Western society has a fascination with “fat free” foods but the reality is we’ve never been so overweight!
Frequently athletes struggle with poor body composition due to the misinformation about carbohydrate consumption.
If you understand how carbohydrates affect the release of insulin in your body then you’ll go a long way to mastering weight management.
We’ll start at the beginning and the beginning involves insulin management.
Step 1 in sports nutrition is body composition management; this is dependent on manipulating macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat). Manipulating carbohydrates means understanding what they are and the effects they have in the body. Many athletes don’t understand that not all carbs are considered equal and that as a carbohydrate is “processed” to become a packaged food, its nutritional value changes and once consumed it becomes easier for the body to digest. A diet that is high in sugar and refined carbohydrates will lead to an increase in body fat. After eating, the gut breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, the glucose is absorbed from the gut and it is burnt for energy or stored. If the carbs you eat require little digestion, glucose becomes rapidly available in the gut and is absorbed quickly. This rapid digestion process equates to a fast spike in blood sugar, insulin is released to deal with this spike and in the process fat burning is shut down whilst the body deals with the blood sugar. If you think about what we’re generally eating in a fast paced, consumer lifestyle, there is an increasing proportion of calories being consumed from refined carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are measured by their ability to raise blood glucose levels through a variety of methods;
Glycaemic Index
Glycaemic load
Insulin Index
Satiety Index A
You can find many websites listing carbohydrates and there Glycaemic Index value on the internet. As a guide a GI of 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low Carbohydrates that have a high glycaemic index and glycaemic load produce a very large insulin response, particularly when consumed away from exercise; they are more likely to be converted to fat. One key issue is that many of the low fat foods, sports drinks, energy bars that so many sports people use are high in sugars. A combination of keeping fat intake low while controlling the GI value of carbs is the path to a sustainable reduction in body fat. Individual tolerance for carbohydrates varies; this is dependent on the individual’s insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity is often related to your diet and how fat you currently are. You can improve your insulin resistance by reducing the level of starchy carbs in your diet (sugars, breads, pasta and potatoes)
What You Can Do - General Guidelines
Avoid all processed carbs including all confectionery, honey, sweetened yoghurts, cereals, neat fruit juice and dried fruit. Replace refined carbohydrates (white bread, potatoes, pasta, and white rice) with unrefined carbs (whole grain bread, brown rice, fibrous vegetables, beans, etc).
Eat small frequent ‘mixed’ meals.
Always eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast results in low blood sugar for an extended period of time, your symptoms will worsen and compensatory eating will often be excessive, due to hunger.
Watch for 'hidden' sugar carefully. Read labels!
Dilute all fruit juice 1:5 with water.
High Fibre Foods. Those vegetables growing above ground and whole grains tend to have a good fibre content. Fibre slows the absorption of sugar from the gut, by decreasing gastric emptying and glucose uptake.
Cooking root vegetables (carrots and potatoes) alters their structure making the sugars more rapidly absorbed.
Increase the intake of quality protein foods (i.e. fish, poultry, lean meats, vegetarian proteins like tofu or tempeh). Protein is very effective at controlling appetite and also slows absorption of carbs when they are eaten together. Protein is also required to build lean muscle so it should appear in every meal.
Decrease your intake of soft fruit (oranges, grapes, plums, bananas etc) to 1-2 pieces a day. Dried fruit is particularly dense in sugars. Fruit should be 1/3 of your total vegetables and fruit intake and you should aim for 9 portions each day, 6 veggies and 3 fruit.
