Carbs are not bad for you – Say it with me please; Carbs! Are! Not! Bad! For! Me!
Contrary to popular belief, carbs do not lead to weight gain. The heaviness you feel after eating that huge plate of rice or bowl of fries comes from water retention. Many studies have shown that 1 molecule of carbs will attract 3-4 molecules of water! This explains why weighing yourself is the worst possible indication of healthy or even sometimes weight loss!
Carbs, in the form of glucose, are actually our brains preferred source of energy. There are 3 main factors to consider when deciding what carbs are best for you – environment, lifestyle and genetic component. For example, white carbs e.g. banana, white rice or white pasta are great for refuelling and giving you a surge of energy. If you’re the kind of person who is very active throughout the day, these types of foods will be very useful for giving your body much needed energy! Complex carbs such as brown rice, wheat, oats, quinoa have a good amount of fibre in them and are great for feeding the gut! They are also best suited to people who have less active lifestyles.
When you avoid carbs science says you are depriving yourself of serotonin (happy hormones) which leads to decreased levels of melatonin (sleep regulating hormone). So you are more grumpy, have problems falling asleep at night and probably end up eating even more!
By taking part in diets that completely eliminate carbs (keto diet for example), you are increasing your bodies ability to store fat. This is because you are destabilizing your bodies blood sugar levels. What really happens with these carb eliminating diets is that you loose a lot of water because carbohydrate holds a whole lot of water (more on this in the 1st paragraph). You’ll weigh less on the scale because you’ve lost lots of water. But after a few weeks all the weight piles back on! Infant, according to the guardian, 95% of people who diet end up gaining it back.
So what’s the solution?
Eat a balanced diet. Read up on the different food groups, understand your body and give it what it needs (and sometimes what it wants) . Fall in love with vegetables and fruits. Be aware of food that contains high levels of refined sugar/saturated fats and try and limit your consumption of them. The only way to gain weight is by eating more in energy than your body burns. There is no specific food group that leads to weight gain over the others. Carbs, protein and fats are ALL essential for a healthy lifestyle.
Most importantly, don’t deprive yourself.
It’s going to require discipline and you recognising that your body is truly the temple of the Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians 6:19, but it’ll be worth it when you wake up every morning and you feel good