These products like corn, wheat and sugar are high in carbohydrates and eating too many makes us fat.

According to research, pre-agricultural humans were taller and healthier than post agricultural humans. See references below. For an eloquent explanation, see Dr. Mary Dan Eades interview with Tom Naughton in the documentary "Fathead" in which shes says, "After agriculture developed human health devolved." The development of agriculture, meaning the growing of predominantly carbohydrate crops like corn, wheat, sugar, and soy, was a boon to our food supply. But abundance alone doesn't make a food healthy or necessary for survival. Crops like whole grains were not eaten in abundance, if at all, by humans for most of our existance.

This paleolithic dietary approach eventually evolved into our modern low carboydrate diets like Atkins, South Beach, and Protein Power. While these diets are in line with the way humans ate for centuries, the media, the government, and many in the medical world still discourage their use and promote a high carbohydrate diet. One of their last existing arguments against low carbohydrate diets is that eating low carb starves your brain. That's a persuasive arguement but doesn't hold water on closer inspection.

While it's true that the human brain runs on glucose, science has proven the human body doesn't need carbohydrates to make the glucose it needs. Yes, your body can use dietary carbohydrates to make glucose. But the actual physiological demand for glucose and the amount of carbohydrates most of us eat is way off balance. The arguement that we shouldn't limit carbohydrates to keep our brains from running out of fuel is a subterfuge. Modern low carbohydrate diets provide ample glucose even on "induction phases." Only a small minority of us ever need to rely on our body's ability to create glucose through gluconeogenesis.

So can we eat too many carbohydrates? Yes. Americans eat too much of everthing on average. But the real issue in nutrition today is that the average American eats too many carbohydrates. Too much blood sugar from eating too many carbohydrates - particularly refined carbohydrates - leads to medical conditions like metabolic syndrome, insulinemia, diabetes, inflammation linked to heart disease, obesity, and cancer.

Your body doesn't just convert the refined carbohydrates from foods like sodas and bagels into blood sugar. Nearly all carbohydrates including starchy vegetables like potatoes, whole grains, and fruits convert to blood sugar. The real problem with the American diet isn't that we're limiting carbohydrates. Simply, it's that we are eating too many carbohydrates.

People tolerate different dietary levels of carbohydrates. Generally, individuals will have to experiment with their personal carbohydrate intake to get a feel fo how much is too much. If you gain weight easily, it's a good idea too limit your intake of starchy carbs and replace them with proteins, fats, and carbohydrates from higher fiber fruits and vegetables with a lower glycemic index.

References:
How High Carbohydrate Foods Can Raise Risk For Heart Problems

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2009) — Doctors have known for decades that too much carbohydrate-laden foods like white bread and corn flakes can be detrimental to cardiac health. In a landmark study, new research from Tel Aviv University now shows exactly how these high carb foods increase the risk for heart problems.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625133215.htm

Scientific Proof Carbohydrates Cause Disease. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/01/03/carbohydrates-age.aspx

Read Study: Neanderthals Ate Mostly Meat, June 14, 2000 http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii/2000/000628.htm

Washington - If you ever have a Neanderthal over for a backyard barbecue, forget the salad, the corn on the cob and the baked potato. All he'll want is the meat, and lots of it.

Larsen, Clark Spencer (01 November 2003). "Animal source foods and human health during evolution". Journal of Nutrition 133 (11, Suppl 2): 3893S–3897S. PMID 14672287. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/11/3893S.

Elton, S. (2008). "Environments, adaptations and evolutionary medicine: Should we be eating a ‘stone age’ diet?". in O’Higgins, P. & Elton, S.. Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. London: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 1420051342.

Cordain, Loren (1999). "Cereal grains: humanity's double-edged sword" (PDF). World review of nutrition and dietetics 84: 19–73. doi:10.1159/000059677. PMID 10489816. http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf.

Can carbohydrates cause cancer?

According to some leading experts like Al Sears, MD, a specialist in integrative medicine, carbohydrates can cause cancer. Is this sensationalism or scientific fact? Let's take a look at the evidence.

On one end of the spectrum, the US government by way of the USDA has been recommending that nearly everyone should eat 5 to 11 servings of grains a day. (Recently, the USDA redesigned the food pyramid and many nutritionists are calling it nonsensical and useless. Registered dietician Lynn Smith called the pyramid's approach to discretionary calories "like intellectual gobbledygook.")

On the other hand, we have reliable scientific studies reinforcing Dr. Sears statement on dietary carbohydrates, "Sugar feeds cancer cells and makes them grow like wildfire. Cancer loves sugar. And carbs turn into sugar in your body." Cancer in fact uses sugar (glucose) from dietary carbohydrates to grow, but does this mean carbohydrates cause cancer? It appears more likely an excess of dietary carbohydrates supports cancer growth but may not actually cause cancer itself.The jury is still out on the latter. Read more, get links, and view the video.

How many carbohydrates should I eat?

Can you eat too few carbohydrates? Can you eat too many carbohydrates? Ask different people and you get different answers. What are the facts on carbohydrates? Let's look at the science versus the cultural zeitgeist.

Low carbohydrate diets have been much maligned by the media and many people believe they're unhealthy. The misinformed will readily tell you low carb diets limit fruits and vegetables, lack fiber and vitamins, have too much fat, and that you'll only lose water weight. They warn of harmful side effects like the dangers of ketosis and weakened kidneys and bones. They'll tell you you'll lose only water weight, and you'll starve your brain. All of the above are myths. Read more.

Nutrition Info 101: Do low carbohydrate or high carbohydrate diets increase risk of heart disease?

Recent scientific studies are pointing to refined carbohydrates as one of the bad guys in the development of cardiovascular disease. Dietary fat, and saturated fat in particular, had been fingered as the ring leader of heart disease culprits since the 1950s.

Recent science (see references below) contradicts this long held hypothesis. Ancel Keys fabricated the lipid hypothesis controversy, which was not based on sound science: "Subsequent and independent analysis of the data that were available to Keys shows that he "cherry picked" only those countries with numbers that supported his hypothesis and omitted a significant amount of data that showed there was actually no correlation between dietary fat, cholesterol, and arteriosclerosis. But this information has been largely ignored." From Smart Heart Living website. Read more.

The new model for chief culprit in causing heart disease is inflammation. See 'Growing proof inflammation is a major risk factor for heart disease' published by The Cleveland Clinic. Chief contributors to inflammation are ... read more, view research links, and watch the video.

Nutrition 101: What are the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet?

Most people view low carbohydrate diets as weight loss diets. Actually low carb diets promote health. Does this mean eating no carbohydrates including fruits and vegetables? No, of course not. But following the government's dietary guidelines of eating primarily carbohydrates (60 to 80 percent of your diet) is not healthy, nor is it based on science.

Dr. Mary Dan Eades says it's nearly impossible to reach the recommended 300 to 375 grams of carbohydrates a day by eating fruits and vegetables. You'd have to eat too many refined carbohydrates like breads or dense starches like potatoes, rice, or pasta.
Read more and watch the videos.

Nutrition Info 101: What are carbohydrates?

The government touts a diet high in carbohydrates, while many weight loss experts and low carb advocates swear by low carbohydrate diets. So, what exactly are carbohydrates? What happens when you eat carbohydrates?

Read more, watch the video.

Carbohydrate Threshold Part Two - One Size Doesn't Fit All

Here's my latest piece at The Examiner - Carbohydrate Threshold Part Two - One Size Doesn't Fit All. Find out why you might need MORE carbohydrates than other people.

5 Easy Ways To Cut Carbohydrates and Calories

Check out my latest article at The Examiner:

5 Easy Ways To Cut Carbohydrates and Calories

I'll be posting more there soon including an updated product review of the BOSU 3D Sculpting System, as well as Power 90X workout reviews.

Unfortunately I woke up at 2 am with a blooming allergy attack. It's that time of year in Northern Nevada when the sagebrush blooms and the tumbleweeds give off their seeds and pollen. I feel like somebody jammed a flame thrower up my nose. So I'm under the weather and behind on my writing schedule. And there's a couple of litter boxes calling my name..."Clean me! Clean me!"

Confessions of a Carb Queen Review Part One

Confessions of a Carb Queen Review Part One

I received this book last Friday, started reading it Saturday afternoon, and I’ve been riveted to it since. Every chance I get my head is stuck in this book.

The cover of this odd sized 5 x 5 paperback is bright pink with a chocolate brown border, sports a sprinkled donut with a bite taken out of it, and has a title gaily scrolled with girly fonts which suggests light “Chick Lit” style non fiction. The cover is totally misleading.

The subtitle is a telling clue into what you're about to encounter inside. "The lies you tell others. The lies you tell yourself."

This insightful and powerful memoir by Susan Blech and her sister Caroline Bock is at times shocking, explicit (both sexually and in it’s descriptions of excessive eating). And Susan, the auto-biographer, despite being in the throes of her addiction excesses, and denial during much of this book, is lovable and endearing, humorous and intelligent.

At times, her narrative conjures memories of my childhood and adulthood. Both sides of my family are plagued by overeating, obesity, and coping with emotions by drugging themselves with food. Many are still deeply enmeshed in this common yet shocking eating disorder and in the grips of the diseases it precipitates including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and mobility issues.

I had my own brief episode with binge eating after my father died when I was twenty. Shocked by his sudden death and clueless as how to deal with my grief, I was adrift without an anchor. I recall eating a whole pie in one evening as a common way of coping. At the time, I thought this was part of normal behavior because I’d witnessed it so many times. Later I got too thin. Now I’m in the middle of the spectrum, measuring most of my portions most of the time, stressing high protein and weight lifting, and eating 4 to 6 small meals a day.

But I’ve witnessed the phenomenon of binge eating and overeating repeatedly in my family, and a few friends, since my childhood. Sometimes it was a case of someone grazing on copious amounts of food over the course of a trip to the buffet. (Once six of us traveled 45 miles one way to eat at the Boomtown Buffet on the recommendation that it was "The Best Buffet In Nevada"). Often I witnessed constant snacking from morning to afternoon until late in the night on copious amounts of food. This was common, acceptable and par for the course throughout my extended family.

(My father had 14 brothers and sisters, my mother had 4. I have 88 first cousins on my dad's side alone).

When I was in my teens and quite thin (I always had been as a child) one of my siblings was struggling with obesity (rare in the 1970s). I learned to hide food before going to bed around midnight in order to have breakfast at 7 am. Our kitchen was routinely ands literally emptied out overnight. It was hide food or go without.

In adulthood, my relatives still openly eat large portions. Once offering me “some French bread, butter, and cheese,” I was given a slice of each while the relative in question ate all of the rest of a whole pound of cheese, a stick of butter, and a whole loaf of French bread. In one sitting. As a snack.

My mother, who was slim and petite until her last few years, once related to me how her sister ate two heaping plates of my homemade spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. Then an hour later my aunt ate a large bowl of cereal. My mother was flabbergasted. “Where does she put all that?” she asked.

I shrugged. I didn’t know then about eating beyond physical appetite, or the addiction of emotional eating, or eating to get a food or sugar high. (Carbohydrates have been shown to release brain chemicals that act like drugs).

I've known and still often witness one side of the face of overeating. The side I’ve seen all too often in the public eating habits of family, friends, and even strangers in restaurants, often flabbergasts me in much the same way my mother was flabbergasted by her sister.

I suspected hidden eating existed when I spent my younger years awakening to a stripped kitchen my slender parents always strived to keep well stocked. I know binge eating and other forms of overeating are compulsive addictions with sad consequences.

So this book should not have shocked me.

It did.

Part Two - coming soon.

Good Friday & Links

Good Friday 03 21 2008

I’m busy and preoccupied with Easter preparations (way more fun than tax preparations) so all you’re getting out of me today is some informative links on nutrition and fitness, including a few on Good Friday. Enjoy! Happy Easter!

And remember, don’t drink on Spring Break. Your fat loss will grind to a halt and you’ll turn into an obese under muscled toad overnight! (Must be a full moon).

All About Good Friday

Good Friday Wiki


Cheaters Always Prosper
The OFFICIAL Scivation Guide to Dietary “Cheating”

By: Chuck Rudolph, MEd,RD With Marc Lobliner and Derek Charlebois

Since publishing Game Over—The Final Showtime Cut Diet You’ll Ever Need, we have been bombarded with emails and comments. The one most frequently asked question is how and when it is okay to deviate from the plan. The answer for this is simple…Never! If following the Cut Diet, you should not cheat and if you do cheat, it better not be often. If you do happen to cheat, don’t cry to us that your results aren’t optimal.

The bottom line is that the Cut Diet relies on getting the body primed and in the zone. Cheats throw this off. But what if following more of a lifestyle type Cut Diet where you taper carbs throughout the day or even bulking? These are situations where cheating is acceptable and downright yummy. If you like eating pie and being lean at the same time read on and find out how you can cheat and win!

How much can I cheat?

Let’s set forth some guidelines. While it is okay to have the occasional Thanksgiving-like feast where you eat until your pants don’t fit and your feet are swollen, we do not recommend doing this on a weekly basis. Thus, when following the aforementioned diets, we recommend two to three cheat meals per week with calories at around 150% of your normal meal. Meaning that if a normal meal for you yields 500 calories, you will want the cheat to be around 750 calories. But how do you count cheat calories? You don’t. It is all about moderation and approximating the total. In essence, eat until you are full yet not stuffed.

What can I eat for my cheat meal?

We recommend making healthy choices, but the beauty of a cheat meal is that you can cave in to those cravings! If you feel like a piece of pie, get a nice slice of Pecan Pie. If you feel like cheese, buy some Gouda! Just try to control yourself and not eat the whole pie or an entire cheese wheel. The beauty is that you can kiss those protein to carb to fat ratios goodbye for this meal. Enjoy the freedom! Read more.

Sodium, Your Secret Weapon
by Scot Abel

In ancient times, salt was precious. It was traded as the most valued of all commodities, and having a good supply of salt was as close to life insurance as you could get. Age-old aphorisms like "salt of the earth" and "worth your salt" remind us how important salt has always been.

The answer may surprise you. The anti-sodium campaign actually began as a commercial movement to sell different foods and snacks, under the guise of being healthier. Much like the low-fat movement, manufacturers care more about selling products than they do about scientific accuracy. Read more.

Busting the Great Myths of Fat Burning

Your body burns either fat or carbs depending on the intensity of your activity. But when it comes to losing weight, calories are calories. You burn fat even when you're in couch-potato mode. Yet, a lot of misunderstanding prevails.

Get ready to break down some of the myths people have about burning fat:
Read more.


Fat Roundtable
What's new in fat science?
Refereed by John M. Berardi

During our last roundtable, Cy Willson, Lonnie Lowery, and myself got together to talk protein. There were no holds barred as we threw out our own personal protein theories and suggestions with extreme prejudice. With the theories bouncing around like lotto balls in a billion dollar drawing, we went crazy. Lonnie was screaming about being a real man while whipping out his long, cylindrical? pointer to illustrate his points on the graphs and tables he brought along.

In the meantime, Cy and myself were flipping each other off at each disagreement. All in all we had a real blast while giving you guys some practical suggestions for how to use protein to get bigger.

We had so much fun I couldn't wait to do another roundtable. Only this time we'll talk about fat. Within the last few years there's been a lot of discussion regarding the optimal macronutrient composition of the diet. A wide range of individuals (some of them being very wide themselves) have asked me for advice about what fats to eat and how much.

You see, after the anti-fat surge of the 80s and early 90s, people began to realize that the elimination of dietary fat from our culture was not only nearly impossible, but was downright stupid. Read more.

Marion Nestle’s Sorting out low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate

Several people, among them Kerry Trueman of Eating Liberally, asked my opinion of John Tierney’s column about Gary Taubes’ new book, Good Calories Bad Calories, in today’s New York Times. Taubes’ book arrived while I was in India and I can’t really comment on it until I have had a chance to read it. I gather from Tierney’s piece and Gina Kolata’s review of it on Sunday that it comes down hard on carbohydrates.

I continue to be impressed by how difficult it is to separate the health effects of fat, carbohydrate, and protein from the calories they provide, the foods that contain them, the diets as a whole, or the rest of the lifestyle that goes along with the diet. Finding out what people eat is hard to do. Determining the health effects of dietary factors or patterns is even harder since humans make such awful experimental animals. Plenty of things about human nutrition are reasonably well established–the basic nutrients that are required and the amounts that prevent deficiency diseases, for example. But it is much trickier to figure out the effects of nutrients on chronic diseases that are also affected by activity levels, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and social factors such as poverty, stress, and lack of control. So I can’t help but be skeptical of journalists who think they have answers to questions that scientists have been grappling with for years. Read more.

You Really Are What You Eat – Part Two

You Really Are What You Eat – Part Two

These are the foods you should eat for muscle mass, health and weight loss / control. Portion sizes, nutrient ratios, and total calories required will very by age, sex, height, present weight, goals, and workout load. No two people require the same nutrition profile.

Lean Protein – The majority of the time you should get your protein from lean sources. I know most of the “low carb” crowd will disagree with me but there’s good anecdotal evidence that lean protein has enough fat. And I haven’t met many Atkins-style low carbers nibbling on pork rinds who have actually reached goal. On the other hand amateur bodybuilders and other fit people are careful about their fat intake as well as their carbohydrate and caloric intake. Your steak doesn’t need to be marbled, and eating chicken skin and pork rinds – which I personally find disgusting – have no nutritional value beyond being a source of fat and calories. Excess fat - or protein or carbohydrates for that matter - is the same as excess calories.

Healthy Fats – Stress Omega 3s balanced with Omega 6s and 9s. Don’t be afraid of saturated fats in reasonable amounts as in lean steak, pork, chicken, etc. but you do not need a lot. It just adds empty extra calories. Avoid trans fats at all cost.

Dairy – Whether you choose full fat or skim, dairy is a good source of protein. Some evidence suggests the lower fat versions of milk may have less calcium and vitamin D. Full fat cheeses should be eaten sparingly. One ounce the size of two dice averages 100 calories. Choose plain yogurt whenever possible. Most flavored yogurts are loaded with sugars. A better option is to add some fresh fruit.

Fruits and Vegetables – these foods should never be limited with the exception of starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn which are healthy in limited amounts. Avocados are loaded with healthy fats but are calorie packed also and should be eaten in moderation. I don’t advocate avoiding apples, citrus, bananas, grapes, carrots, and other traditional “low carb” no no’s. Unless you’re a diabetic with blood sugar issues or you eat a whole pound at one sitting these healthy foods are not going to make you fat.

Whole Grains and Legumes - steel cut oats, whole wheat bread and cereals, quinoa, beans, peas, lentils, etc. are healthy high fiber sources of carbohydrates particularly useful for fueling intense workouts. Remember these should be unrefined, high in fiber, and portion controlled. If you’re a low carb dieter and / or going to sit all day at a desk, or your workout will be limited to moderate duration and intensity then go ahead a skip the grains.

Cheat Foods – yes, you should eat cheat foods from time to time. As long as your indulgences are reasonable portion wise and limited to an occasional snack or meal it’s actually helpful to cheat. Make sure you lose the “all or nothing” mentality that derails dieters faster than a quarter on a train track (okay miniature train track). There’s evidence that the occasional cheat day is beneficial and not just for your mental health. More on that later…

Next – some sample menus from my personal program.

In The News

Exercise can't compensate for sitting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (UPI) -- Even exercising for an hour a day isn't sufficient to reverse the effects of sitting the rest of the day, U.S. researchers found.

University of Missouri-Columbia researchers Marc Hamilton and Theodore Zderic found evidence that sitting had negative effects on fat and cholesterol metabolism and that physical inactivity throughout the day stimulated disease-promoting processes.

Hamilton said that there is a misconception that actively exercising is the only way to make a healthy difference in an otherwise sedentary lifestyle but his studies found that standing and other non-exercise activities burn many calories in most adults even if they don't otherwise exercise.

"The enzymes in blood vessels of muscles responsible for 'fat burning' are shut off within hours of not standing," Hamilton said in a statement. "Standing and moving lightly will re-engage the enzymes, and it stands to reason that when people sit much of that time they are losing the opportunity for optimal metabolism throughout the day."

Common non-exercise physical activities include: household chores, shopping, fidgeting and standing while watching a ball game, watching TV or talking on the telephone.

The findings are published in Diabetes and are to be presented at the Second International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health in the Netherlands.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Slim pickings for the women who are starving to look good
More magazine's latest offering serves up a depressing hotch-potch of information about dieting, resulting from interviews with 2,000 women across the UK. The headlines go like this: over a lifetime women spend, on average, more than £150,000 on diet products including books and dvds, gym membership, specialist foods and supplements. In spite of this, average weight loss is three pounds in any one year – most of which is put back on – so every pound lost costs £807.

The average length of time a woman tries to diet before a big event is four weeks, and young women now have a much more "short, sharp burst" attitude to weight loss than their mothers and grandmothers ever did.

Research says that women (the average age of the sample was 23) tend not to believe female celebrities whose bleating explanation for sudden dramatic weight loss is often either, "I just can't to keep weight on, no matter how much I eat..." or "It just dropped off after I had the baby...it must be down to breastfeeding."

Apparently 67 per cent of those surveyed thought the likes of Lily Allen, Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and her Spice Girls colleague Geri Halliwell actually achieve their wafer-thinness by opting for the "No Food Diet".

And thinking seems to go that if these suspected drastically slim pickings are okay for the celebs, that's where ordinary young women follow. Maybe this accounts in part for the fact that, although women in general have got bigger since the Second World War, the shops are selling clothes in ever-tinier sizes. We have a generation of younger women now who either gorge themselves or starve to be fashionable and emulate their icons.

Ninety per cent of women have gone at least one day without eating to lose weight, 30 per cent have starved themselves for two or more days, and seven per cent have fasted for four days.

Nearly half of those questioned said they eat only one meal a day, and that they started on this regime at the age of 15. A fifth follow a day of eating by a day of not eating, in order to lose weight or maintain weight loss.

Some of these will be seriously threatening their health, and some will be those who consume hardly any food on a Thursday to mitigate the calories they'll take on board on Friday night from a pizza and eight or 10 glasses of wine.

More's target audience isn't the older woman who knows better than to follow fad diets. The younger women who are probably the core of its readership will read the figures on diet provided by this survey and devour them – they are, after all, calorie-free.

The magazine's editor, Lisa Smosarski, says : "A whole generation of women have a dysfunctional eating pattern of endless mini starvation diets... It's very a very unhealthy, short-term approach to food, and means one day nothing will pass a girl's lips so that she can look 'hot' for a party..." Read More.

The Skinny on Carbohydrates (And don't leave me snotty or know it all comments because you're anti-all-carbs or only eat crescent rolls during a blue moon or pass on the apples and bananas because Jupiter is in the wrong alignment with your treadmill's model number. I don't give a snot).

Melina Jampolis, M.D.

Carbohydrates have been making a comeback lately. In the late '90s, the bun-less double bacon cheeseburger was considered health food, but in the past year or two, with even more research emerging on the importance of whole grains in disease prevention, we have been forced to rethink our boycott of the bread basket. Nevertheless, the average person is still confused about the role of carbohydrates for optimal health and weight loss. When it comes to carbohydrates, it is important to understand that quality and quantity matter.

Carbohydrate Quality: When we think of carbohydrates, we think of bread, pasta, rice, cereal, baked goods and potatoes, but they are also present in fruits, vegetables and dairy. All carbohydrates (except fiber) are eventually broken down into simple sugars, your body's favorite source of fuel. How quickly foods are absorbed and broken down into simple sugars (and therefore raise blood sugar), a value known as the glycemic index (GI), is an important criterion for evaluating carbohydrate quality. Whole, non-processed carbohydrates (vegetables, low-fat dairy) and carbohydrates that are high in fiber (whole grains) tend to be low glycemic while refined, processed and sugary carbohydrates like baked goods, juice, soda, white bread, white rice and white potatoes are generally high glycemic.

Why does the glycemic index of food matter? High-GI foods increase blood sugar very quickly, causing an exaggerated release of insulin. This leads to a subsequent crash in blood sugar, which can leave you feeling tired and hungry - neither of which is good for your waistline or your general well-being. In addition, having too much insulin in your bloodstream regularly can cause dangerous fat to accumulate around your midsection, significantly increasing your risk of heart disease. While studies on GI and weight loss have shown mixed results, in my practice, I find that a low-GI diet helps control hunger and keep energy levels stable throughout the day. And studies suggest it may decrease your risk of heart disease, age-related macular degeneration, breast cancer and diabetes, so even if you don't lose weight, a low-GI diet wins.

Carbohydrate Quantity: When it comes to weight loss, low=carbohydrate diets outperform the rest, in the short term. But most, if not all of the weight loss, is generally regained within a year because it is difficult, if not impossible, to stay on these diets long term. If you tend to carry your weight around your midsection, the so-called apple-shaped body type, studies suggest that you will lose more weight, particularly around your waist, by reducing carbohydrates. But rather than cut them completely, focus on cutting back and eating mainly fruits, vegetables (except potatoes) and whole-grain carbohydrates such as whole grain bread, brown rice, barley and high-fiber cereal. In my book, "The No Time to Lose Diet," I developed a carbohydrate calculator (click here) to help customize the number of starchy carbohydrates you should consume for weight loss. Studies show that eating at least 3 servings of whole grains per day is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. And for athletes (even weekend warriors), you need carbohydrates to fuel your muscles, otherwise you will run out of steam quickly or worse, burn muscle for fuel.

So as you can see, there is no need to fear the carbohydrate. The right carbs can help you become (or stay) healthier and slimmer.

Dr. Melina B. Jampolis is a board-certified physician nutrition specialist. She is the host of Fit TV's "Diet Doctor" and author of "The No Time to Lose Diet" (Nelson Books, 2007). She is in private practice in San Francisco focusing on nutrition for weight loss and disease prevention.

This article appeared on page P - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Carbohydrate Cycling Revisited & How The Body Loses Body Fat

Claudia Wilbourn IFBB Hall of Famer and Women's Bodybuilding Pioneer




















Matching Carbohydrate Intake To Activity Levels

Recently Katie P from Thin Enough To Go To The Gym asked:

Carol
I agree with not viewing carbs as evil. Like you, I don't do very well on 20-30g carbs because of how much I exercise.

Could you please remind me how you cycle your carbs and whether you match low/medium/high carb days to particular workouts.

I am doing my first BFL challenge after following a low carb eating plan for almost a year and I am finding controlling the carbs challenging.

My answer is that I do tend to cycle carbohydrates to match my workout load. A no exercise day is usually low carbohydrate (10 to 50 grams) as I’m not going to need carbs to fuel a workout. Mid-level workouts like playing soccer with my son, swimming, aerobic dance or any aerobic exercise of about one hour requires a medium carb intake (40-75 grams). On days I blast it and do Power 90X combined with an additional aerobics session (a program called Power 90X Doubles I did all summer) I particularly pay attention to eating adequate carbs (75-150 grams) to fuel a grueling workout schedule.

For an example of my workload check out this one hour Power 90X workout that’s typical of my program and includes 24 exercises in all: Power 90X Chest Shoulders Triceps Workout

At least a few low carb advocates and dieters will argue you do not need carbohydrates at all to fuel your workouts and that your body will use fat for fuel through a process called gluconeogenesis. But these people are not engaging in the levels of activity we’re talking about. They usually report workouts of low to moderate aerobics of less than one hour or low impact resistance training (or none at all). Relying on this mechanism to fuel intense workouts – especially one’s like Power 90X, Body For Life, endurance running, intense weight training, or long duration aerobics, is unnecessary. It forces the body to work harder to produce its fuel and lessens energy levels which lowers performance. The less intense your workouts, the less rewarding your results.

You can read more on my carbohydrate cycling experiences here.

I lost scale weight (from 124 down to 114) and body fat (7 percent lost) doing 3 months of Power 90X Doubles combined with carb cycling. Not to mention quite a few inches off my waist, hips, and thighs (my measurements are listed on my sidebar). It works for me.

And I enjoyed portion controlled servings of high carb foods like pizza, beer, whole wheat bread, sour dough bread, tortillas, apples, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and other healthy but taboo foods to low carb dieters. The key is portion control and timing when carbs are eaten.

Most importantly, I added muscle mass of about 4 pounds which equates to roughly 200 calories burned daily just from having that added muscle. I'll wager those low carbers who don't do resistance training added no muscle to their bodies and might have lost some muscle mass.

I'll put together a few of my menus with my workout schedule soon to demonstrate better how I cycle carbs and post them.

By the way, I did Body For Life in 2000 after the birth of my son and lost fat while building muscle. I still have my Body For Life t-shirt. You’ll find it quite doable and effective I think.

Thanks for dropping by, Katie!
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How The Body Loses Body Fat

This brings up an excellent point many low carbohydrate advocates and dieters overlook. Active amateur and professional athletes including those who weight train or pursue bodybuilding have different energy needs than sedentary and moderately active people.

The physiological mechanism behind low carbohydrate weight loss theory is ketosis. Ketosis is one way the body uses body fat. The mechanism “is a stage in metabolism occurring when the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies which can be used by the body for energy.” Read more here.

But ketosis is not the only way to lose body fat. If it were moderate and high carbohydrate diets like Weight Watchers, Nutri-system, and The Dr. Oz Diet would not work at all. And we all know these diets work if you stick to them. My brother once lost over 100 pounds on Weight Watchers and kept it off while he stuck to their principles. He only gained it back when he returned to eating processed and junk foods, stopped exercising and ignored portion control.

The human body will lose body fat in several situations besides low carbohydrate induced ketosis:

Increased Energy Demands Including Exercise

Calorie Deficit

Increases In Metabolism Including Adding Muscle Mass

Illness and Wasting Diseases

Increased Energy Demands Including Exercise - It’s quite possible to lose body fat through increasing your energy demands alone. You will still have to be aware of your diet and eat within your daily energy needs (example: daily caloric requirement of 2000, daily calories consumed between 1800-2200).

The obvious method to increase the energy demands on your body is exercise. This can be through a combination of increased daily activity (taking the stairs instead of the elevator), aerobic exercise (treadmill, jogging, dance), and resistance training. As long as you burn more calories than your body requires you will lose body fat.

Calorie Deficit – This can be achieved through cutting calories alone or by limiting a macro-nutrient - carbohydrates, fat, or protein - as long as you do not increase consumption of other macro-nutrients (limiting protein is not recommended for healthy active individuals). Combined with exercise a caloric deficit is doubly effective.

One of the pitfalls of low carbohydrate diets when not combined with portion and calorie control or at least awareness of portion size is you can out strip your diet by eating too much. Dr. Atkins warned of this in his “Atkins For Life” book.

I read a LOT of blogs and I can remember reading one entry by a low carb dieter who went out to dinner after a brief fast and ate two slabs of prime rib with vegetables. One 12 ounce restaurant portion of prime rib is 1187 calories, 105 grams of fat, 56 grams of protein, 0 carbs. Two restaurant size portions of prime rib with vegetables will run you over 2400 calories, 100 grams of protein, and 60 grams of fat. Unless you’re Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman there is no way you need that much calories, protein, or fat in one sitting. And these pros know better than to eat that many calories, protein and fat at one meal. That meal would have been enough for two or three Jay Cutler sized meals!

Later in the entry this blogger wondered why his one day fast combined with the low carb meal (mega-feast) didn’t result in weight loss. Simply put, this dieter outstripped his daily caloric requirement by indulging in gluttonous amounts of low carbohydrate food at one meal. It's a low carbohydrate diet fallacy that calories don't count. Check out Dr. Atkins "Atkins For Life" pages 73-75 if you don't believe me.

Beware that cutting calories too drastically (under 1200 for women and under 1800 for men) for long periods of time lowers your metabolism and slows body fat loss. It will also result in loss of muscle mass and other vital tissues. The pitfalls of extreme low calorie dieting are discussed here.

Increases In Metabolism – Metabolism – specifically how many calories we burn in a day - is influenced by factors you cannot control including age, sex, genetics, and by factors you can influence, particularly how much muscle mass you have and how many calories you burn through activity. Adding muscle to your body is an efficient metabolism booster with a plethora of other benefits.


A pound of muscle is more compact than a pound of fat and more metabolically active. A pound of body fat burns roughly 3 calories a day while a pound of muscle burns roughly 50 calories a day. Muscle is firm and attractive while body fat is soft and in too great a quantity unappealing. Muscle increases your strength, endurance and metabolism.

People who are sedentary or ignore resistance training naturally loose muscle mass (about 3 percent a decade between 30 and 80 years of age). This is the chief reason people experience a slowed metabolism as they age. With loss of muscle mass comes a lowered calorie demand. If you eat them same amount of calories as you did before losing muscle you will gain body fat.

Illness and Wasting Diseases – not a desirable method, folks. I just mention it because it’s a common phenomenon.