have you ever wondered how carbs actually work in the body?
Read on and this will make you feel a lot better about carbohydrates
Just to make it simpler, I have defined a couple of things to make it even more of an easier read;
Glucose – Carbohydrates in a simple form. Once you eat carbs and they are broken down, they are converted into Glucose.
Insulin – The carrier bags. All insulin does, is carry the Glucose (digested carbs) and tries to take them to their destination (cells, liver or fat stores)
Pancreas – Endocrine gland. Pancreas’ main role is to release the Insulin.
Type 1 Diabetes – This is where your Pancreas can’t produce any insulin. So whenever you eat carbohydrates, there is no way of getting them transported. Which is why insulin shots are required as cells are damaged beyond repair.
Type 2 Diabetes – Same as above, but this time your Pancreas can produce small amounts of Insulin. It struggles at times.
Insulin Sensitive – Cells are able to take in glucose more efficiently and without any issues – a good thing.
Insulin Resistance – Cells have issues taken in carbs. This is where Diabetes can develop as you can eventually suffer what is called Beta-Cell Dysfunction – a bad thing.
So to Analogize;
- You set up a standing order for your shopping from Asda. Driver drops off all the food to you – This is the process of eating carbohydrates and converting it into Glucose, which happens when the carbs are digested.
- When the driver drops off food to you, there are no carrier bags as he doesn’t bring them, so you call on your flatmate to bring some downstairs – this is where your Pancreas detects carbohydrates and sends down Insulin to carry it.
- Food is bagged and taken up the stairs – the staircase being the bloodstream in this scenario.
- When upstairs, you have 3 storage areas. A large cupboard that has a large capacity. A smaller cupboard that always has stuff in there, but you can somehow squeeze it in, or the freezer – the large cupboard is our Muscle(which has largest storage capacity), the small cupboard is our Liver and the freezer is our Fat Stores.
- If the large cupboard (muscle) is full, due to previous carbohydrates eaten, then insulin will drive Glucose to our liver instead. If the liver is full, then the glucose will linger around on the kitchen floor (bloodstream) until space is available.
- However, our Pancreas sees all this glucose in the bloodstream and then releases more insulin because it thinks there isn’t enough to get it into the cupboards. The reality is that there isn’t enough storage space to begin with.
- When more insulin gets released, this is where you experience lethargy and tiredness after eating carbs. As they linger in your bloodstream. What then happens, is that you eat more carbohydrates because the extra amount of insulin produced is now too much – so you eat more carbs to match the insulin again.
- Vicious cycle repeats itself.
- Eventually, if you keep doing this and you get into a calorie surplus, the glucose gets stored as body fat – the freezer. As it’s been sitting out for that long in the bloodstream, you need to store it eventually.
Simple. Our goal is to become Insulin Sensitive as opposed to Insulin Resistant (see definition above). Carbohydrates are NOT bad. They are only bad if you have a sedentary lifestyle and continue to take in carbohydrates in large quantities.
This is why I advocate to everyone, WOMEN ESPECIALLY, to build muscle. Why? The more muscle mass you have the larger the storage capacity. So our cupboards will get bigger and we can take in more and tolerate them better. How good does that freaking sound?
So what are the benefits of resistance training when it comes to carbohydrate intake;
- Carbohydrates are the main energy source in the body, so when we train, our body uses glucose.
- As it uses up glucose, our cells are emptying the glucose so our body can use it. This is where we can become Insulin Sensitive – a good thing. Because when we take in carbs next time, insulin can smoothly get it into cells without any issues.
- As muscle mass increases, our biggest storage unit gets even bigger. Result – more carbs can be taken in.
- Diabetes can be controlled and even eliminated – if its still at early stages of Type-2. As you are exercising, glucose is emptying. So unlike the office worker who doesn’t move much, doesn’t exercise and takes in large amounts of carbs – you will continue to empty the cells and can fill them back up!
So there you have it, exercise, lift weights, enjoy your carbs and don’t fear them.
