Articles
Carb Counting Madness, Part 1
The other morning I was driving to work and heard
one of the funniest advertisements on the radio ever
(at least it was to me.)
It was one of those beer commercials. Lately, the
beer manufacturers have been competing on who has
the lowest carbohydrate beverage. One in particular
though hasn't got to caught up into the hype.
It's the King of Beers- Budweiser. What was so
funny was that, the advertisement was making fun of
the low carb fad. They poked fun at people who are
counting every carb they ingested, especially when
it came to beer. Though they didn't say this,
when it comes to beer, it really doesn't matter
if your beer has more carbohydrates or less. Beer is
beer. If you drink more than one or two, it
doesn't really matter how many carb's it has
in it.
The low carb craze started with the Atkins Diet.
However, it is nothing new. "De-carbing"
has been around for quite sometime. Especially with
bodybuilders who are getting ready for a
competition, they call it "eating clean."
For bodybuilders the detriment of a low carb diet is
not as bad as that of an average American. Let me
explain why?
If you knew that eating a low carb diet could
essentially cause you to gain more fat, would you
continue to do it? I doubt it. You see it's all
about the energy systems in your body. There are
three sources of energy that we ingest everyday:
Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins. It is preferred
that you don't use protein at all though.
Protein helps build and maintain organs (such as
muscle). So then that leaves, carbohydrates of
fat.
When it comes to carbohydrates, they offer 4
calories per gram and can be used as energy for all
parts of the body. Carbohydrates create
"quick" energy in the form of glucose. As
for fat, they offer 9 calories per gram and
interestingly can mostly only be used by muscle
tissue. Fat does not like to be used as energy. If
it did, then we wouldn't store so well.
So, this is the problem. If you go on a low carb
diet most of the weight you lose in the beginning is
body water. Many of you know that. (By the way, for
every gram of carbohydrate, 2.4 grams of water is
attached. This explains the quick water weight
loss.) But what you may not know is that you wind up
losing muscle weight as well This is a bad thing
considering that muscle is the most metabolically
active tissue in your body. It is practically the
only physical location where you burn fat. Nothing
else in your body does.
The long term effects are this, when you don't
have enough carbohydrate energy in your body, it is
going to get glucose from somewhere else. Guess what
it is - muscle. That's why you gain more fat
after going on a diet. When you lose muscle, your
metabolism decreases.
So what's important is that you eat
supportively. If you missed my last Ezine then click
here to read it. It will explain why you should eat
throughout the day and include carbohydrates in your
diet. What matters is the kind of carbs you are
eating and when. I will leave you with this last
warning. If your lifestyle does not include weight
lifting and cardiovascular exercise, going on a diet
of low carbohydrates will definitely hurt you. You
see, as a bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast you can
get away with it because you body is already very
metabolically active. When your body is not a fuel
burning machine, then low calorie, low carb diets
can cause you to gain more weight.
Kelly Huggins, B.S., ACSM HFI
The Fitness MythBuster
404.303.8305 kelly@kellyhuggins.com
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