The trend of “cutting carbs” has featured heavily in the UK headlines recently, warning of the long-lasting damaging health effects. Significantly reducing your carb intake to help lose weight may mean that your health suffers as a result. Incorporating a healthy amount of carbohydrates into our diet is important for generating energy for our bodies, particularly for muscle repair and gain. Take a read through the information below, put togehter with the help of these pain relief experts.
Why are carbohydrates essential for a healthy diet?
What is a carbohydrate? There are three types of macronutrients that form the main part of our diet, these being carbohydrates, fat and protein. Within the carbohydrate category, there is sugar, starch and fiber.
Those who often exercise understandably need more energy to keep their body functioning properly and prevent fatigue. This is where carbohydrates are essential, as they’re the main source of energy for both our brains and bodies. When we consume carbohydrates, they break down into glucose. This is then stored in the liver and muscles and used to fuel our physical activity. It’s likely that you wouldn’t athletically perform as well without carbohydrates in your diet.
Especially if you’re focusing training on a particular muscle group, you need your body to be equipped to repair and build these muscles. This is where carbohydrates come into play. Glucose (the end product of carbohydrates) enables nutrients in the body to be used to make energy, this means that the protein in the muscles can focus on rebuilding and repairing muscle tissues.
It’s important to remember the difference between “good” and “bad” carbohydrates. Eating too much sugar, for example, will be bad for your health, but increasing your fiber intake is likely to give some benefits.
The research behind low-carb diets
Research on different diets and eating habits is continually being released, meaning it can get confusing when we’re deciding what to and not to eat. There is an abundance of recent research though that demonstrates the negatives of a low-carb diet.
Results published in the Lancet Public Health reveal that eating a low-carb diet can, in fact, shorten your lifespan. They concluded that a 50-year-old participant who consumes less than 30% carbs has a life expectancy of 79.1 years, but this rises to 82 years for someone who eats more than 65% carbs.
One study published in November 2018 showed that carbohydrates can play a big part in brain activity too. They found that a low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet could go as far as warding off dementia.
Instead, scientists are recommending maximising fiber intake, suggesting that people should be eating a minimum of 25g each day. This can be difficult to get used to, considering that two Weetabix only has 3g of fiber in and a thick slice of brown bread only has 2g.
As we can see, cutting out carbs from your diet can seriously affect your ability to work out and recover properly. Recent research has revealed that alternative dietary recommendations may be a better alternative, such as increasing your “good” carbohydrate fiber uptake.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/cutting-carbs-could-lead-to-premature-death-if-you-replace-them-with-the-wrong-things/2018/09/13/17214ba2-b6bb-11e8-a2c5-3187f427e253_story.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46827426
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/10/high-fibre-diets-cut-heart-disease-risk-landmark-study-finds
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/21/low-protein-high-carb-diet-may-help-ward-off-dementia
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6578291/Millions-risk-early-death-not-eat-fibre-warns-major-study.html
https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/data/pdf/Why_are_Carbohydrates_Important_for_Athletes.pdf