The Bad Carbohydrate Cycle
Too many Americans fall prey to the bad carbohydrate cycle. They over consume sugar and end up wanting more unhealthy food than their body actually will use as fuel on a continual basis. This leads to increased weight gain and all of the health problems that come with it. Carbohydrates are not unhealthy for us, even though there are many nutritionist and trainers out there who say that they are. The unhealthy part is how we pair over consumption of the wrong types of carbohydrates with too little activity.
The bad carbohydrate cycle starts when we over eat carbohydrates quickly. These get broken down and into our bloodstream at very high rates. Most people believe the best way to avoid this is to eat more complex carbohydrates (many carbon chains) instead of simple sugar (few carbon chains). While this is better for you, a complex carbohydrate will not always be converted to glucose in the blood more slowly than a simple sugar. Maltodextrin, for example, is a starch that is digested as fast as glucose. However, in general complex carbohydrates are better for us in the way they lead the pancreas to less insulin release. Over producing insulin can cause our bodies to become resistant to it which leads to very serious long term diseases, like cardiovascular disease.
When too many carbohydrates enter our bloodstream too quickly, our blood sugar (or blood glucose) levels start to rise and it becomes unhealthy. Having too much glucose in the blood is like having too many logs in a river. They start to hit the banks of the river (walls of our arteries and veins) and slow the river down. If our veins and arteries have high glucose and cholesterol levels for too long, it damages the walls, causing them to adapt to be harder and smaller, which in turn leads to less blood flow at higher pressures. After we eat, insulin is injected into our bloodstream to clear away glucose and help our cells receive glucose for energy. Insulin does this by opening up pathways for the glucose to go, from our blood to our cells. Insulin also dilates (widens) our veins and arteries to help increase blood flow. It aids with protein synthesis by facilitating amino acids out of the blood to be used to rebuild the body. Think of insulin as making the river wider while pulling out all the floating debris. (That is why eating some protein and carbohydrates together after a workout is better for rebuilding muscle than protein alone).
There are three ways that blood sugar levels drop:
1. Insulin Increases
2. Activity Increases
3. Time Passes After a Meal
Blood glucose levels can get too low if insulin levels continue to be high while we exercise. If we stop eating (glucose is no longer being put into the blood) and have two pathways where glucose is being taken out of the blood, our blood glucose levels can drop dramatically. This hypoglycemia, or drop in blood glucose, is greater when people eat before exercise since insulin and the working muscles are pulling glucose out of the blood together. These low levels of blood glucose can make us hungry, especially if we have a hard time regulating insulin. People usually respond to this hunger with eating too many carbohydrates and thus the cycle starts over.
When we regularly eat food that is high in carbohydrates and do not exercise, our body gets used to producing higher amounts of insulin to clear out the excess glucose from the blood. The best two ways to stop this cycle are to eat foods that contain very low levels of carbohydrates, like vegetables, and to exercise regularly help our bodies not rely only on insulin to get rid of excess glucose, fat or amino acids in the blood. Eating enough protein with a controlled carbohydrate diet results in insulin balance and often we are left with not being hungry too often. It’s good for our bodies to be dynamic and be able to adjust to different energy sources, and not just rely on carbs.
The Bad Carbohydrate Cycle:
When sugar or refined carbohydrates are ingested, they turn to glucose and enter the bloodstream very quickly.
This fast absorption of the sugar causes a rapid rise in blood glucose, which in turn, signals the pancreas to overproduce insulin.
High insulin levels lead to a drop in blood glucose and a searching for more carbohydrates.
How to Stay in Balance:
Don’t use carbohydrates to eliminate feelings of irritability, tiredness, anxiety, boredom or loneliness.
Eat meat or a protein high food at meals.
Eat whole vegetables and complex carbohydrates.
Develop a relationship with how hungry you actually are and how much food to eat.
Stay away from high carbohydrate snacks.