Carbs - part 2 - what happens when you eat them?
When you first eat carbs:
Carbs will enter the stomach and be broken down normally into glucose.
Glucose is then absorbed into the bloodstream - this is where we use the term blood sugar. When you eat something the amount of carbs and sugar in it will then determine your blood sugar. When you haven't eaten in 3+ more hrs your blood sugar should be anything between 4-7mmol/l (info on this to come with cholesterol) and when you have eat, it can range anything from 5-9mmol/l (and depending on what - chocolate, sugary drinks etc - this can be a lot more).
What happens after that?
Your brain will take first 'dibs' on any sugar that is required to keep it active and functioning - obviously! you need that guy! and in normal living glucose is the only nutrient that the brain can process. Once the brain is satisfied other tissues (muscles, organs etc) will take some glucose to satisfy them. If there is any excess glucose in your blood after the body is satisfied, it will be converted into glycogen of which there are some stores within the body - if these stores are full, this is when excess glycogen is converted to fat and stored.
See, your body is quite clever at using what you give it, but give it too much, it will store it for later!
Recommended carb in take
We don't actually need that many carbs to function in normal living.
Children require anything between 120-150 grams per day (dependent on how active they are)
Adult males require anything 130-180 grams per day (again dependent on how active you are)
Adult females require anything from 120-170 grams per day (dependent on activity levels)
If you are wanting to lose weight, you may want to cut this 10-20% so you are ensuring you are not filling those glycogen stores and using the fat you already have to supply you with energy.
Within good sources of carbohydrates (veg, wholegrains etc) there will also be a good source of fibre, which is sometimes lacking in a lot of 'dieting' which can slow down weight loss. i'll talk a little more about fibre in my next post! but for now, here are a few examples of high fibre foods
High fibre sources:
> Beans. All beans are good, whether baked beans, kidney beans.
> Wholegrain and wholemeal. Skip white bread and pasta, look out for wholegrain and wholemeal on the labels.
> Brown or wholegrain rice. > Nuts. Almonds, pecans, and walnuts.
> Porridge. Porridge is made from oats which are a great source of fibre.
> Fruit and veg.
