Carbohydrates are a certain form of energy that your body burns off. They are
part of the three calories that include fats, and protein. Carbs are the
first thing that are burned off, then fats, and then lastly, protein. You do
not want to get to a stage where you are burning off protein, because then
you would just be losing muscle.
People tell you (including me in one of my earlier articles), to eat less
carbs and less protein. In fact, you need to eat more protein than before, so
you can increase your muscle hardness when you lose weight, and not lose all
that muscle. When someone tells you that you are losing muscle, it doesn't
mean that your muscles are going to disappear. It just means that you lose
the hardness inside of them. You still have all the size to your muscles,
they're just Jell-O.
Low carb dieting works because if you have no carbs in you, then you burn off
fat. Yes, that works, but how easy is it to find foods with low carbs other
than tuna when you are looking for them? Not very. It's a form of Murphy's
law. If you are looking for low carb foods in your house, chances are you
won't find them, or you'll have about 2 different kinds of them and go
constipated from eating them all the time. But I have recently learned of a
high carb dieting that works like a charm.
You see, there are three forms of carbs. Sugars, starches, and dietary fiber.
The easiest to find is sugars. The worst for you are sugars. Sugars, when
eaten, turn to glucose inside your body, which then turn into fats. Bad when
on a diet. Sugars are a simple carb. Starches and dietary fiber are complex
carbs. Starches you can find in things like pasta, bread, etc. (anything with
grains.) Dietary fiber is pretty hard to find. You can find a lot of it in
beans, and green peppers supposedly. The diet I am telling you of consists of
using complex carbs.
A study was done recently at a university (I have no clue which one). It
asked for any overweight volunteers to do an experiment. The people were put
on a diet for two weeks. They had to eat 12 slices of bread in the morning,
and then they could eat whatever they wanted the rest of the day. Think about
that. That's about 200 grams of carbs! After the two weeks was up, they had
lost up to 12 pounds!
Scientists have also experimented with the carb/weight loss issue. In fact,
complex carbs, when eaten, can blend with the fats in your system and take
over the fats, so you burn them off quicker. They think that is why the
Oriental Population is so healthy. Because they eat white rice ALL THE TIME.
That is one of their cultures main foods. In fact, Asian/Oriental food is
probably some of the healthiest, because they include both protein and carbs,
when you have, say, beef with broccoli. Beef with protein, and the white rice
(which you're supposed to add).If you like Italian or Chinese food, you're
lucky, because those WILL help you lose the weight you need. So next time you
go on a diet, lay off the sugars, and eat only complex carbs, like dietary
fiber, and starch.
So, every one gets in a hype about low carbs, when really all you should be
worried about is sugar. Sugar is a killer to bodybuilders, unless you drink
Gatorade, which has sugar, but it has electrolytes, which replenish your
energy. You see, sugar dehydrates you, because you burn it off right away and
turn it into glucose. Just stay off the sugar and you should be fine.
You should save your hard earned money on those carb-fighters, and just stay
off they sodas, etc. In fact, sodas, despite the sugar, are the most
unhealthy drink you can have. Sodas contain phosphates which coat your fat
cells, making you work off the phosphates before you work off the fat, making
dieting twice as hard.
Now that I've reminded you of staying off the sugar for about a hundred
times, let's talk about the protein aspect of all of this. I've checked some
of these pastas and breads out, and most of them are very high in protein and
complex carb content. Some breads have up to 8 grams of protein per slice,
with about 15 grams of complex carbs. Kraft macaroni has 150 carbs, and 21
grams of protein! (that is, if you eat the whole box, which isn't very much.)
And most pastas, like spaghetti, have about 42 grams of carbs per serving,
with little fat, and 12-15 grams of protein.
After all of this, you still have to eat at a low fat level, and do a lot of
cardio to get in good shape. I suggest biking and long distance running. And,
oh yeah, body pumping! As for supplementing, I suggest you take just protein
and L-Glutamine. You should also take creatine after you work out, but not
too much creatine! You'll see why in my next article, which will be called:
"Be smart about creatine-REALLY!"
Complex is better!
Ryan Mclane
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