How often do we read about having to eat the right amount of fat, carbs or protein? And then spend time trying to work out what that means for what we should eat and how much? And then spend more time, trying to understand if there are certain times or reasons when we should eat different types or amounts. And THEN spend even more time trying to find out what each thing actually does for the body and why they are so important to our diet. And let’s be honest you probably gave up at the second point, and I don’t blame you!
So let’s go back to the beginning and talk about all three of these macronutrients separately;
In this post, we are focusing on Carbohydrates.
The building blocks of carbohydrates are sugars and they are categorised and named by how many sugar bonds are combined in one molecule. These molecules supply four calories per gram. All the different molecules are broken down in the stomach to glucose, this can either be used in its form or be converted to glycogen and stored in the liver.
Glucose is good for the immune system! Blood glucose provides the fuel needed in the immune system to help particular cells fight off any intruders. Not enough in the blood will mean the cells aren’t strong enough to fight and therefore can increase the likelihood of illness.
Carbohydrates are also good for maintaining and building muscle. By maintaining a good level of glycogen stores you can prevent muscle inflammation, allowing the glycogen to be used more often by the immune system. Significant decreases in muscle glycogen content can inhibit the force a muscle produces, so if you train or do resistance exercises, this can be an inhabitant, (note: it’s not all about the protein).
Pre-exercise and post-exercise carbohydrate intake will maximise your glycogen stores and can improve the gains from working out. Pre-training should be slower release carbohydrates and post-exercise should be quick release carbohydrates to allow the muscle to take up energy quickly and efficiently
The brain relies on blood glucose and actually needs double the energy as any other cell as it is constantly required to work, even when sleeping. The nerve conduction and the brains energy demand can account for 10% of the whole body’s energy. Completing cognitive tasks have been shown to improve by up to 25% by eating a carbohydrate fuelled meal prior to task completion. The brain, however, doesn’t store many carbohydrates and therefore relies on a constant steady stream of energy and fuel.
So, that is the information to help us understand all the functions of carbohydrates, but, we still need to know how much we should have and from what food we can get it from;
For 19-64 year olds males, a daily intake is recommended by the Public Health is 333g and for females its 267g. 10% maximum of that should come from free sugars.
Typical carbohydrate foods include; pasta, bread, noodles, couscous, potatoes, rice, oats, quinoa and many many more!
And finally… it is really easy to overeat carbohydrates as most processed foods contain a lot. A top tip is to choose your main meal based around a protein and then add the carbohydrates and not the other way round. This will also assist with portion control.