Sunday, March 16, 2008

Should I cut out the carbs?

Cutting carbs is an illusion. It cuts calories (Because carbs have calories) and in addition, because your muscles need carbs, when your muscles lose carbs, it loses water as well. Therefore, you lose lean mass. This creates what appears to be greater weight loss, but really isn't.

There is no need to restrict carbs. It is a very popular trend, but despite popular belief, it's not a new trend, either. There was a low carb craze in the Roman era and there was one at the turn of the century as well. Like all trends and fads, those came and went and the age old axiom of eating clean, whole, unprocessed foods in moderation combined with exercise still reigns supreme.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is exaclty right, it pisses me off when people start taking part in these low carb diets, your muscles need carbs for energy, the fact is that there is 2 types of carbs, simple and complex, the carbs you want to cut out and stay away from are the simple carbs like candy, soda, refined foods, white breads, etc. The reason why these carbs are bad is because they cause a spike in your blood sugar and this causes a release of insulin which promotes fat storage. You want to stick to complex carbs because these will take longer to digest, and will help you to feel fuller longer.