The Top 3 Ways Carbohydrates Can Make You Fat

Jul 16
06:45

2008

Jayson Hunter

Jayson Hunter

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Get the facts straight on carbohydrates. Find out once and for all what is a myth and what is the truth when it comes to carbohydrates and weight gain.

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Can carbohydrates make you fat? Yes! Are carbohydrates essential for fueling the body and having it run efficiently? Yes! Do I need to watch my intake of carbohydrates to prevent fat storage? Yes!

So what does all this mean? Am I not to eat carbs or am I supposed to eat carbs? How many carbs should I eat? What types? The entire carbohydrate craze has gone from one extreme to the other and back again. It's no wonder you may be confused,The Top 3 Ways Carbohydrates Can Make You Fat Articles frustrated, mad or all of the above.

There is a ton of information flying around and much of it is garbage. Here are the facts about carbs and how you can apply this information.

1. Your body can store all carbs as fat when the muscles and the liver are already full of glycogen. So if you continuously eat a high carbohydrate diet this can lead to increased fat storage. Also, you can store more of your carb calories as fat when you eat too many processed and refined carbs. The key is to consume moderate carbs and choose carbs that have at least 2gms of fiber per serving. This will help control insulin spikes, which leads us to number 2.

2. Eating too many carbs at one sitting without enough other nutrients to counteract its effect will cause insulin spikes, which then triggers your body's fat storing mechanisms. This is why I suggest you eat whole grain carbs, vegetables and fruits with skin when possible because they will provide good sources of fiber to help control these insulin spikes. Also, make sure you balance your carb intake with lean protein to further counteract the effects of carbs in the body in regards to elevating your insulin levels.

3. Through a process known as de novo lipogenesis your body can directly increase fat storage by converting carbohydrates to fat. So I will reiterate why you need to eat carbs. Eat whole grain, high fiber carbs as well as lean protein to control blood sugar rise, which then controls insulin spikes and helps prevent you from storing carb calories as fat.

So now that you have the facts about carbs should you be eating them or not. To summarize you do need carbs. Your body does need carbs to function properly and maintain optimal efficiency. The body doesn't need as many carbs as we feed it though. It also doesn't need the refined flours and process carbs we have become accustomed to eating. As our lives have gotten busier and we have gotten lazier we have leaned more towards convenient foods, which are not always the healthiest of foods.

We have consumed too much of those foods and then blamed it all on carbs as to why we are fat. Carbs are not the main culprit. They do play a part as I describe above as to how they can make you fat. I also mention how to eat carbs so that they don't make you fat.