As the post suggests I will compare Carbohydrates to Fats. Good and bad points. Nutritional make up. And how we can manipulate them to reduce that ever stubborn body fat. 

First lets look at Carbohydrates or CHO for short.

1 gram of CHO = 4 calories (kcal). Look at it like units of energy, so we get 4 units of energy from 1 gram of Carbohydrates. We can break them down into 3 different categories in relation to how often we should have them.

Everyday – Here I’m talking about vegetables. I prefer to keep it green so brocolli, spinach, green beans, lettuce. You can include most veg but I’m just a bit simple with my eating (and in general haha). These are fibrous carbohydrates and basically should be included in most meals.

Sometimes – Brown carbs like rice, gluten free bread and sweet potato. You should be using these carbs weekly, if you are on a fat loss program. That could mean once per week as a refeed/cheat just to jack up the metabolism, fill our glycagon levels and speed up fat loss. If you’re just on a ”healthy eating plan” then you might include these more regularly then once per week but if it’s fat loss and you’re not yet lean then once a week is enough.

Rarely – SUGAR and ”white carbs”. So refined/simple carbs such as chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and your general sugar filled delights. These bad boys are toxic for the body. Also, white rice, potatoes, bread should be regularly avoided. I don’t even bother gong for these as a cheat because of the wheat in them. I have client’s that I have completely turned of the likes of bread because they know how bloated and uncomfortable they feel when they go and have some.

Sugary carbs are an immediate spike in blood glucose levels (sugar in the blood) which in turns raises insulin levels. INSULIN !! Remember that name. Insulin is our storage hormone. When insulin is released, our body wants to hold onto that sugar and store it as body fat. We don’t want that right ?

Not only storing body fat but raising blood sugar levels will make them plummet not long afterwards. Do we ever get that mid morning / mid afternoon slump at work and need some chocolate or sugar filled coffee to get us through ’til lunch or home time?

BINGO we need to cut down the carb intake.

But if I’m not eating carbs then where will my energy come from? I’m on the go all day so how will I last a full day without hitting the deck? Glad you asked

FATS – Increase your intake of healthy fats. 

1 gram of FAT = 9 kcal. So 9 units of energy instead of a measly 4.

Nuts, avocado, cottage cheese are examples of good fats. So we get more energy from fats AND we don’t get crazy sugar spikes all day long. WIN WIN. Insulin and blood glucose stay at a steady state throughout the day so we have a steady state of energy.

My last point is the fun point . Reducing carb intake + increasing fat intake = Burning body fat throughout the day.

We get into a fat burning state when we keep blood glucose down and insulin at bay.

I’ll do another quick post about manipulating the two in order to maximize the fat burning effect. Hope I’ve helped in some way !!