The not-so-scary truth about CARBS

Carbs - what are they? And why should you not be scared of them?

Maybe you’ve noticed you have put on few pounds and immediately decided to blame carbs, because everyone around you is hating carbs as if they were your ultimate enemy. But wait! Carbs aren’t as bad as you might think! If you have put on few pounds, that probably means you increased your calorie consumption in general. All it takes 400 - 500 calories more every week and you will feel a bit heavier than usual. But not to worry! All you need to do is cut down your calories and some exercises and you’re gonna be back to normal and even more fitter!

Anyway, carbs! Let me go into a little more in depth about them and you will learn why you shouldn’t cut carbs out from your diet.

We are a generation who are terrified of the word CARBS. I remember the times when even seeing that word used to give me anxiety. It changed how I see them at school when I was doing advanced biology classes and learnt a bit more about the carbs and what they actually are. As most of you might know carbs is short for CARBOHYDRATES - it’s a molecule containing carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. It was probably then when I stopped seeing the negative connotations that went with a word carbs and actually saw what the word meant itself. Also, when I was doing nutrition course I learnt even more about them and how are they beneficial to our body. So let me share my wisdom with you!

There are 2 types of carbohydrates - simple and complex - which can be both healthy and unhealthy for you if you consume them in large quantities.

Simple carbohydrates are basically pure sugars - raw sugar, brown sugar, fruit juice concentrates. When consumed, they are broken down in our body super quickly to be used as energy.

Complex carbohydrates can be found in vegetables, wholegrains, beans and legumes. They are broken down slowly into glucose to be used and released as energy by your body through out the day.

So why are carbohydrates so important?

Our body uses carbohydrates as its first source of energy. If there’s no carbs for our body to use, it turns to protein- meaning our body is basically eating our muscles. This will be a huge hindrance to anyone wanting to get toned/ get definition. A ZERO carb diet is very hard to maintain, especially when training because you're depriving your body of stuff it really needs. No carbs = no energy. Hence, when you have no energy you become more grumpy, easily annoyed, frustrated and constantly in a bad mood.

So why do carbs have such a bad name if they're actually really great?

Well I think it’s generally junk foods which are very carby- white breads, chips, crisps. So when people think carbs all they think is those kinds of foods and over-consuming them will obviously lead to fat gain. So when you cut carby junk food them out you lose weight. But when I talk about carbohydrates I'm talking about wholegrain, unprocessed, fibrous carbs.

For example, in the morning I would usually have a bowl of granola with coconut milk, at lunch I’d have lots of eggs with toast and banana and ,finally, dinner - is my main meal, as I go to the gym quite late in the evening, so I aim my dinner to be full of carbs and proteins, so that means, salmon/tuna, rice, sometimes pasta/potatoes with bunch of veggies of course.

If you're a carb-a-phobic I would start by having carbs in 2 of your meals a day and hold off having carbs at dinner for now just so you can see that actually it won’t kill you and you're going to be just fine and even more energized at the gym!

Having a carby breakfast is great, it sets you up for the day, gives your brain and body energy that you need. Maybe you're going to the gym after work or you won’t have dinner until later so have some carbs at lunch too. I generally aim for about a fist size of carbs or maybe 100g of rice/cous-cous/pasta.

I hope this posts speaks to you and helps you towards a healthier relationship with your diet and your body. It's something I have struggled with A LOT over the years and I think a lot of people do too. I wish I had someone to tell me this kind of stuff but we are just bombarded with "No carbs before marbs" bullshit and I'm hoping to start to pull people away from that way of thinking.