Carbohydrates and Weight Gain.

Diet plans are designed to fail as they take away all the fun and make planning the day ahead seem like an arduous task.  A lot of diets include measuring amounts of food, cutting out all the fun stuff and reducing valuable fats.  

Food falls into three main groups; protein, fats and carbohydrates.  They all give us different levels of energy and are broken down by different enzymes and chemicals in the digestive tract.  When we eat carbohydrate based (starchy) foods, our body converts this into glucose which gives us a very quick burst of energy and our blood sugar rises considerably.  Our pancreas releases insulin which helps to transport the glucose into our cells to be used as energy.  

‘Simple carbohydrates’ such as fruit, white bread and white rice may escalate our blood glucose levels rather quickly.  This blood sugar high we experience is often followed by a plummet in the blood sugar levels because the simple carbohydrate food has released very quickly into the system and left us feeling tired, grumpy and craving more energy.  Unfortunately, because the blood sugar has dropped so quickly, we often reach for another quick fix high carbohydrate food and the cycle continues as our blood sugar spikes up and down throughout the day.  If we take in more energy than we need, then the sugar in our blood is converted to triglyceride fats and stored in the liver and then muscles and eventually all over the body once our initial stores are full.  Our pancreas is also overworked as it has to produce high levels of insulin throughout the day and this can result in related health issues.  

The other type of carbohydrate is called ‘complex carbohydrate’ and gives us a slower release of sugar into the blood which may sustain us for longer and keep our blood sugar levels more stable.  Examples of these ‘complex carbohydrates’ are porridge oats, quinoa and brown rice.  They have more fibre and nutrients so take more processing by the body.  If you combine proteins with these complex carbohydrates they will move even more slowly through the digestive tract and keep our blood sugar levels more steady.  This is because the protein stays longer in the stomach (2-3 hours) as it requires a longer digestive breakdown and this helps to slow the release of the carbohydrates which are eaten with it.  Therefore a balanced snack could be a pear with some almonds and a good slow release meal might be some salmon and brown rice with peas.  

So, it may not be as hard as we think to lose weight, by balancing your meals rather than limiting them, we may feel fuller for longer and stop craving sugary snacks.  It may be a good idea to have a mid morning snack such as an apple and a  few brazil nuts (4-5), a snack can help to keep your blood sugar levels stable between meals and prevent cravings for the wrong foods.  A balanced lunch with good quality protein may help to keep you going until an afternoon snack (e.g. a couple of oatcakes with hummus).  Your evening meal  should also be balanced with protein and it is a good idea to make sure that your plate is well balanced by having 1/3^rd protein, 1/3^rd complex carbohydrate and 1/3^rd vegetables as well as some fats or oils and herbs. 

So don't cut carbs out, just cut down on them.  We need carbohydrates to fuel our brain so taking them out the diet is a bad idea.  However, balancing them mindfully may be a very good start to weight loss.

Good Luck..

Josie

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