For advertising information visit www.samplerpublications.com or call 859.225.4466 | January 2015
The
Ubiquitous
Carb
By Charles Sebastian
Depending on your genetic
makeup and lifestyle, you may or
may not have battled the ever-present
carbohydrate. While diet plans over
the last 30 years have chosen as their
focal points many things, too much
carb intake remains the source of
much obesity.
What is a carb?
Carbohydrates are large molecules
that have oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. They are more dense in some
foods than others. Diets full of natural sugar, some vegetables and many
fruits will see weight game, especially
with larger quantities consumed.
These items contain simple carbohydrates. Once taken into the body, the
carbs are turned in calories, which
are the units of energy the body
contains. One gram of simple sugar
yields about 3.87 calories, while
complex carbohydrates can range
from 3.57 to 4.12 calories per gram.
Complex carbs are derived from
refined
sugars,
pastas, wheats,
and breads. Soft drinks are a big culprit for calories from carbs.
Many years ago the watchword for
dieting was “fat.” Everything low-fat
was good and the thought of highfat foods, if you were serious about
dieting, was forbidden. It was found
that the low-fat path didn’t work
for everyone and finally that the
body needed the sodium and other
ingredients found in fat to run well.
Then we went to low-calorie, where
everyone was trying to adhere to the
two thousand calorie or less a day
rule. The problem with this, as many
eventually found out, is that bodies
are
different. Your
body may process calories much faster from carbs
than someone else and derive different amounts of fat as a result. Some
metabolisms are slower and hold
onto the carbs much longer.
There is no getting away from
the carb; it is the unit going into the
body. Whatever happens once it is in
the body and translated to calories
and fat, this is different for everyone.
For those of us prone to weight
gain and constantly trying new strategies to eat closer to what we want
without ballooning up overnight,
carbs are the best bet. If carb intake
is diminished, there can be no fur-
&
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9
ther feeding of the calorie and fat
machine, the body.
If you are looking to shed a
few pounds as the new year
approaches, you may want
to look into lowering
carbs. This, started with
your doctor’s blessing and
preferably plenty of exercise, will see weight coming
off quickly.
If we could hit the
rewind button and look
at what most of our ancestors were eating even 500
years ago, we would see
a diet not overloaded with
carbs. Refined sugars, additives
that increase carb count, bread and
gluten-based products, high-fructose
corn syrup, and many fruits all contribute to our modern diet. Many of
these things have just come about in
the last 500 years, which is a blip on )ѡ