# All carbohydrates are not created equal!



## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Well briefly all carbs are not created equal.

Some people have no problems what so ever with carbohydrates. Others do. About 1/3 of all people have problems with carbohydrates spiking blood sugar levels. When this happens insulin raises to accommodate the rise in blood sugar and insulin is a storage hormone. Of all the hormones if there were a tug of war insulin would win. So insulin's job is to store that last meal (high blood sugar) as fat. The problem with that is this. When the insulin stores that last meal as fat the brain calls for more carbohydrates because the brain did not get any carbohydrates. Your brain is the single biggest carbohydrate hog in the body. Carbohydrates store in muscle tissue and the liver but if the brain is starving for the carbs and the last meal stored them as fat then you will eat again. Well guess what if you are spiking your blood sugars again with carbohydrates the insulin will rise again and store that meal as fat as well.

To slow down the spiking of blood sugars there are a number of things you can do like:

1. eat carbs low in the glycemic index.

2. eat a protein, fat and fiber with the carbs.

3. keep the carbs pretty low.

4. carbs exit the stomach really fast and if you eat a protein with it you will get more stable blood sugars. By doing that you will not get sleepy after a meal, have more constant energy and get carbohydrate cravings which is not good. There is actually people that have an addiction to carbohydrates. Now that can be a problem especially if the carbs are high in the glycemic index and you are prone to spiking of blood sugars. Also after prolonged periods of time the pancreas gets kind of worn out and you can be a candidate of Type 2 diabetes.

So if you are prone to that kindof condition modification of the diet might be in order if you want to keep the weight down. Remember later on in life your metabolism will slow and some point in time you will need to modify it.


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## demon (Apr 23, 2003)

That's a great post Hackskii.

I never really understood the whole glycemic index / insulin / fat storage thing.

But now I do!

And I also find I get a bit sleepy after meals too; I know why now.

Thanks.


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## Jock (Apr 8, 2003)

Nice post hackskii


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## dudeson (May 8, 2007)

Here's a big problem that I am currently dealing with. I am trying to really lose wieght and limit my carbs, especially at night. However, I workout in the evening around 8pm so my post workout meal usually consists of a lot of protein and very little if any carbs. I know I need to be consuming carbs, especially after my workout but i need to know what kinds of carbs would be the best if im trying to cut weight.

Here's my post workout meal.: Whey shake, 25g protein in nonfat milk, 1 large chicken breast, or two servings of fish, or two turkey burgers, a serving ofveggies, and a serving of fruit. Any feedback would be great. Thanks


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## dudeson (May 8, 2007)

and 20 minutes after I posted that reply.....my chick surprises me and shows up with pizza..........and cinnamon sticks, ...................and I gorged out on both


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## Mr Chef (Jun 28, 2006)

i'm no expert but is the portion of fruit you have just carbohydrate in the form of sugar? this is not going to be the best for weight control


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## dudeson (May 8, 2007)

K well do you have any suggestions for a substitute for the fruit?


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## murdoch (Feb 16, 2007)

this is areally helpfull post . nice one


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## Wheyhey (May 20, 2007)

Yep i agree totally, ive found since changing to more lower Gi carbs i can eat more and still maintain my weight, before i was eating more white carbs and easily gaining fat.


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## cyberheater (Sep 22, 2007)

Some additional information from here. Thanks hackskii for the original post.

http://www.glycemicindex.com/



> How to Switch to a Low GI Diet
> 
> The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply a "this for that" approach - ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs. You don't need to count numbers or do any sort of mental arithmetic to make sure you are eating a healthy, low GI diet.
> 
> ...


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## Andypandy999 (Feb 27, 2009)

After reading Info on the site and some basic knowledge it has been said to keep away from pasta but on this site its saying Enjoy Pasta and Noodles????

HHMMMM am i going crazy or os this a total contradiction????



> How to Switch to a Low GI Diet
> 
> The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply a "this for that" approach - ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs. You don't need to count numbers or do any sort of mental arithmetic to make sure you are eating a healthy, low GI diet.
> 
> ...


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## cameron jackson (Apr 21, 2009)

Wholemeal/grain Pasta and Noodles would probably be more accurate


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## onlyblue (Apr 17, 2010)

I always thought that in the end carbs are just carbs, but after reading a few articles on http://learnhowtoloseweight.net/" style="text-decoration: none; color: black;">how to lose weight</a> and then this thread, I'm convinced otherwise! Thanks for setting things straight. :thumbup1:


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2010)

onlyblue said:


> I always thought that in the end carbs are just carbs, but after reading a few articles on how to lose weight and then this thread, I'm convinced otherwise! Thanks for setting things straight. :thumbup1:


In the end all carbs end up as glucose. But its the speed at which they are utilised is what differs. (GI index)


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## zanny (Jan 16, 2012)

AND 2 years later ....

I understand that eating carbs with low GI is better then high GI carbs because the carbohydrates are released slower into the blood steam.

I think users need to understand the difference between GI and Glycemic load (GL).

Glycemic Index (GI) does not take into account the total quanitiy of carbs. For exampe water melon has a GI of 72!! A cookie can have a lower GI!!!!

but in 100g of water melone there is approx 8g carbs. This can be confusing specially for body builders. GI does not take into account the density of carbs. The Glycemic load takes into account the total carbs in the food you are eating. Glycemic load is defined as the grams of available carbohydrate in the food x the food's GI / 100.

So working out the GL of water melon --> (8*72)/100 = 5.76

A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low. Eating ONE cookie is worse then eating 100g water melon. But the GI says the opposite!

I "on purposley" ignor GI when it comes to eating food. But taking into account the GI and GL is better, i believe.


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## pinkpen (Sep 14, 2012)

Facts about carbs:

- Not all carbs are bad

- Carbohydrates dictate the amount of fat that the body will burn in a day

- Carbohydrates prevent protein from being used as energy, which helps the body use protein to build more muscles.


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## bugatti (Jan 11, 2014)

Here's a list of complex carbohydrates foods.

Spinach

Whole Barley

Grapefruit

Turnip Greens

Buckwheat

Apples

Lettuce

Buckwheat bread

Prunes

Water Cress

Oat bran bread

Dried apricots

Zucchini

Oatmeal

Pears

Asparagus

Oat bran cereal

Plums

Artichokes

Museli

Strawberries


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## Ricky12345 (Jun 13, 2012)

pinkpen said:


> Facts about carbs:
> 
> - Not all carbs are bad
> 
> ...


All carbs are bad to me and my belly work off the devel


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