Carbohydrates are one food group that carry a huge amount of controversy and confusion with them.
Some of these beliefs include carbs make you fat, carbs cause inflammation, lowers your immune system. On the flip side of the coin other very credible people believe they are essential for recovery, give you more energy and are essential for a balanced diet.
So what is the right answer? Well...like most food groups It depends.
Everyone is so different in terms of their biochemical individuality, lifestyle, financial situation and even mindset. I would to run through a couple of examples for when carbs may or may not be useful for our body composition and health goals.
Example 1
Sarah is a 42 year old Female, she is 30% body fat and has the body type of an endomorph. Her goal is to lose body fat and believes she needs carbs for energy.
Why Carbs May Not Be Best
Now as Sarah has a high level of body fat and fat loss id the goal, she will do best on a slightly higher fat and protein diet. The excess body fat she is has are extra storage sites of energy. The key to to teach the body to use another fuel source so it starts to burn this extra storage. By eating carbs, Sarah is putting up a protective buffer to the extra storage sites which means they will stick around for longer.
This is not to say that Sarah has to remove them completely, but she will probably have the most energy by having a much higher level of healthy fat and protein in her diet, particularly in the morning.
When Carbs May Be Useful
If Sarah is coming up to her time of the month, she will likely have cravings for sweet foods. This is totally normal as the bodies blood sugar levels will be lower than normal. Sarah would do very well by slightly increasing her intake of carbs that week. Think Sweet potato, wild/brown rice and quinoa.
Example 2
Ben is a 38 year old businessman. His goal is to put on muscle whilst losing some body fat. He is an ectomorph.
When Carbs May Be Useful
Due to Ben's body type he will more often than not do very well with more carbs in his diet. He will have a high metabolism and trying to get his calories from just fat, veg and protein will not be enough to sustain his energy. For Ben to put on muscle and lose fat his performance in the gym needs to be on top form. Training when tired or under recovered from his last session will do him no good at all.
The best time for Ben to have his carbs will in fact be after a tough workout. They will help him recover by giving his muscles a fast release of fuel.
Example 3
Kelly is a 35 year old full time mum, with 2 kids, and wants to lose some body fat. She exercises 3-4 times a week with a trainer, and has a some body fat to shed.
Kelly trains very hard at the gym and her diet is not perfect but she does the best she can. Kelly's main problem is the fact she really struggles to sleep. She gets very anxious, stressed and finds it hard to switch off.
When Carbs May Be Useful
As mentioned, Kelly's diet is not perfect, but she does the best she can in her circumstances. Kelly's biggest limiting factor at the moment is in fact her lack of recover from no sleep. Diet although important is not the main thing to be focused on right now.
Kelly would probably benefit from having some oats/ porridge before bed. You might even push the oat out and give her something sweet like ice cream (as long as its not a trigger food, as in she would inhale the entire tub). The idea behind this is that we are trying to increase Kelly's serotonin (feel good hormone) levels before bed so she can relax and get a good nights sleep for once. The knock on effect of this being that she will be in a better mood, suffer less cravings and perform better in training.
Example 4
James is a 46 year old advertising executive. He goes to the gym 3-4 times a week. He is a mesomorph and eats pretty well. He is 12% body fat and wants to get leaner. He is pretty consistent with his diet, but has recently hit a plateau.
When Carbs May Be Useful
As James has a pretty regimented diet, making small changes will help get him leaner. His body has adapted to either the training or the consistency of his diet. Doing something as simple having more carbs on his training days and less carbs on his non training days could have a positive impact on his results.
The thing to know here is that if James increases his carb intake then he should slightly lower is fat intake and vice versa.
So if on a training day James has his post workout meal. He may add one extra portion of carbs (1 cupped hand size portion) then he should probably lower his fat intake by 1 thumb sized portion.
Guide on portion sizes
Example 5
Kate is a 40 year old city girl, who is a complete beginner to healthy eating. She wants something sustainable that she can stick to. She has tried many diets before, but they were all too extreme and could never stick to them.
When Carbs May Be Useful
Kate has tried low carb diets, but unfortunately they were just too hard for her to stick to. In Kate's current scenario eating a balanced diet of proteins, fats and carbs will already be a step forward from her currently patchy diet.
If Kate can consistently do the basics and have a plate that has consists of proteins, healthy fats, vegetables and healthier carbs then she will make good progress. Even if she has healthier types of carbs like sweet potato instead of fries, that is already a big step forward.
If she does this consistently she will be far leaner and healthier in 12 months time.
We are all different and no one diet will work for everyone of us, but if we can make one small change at a time and be patient, great things will happen. Rome was not built in a day.
Your in Health
Patrick Fallis
PS For a more in depth article on carbs, read this