What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for our body, but at the same time they are a subject of discussion.

Scientific research has shown that carbohydrates are largely the cause of the increasing trend of overweight in the western world.

It is unhealthy if your daily diet consists of more than 70% carbohydrates. But when your menu consists of less than 40% carbohydrates, the body uses muscle proteins as an energy source. Your body then eats itself as it were and that is not the intention.

A good balance is therefore necessary. Unfortunately, current guidelines, such as the food pyramid and the disc of 5, prescribe far too many carbohydrates. According to Barry Sears, the founder of the Zone® Diet, your daily food intake should consist of 40% carbohydrates. Not anymore.

Carbohydrates are absorbed faster than the other nutrients, such as fats and proteins.

• 1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories of energy.

The body processes carbohydrates into two substances: glycogen and glucose.

Glycogen

Glycogen provides energy needed for long physical movements such as endurance sports. These are aerobic workouts. This includes walking and cycling. Glycogen is burned through the intervention of oxygen.

Glucose

Glucose is also known as blood sugar. The body can use glucose directly for energy, without the intervention of oxygen. The brain almost always needs glucose and during forms of moderately intensive exercise, such as walking and cycling, the body also makes use of glucose combustion.

A distinction is made between simple and complex carbohydrates:

Simple carbohydrates

These carbohydrates mainly consist of sugars. These carbohydrates are also called refined carbohydrates or fast sugars.

They can be found in white rice, white pasta, white bread, biscuits, candy, sugar, ice cream, processed meats, processed breakfast cereals such as cornflakes, sweetened pastries, gingerbread, muesli bars and other packaged snacks, soft drinks and fruit juices from a carton.

These carbohydrates cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. This causes, among other things, hunger peaks. This is a bad thing. A strongly fluctuating blood sugar level is associated with the development of obesity and degenerating conditions such as type 2 diabetes. You do not want that.

Simple carbohydrates are also called the fast sugars. They cause huge blood sugar spikes. As a result, you experience a lot of energy in a short time, followed by a drowsy, hungry or tired feeling. You usually experience this about two to three hours after eating such products.

Complex carbohydrates

The complex carbohydrates are slowly absorbed into the blood and therefore cause a less strong increase in the blood sugar level. Complex carbohydrates have a satiating effect and prevent the feeling of hunger. As a result, you experience much less hunger during the day, limiting the risk of eating too many calories.

Complex carbohydrates can be found in vegetables, fruit, tubers, legumes such as beans and peas, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, rye bread, spelled bread, sourdough bread, oatmeal and whole breakfast cereals.

What do carbohydrates actually do?

Carbohydrates provide the body with energy. They are also very important for the brain and red blood cells.

Your brain

The glucose, which is created by the intake and processing of carbohydrates, is very important for the brain. The brain can’t even do without glucose. Your brain needs a continuous supply of glucose.

Vegetables, fruits and legumes provide that glucose. Candy also provides that glucose, but that is a lot less healthy.

The brain is able to build up a small supply of glucose. This stock is approximately two minutes. If this supply is depleted, you may feel irritable, lethargic, or dizzy when you experience hunger pangs at the same time.

Movement

The body burns glycogen – one of the products of carbohydrates that arise during digestion – during forms of intensive exercise such as cycling and running or during training according to the CrossFit® Methodology. The body has a store of glycogen of about one hour.

Top athletes and experienced athletes can have a supply of up to 90 minutes. The store of glycogen is stored around the liver and muscles.

When the glycogen stores are depleted, you will notice a sudden feeling of loss of strength and fatigue. That’s when “the man with the hammer” comes along.

After exercise, the body replenishes the glycogen reserves itself. Any surplus is stored by the body in the fat cells.

Increase glycogen stock

You can increase glycogen stores by exercising regularly. You are then able to cycle longer trips or to walk longer distances.

By increasing the glycogen stock, you also increase the basal metabolism by about 5 to 10%. The basal metabolic rate is the minimum energy you need for the primary bodily processes, such as standing, talking, breathing, heart rate and growing your nails.

How do you burn carbohydrates?

Thus, carbohydrates are separated by the body into glucose and glycogen. In low-intensity forms of exercise such as walking and household chores, the body mainly burns glucose and fats. Glucose is readily available.

During extensive exercise, such as running, the body uses glycogen stores. This stock is limited. After about an hour, your body switches to burning fats or possibly proteins. Through training, however, the body learns to handle glycogen more optimally.

Anaerobic combustion – combustion without the intervention of oxygen – produces the waste product lactic acid. This waste product is created because the body cannot supply enough oxygen needed for combustion. This makes you sour and you feel this as muscle pain the next day. You can experience this if you start with strength sports such as CrossFit®.

What if you eat too many carbohydrates?

The body can only store little glycogen and when the muscles are full of glycogen, nothing more is needed. Excess is stored in the body as body fat. This also applies to glucose. The glucose only provides energy when it has been absorbed into the body cells. But when those body cells are full, your body stores the excess glucose as body fat. So you get fatter.

Below is a description of the process that happens when you eat too many (fast) carbohydrates and what the role of the hormone insulin is in relation to such carbohydrates.

1. Insulin

The hormone insulin plays an important role here. Insulin is the key from glucose to the body cells. However, insulin also promotes fat storage and also blocks the body’s ability to use body fat as an energy source.

So there is an energy supply (body fat) but the body cannot use this supply because the hormone insulin prevents this.

2. Block fat burning

Insulin ensures that glucose is absorbed into the body cells and into the fat cells. Frequent eating of fast carbohydrates, such as is daily fare in Europe and the US, causes the blood sugar level to rise very sharply, due to the presence of large amounts of glucose.

The insulin eliminates those glucose peaks by putting this glucose in the body or in the fat cells. However, this creates an excess of insulin in the bloodstream, which makes you feel hungry. The need for energy (glucose) increases again. Although the insulin just stored large amounts of glucose in your fat cells.

Yet the body does not use these fat reserves to meet its energy requirements. As a result, if you continue to experience hunger pangs, in cycles of about two to three hours, when you have eaten ‘fast’ carbohydrates such as sweets and cookies, but also processed breakfast cereals and white bread.

3. Addiction?

Eating too many carbohydrates for a long time can lead to a serious carbohydrate addiction. You then eat a lot of carbohydrates, without really getting full. You can also feel tired, energy-less or drowsy and get a headache after a meal.

4. Origin of overweight

Simple carbohydrates, which are found in biscuits, sweets, soft drinks and candy bars, among other things, cause high blood sugar peaks. These peaks provide a brief energetic feeling, followed by a tired, energy-less and hungry feeling. So you want to eat again, even if you don’t need the food.

You store these carbohydrate surpluses as body fat. This will increase your total body weight. A carbohydrate-rich diet can therefore have adverse health effects. It even increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity.

How do you book results?

You achieve results by allowing about 30% to 40% of your total diet to consist of carbohydrates. Avoiding carbohydrates is not an option.

Your body needs carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for the brain and muscles. If you do decide to eliminate carbohydrates from your diet, you will not get enough fiber, vitamins and minerals. Your body will also break down muscles to meet the glucose needs.

A good way to get results is to avoid simple carbohydrates. These are often the added sugars, which you can read on the labels of foods. These can be found in sweets, soft drinks, fruit juices and candy bars. These carbohydrates contain hardly any nutritional value and there are strong indications that products that contain a lot of added sugars increase the risk of being overweight.

Increase the proportion of complex carbohydrates in your diet by eating more vegetables, fruit, legumes and beans.