Are you getting quality carbohydrates? - part 2
Long hours, poor diet and lack of exercise doesn’t make for a very productive worker. So I have asked Kate from Lifespark Nutrition to write me 3 articles that you will hopefully find helpful. This is part 2 you can read part one here
Are you getting quality carbohydrates?
Do you eat white bread or wholegrain bread? Do you have chocolate muffin or bran muffin at morning tea? Do you snack on white crackers or wholegrain crackers? Do you just eat potato at dinner or include pumpkin/ kumara or brown rice?
Simple changes like this can help improve energy and concentration levels 10 fold. Carbohydrates are essential for proper functioning of the brain and the body. However, there are some carbohydrates that are like blood suckers, such as biscuits, donuts, muffins, slices etc.
One of their nasty attributes is to give you a sugar spike then make you crash a few hours later (which makes you go for the next sugar fix or energy drink). They have very limited nutrients in them which means your body wastes nutrients on digesting these things but doesn’t receive anything back- this can lead into downward spiral of nutrient deficiency causing tiredness , bowel problems (lack of fibre) and depression.
Quality or complex (meaning nutrient dense)carbohydrates on the other hand such as wholegrain bread and crackers, oats, bran, low sugar cereals, brown rice, bran muffins, kumara, pumpkin, baked beans, etc. are high in a range of nutrients especially B vitamins and fibre. B vitamins are essential for the central nervous system and help release energy from your food. Let me repeat…are needed in the body to help release energy from your food.
This means that even if you are eating regularly but you are eating foods low in B vitamins, you will not feel the energy from the food as there are no nutrients to help assist with this breakdown. Complex carbohydrates also contain high amounts of fibre. This is so important to flush your system out. Without good bowel movement toxins build up also causing fatigue.
Tag(s):
Other related posts:
Climate Change
Coffee Dehydrates you - part 3
Eat your mind into focus- part 1
Comment by Ragnor, on 13-Jul-2009 10:19 , user id: 27724)
Dr Eades post from a few years ago about Fiber is also a must read in my opinion:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/a-cautionary-tale-of-mucus-fore-and-aft/
Comment by slartibartfast, on 13-Jul-2009 12:45 , user id: 36428)
Ragnor wrote:
"For a start the scientific and practical amount of carbohydrate needed in the diet is ZERO or NONE. Carbohydrates are not a requirement for any body function."
I think this statement is completely incorrect. Your brain requires glucose as its energy source - the only real source of glucose is carbohydrate. (A limited amount of glucose can be coverted from fat I believe)
If your body does not have enough carbohydrate then your body will start breaking down fat to try and keep you alive. The side product of this is Ketones - and your body will start to suffer from Ketoacidosis which will result in death.
This is whay happens to type-1 diabetics - their body does not produce insulin, thus cells cannot absorb any glucose in the blood stream. The body realises its getting no glucose, and so breaks down fat to try and keep the body alive and the liver releases glucose from its stores. But this can only work for a short while before ketoacidosis sets in, the PH of your blood goes acidic, and you die.
I do agree the minimising unecessasry carbohydrates is very important, and changing to the right carbohydrates is a great step in improving your health, but to say that you need no carbohydrates is fatuous.
Comment by Ragnor, on 13-Jul-2009 16:46 , user id: 27724)
Ketoacidosis is a common problem for type 1 diabetics.
It's not accurate to say: if you don't eat enough carbs you'll suffer from Ketoacidosis for normal non-diabetics.
Consider traditional Eskimo's or American Indians before colonization of Amercia, neither farmed food via agriculture - both cultures were hunter/gather type societies that ate almost no carbs and a lot of protein and fat.
Ketones are used by the brain and other cells in the body as an alternative to glucose. The body can also produce Glucose from protein/amino acid sources fairly effectively.
Comment by slartibartfast, on 13-Jul-2009 17:15 , user id: 36428)
Ragnor said:
It's not accurate to say: if you don't eat enough carbs you'll suffer from Ketoacidosis for normal non-diabetics.
Your original statement was that you need no carbohydrates at all - and as I understand it - in a diet with absolutely no carbohydrates, you will eventually die.
I guess my point was feel free to minimise your carbohydrates, but complete elimination would be dangerous. That said, it's probably nigh on impossible to completely eliminate them and not die of boredom.
Comment by TinyTim, on 14-Jul-2009 15:37 , user id: 24243)
Last time I checked mainstream dietitians don't particularly like the low carb/high protein diets. It also puts a lot of strain on the body converting protein to energy -not good for the liver either.
Comment by Chilly, on 14-Jul-2009 17:41 , user id: )
Carbohydrates are not necessary to survive.
Ketosis is completely normal and not harmful (ketoacidosis is only a threat to untreated diabetics and alcoholics).
Consider this, your body is either burning glucose, or burning fat, it can't do both at once. Lots of people throughout history have lost fat and not died, they must have been in ketosis (ketosis is not a strain on the body or liver - but it does take extra energy to burn fat, so you burn more calories).
In pre-history most cultures had few if any carbs available, and few became obese.
Obesity is caused by excess fat. Fat is created by insulin. Insulin is a response to carbohydrates. Minimise the carbs to minimise the insulin.
Carbs are present in; wheat, grain, bread, pasta, potato, corn, rice, sugars, milk, yoghurt, fruit, pastries etc. Your body will turn all of these into sugar.
Lower the carbs as much as possible, eat protein, fat and vegetables (they have some carbs, but lots of good nutrients).
Check this out:
http://www.dhslides.org/mgr/mgr060509f/f.htm
Add a comment
Please note: comments that are inappropriate or promotional in nature will be deleted.
E-mail addresses are not displayed, but you must enter a valid e-mail address to confirm your comments.
Are you a registered Geekzone user? Login to have the fields below automatically filled in for you and to enable links in comments.
If you have (or qualify to have) a Geekzone Blog then your comment will be automatically confirmed and placed in the moderation queue for the blog owner's approval.
Comment by Ragnor, on 13-Jul-2009 10:16 , user id: 27724)
Well it's interesting to see some posts about geek nutrition on a blog here at geekzone but much of that post seems to be conventional wisdom from the past that more recent knowledge disputes.
For a start the scientific and practical amount of carbohydrate needed in the diet is ZERO or NONE. Carbohydrates are not a requirement for any body function.
So while I agree switching to complex carbs is better than eating simple carbs - aiming to reduce carbs altogether is better advice.