HOW SIMPLE AND COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES AFFECT YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS

Let’s get this straight right off; a carb is not a carb. No matter what people might try to convince you to the contrary, there is a world of difference between how simple and complex carbohydrates affect your health and fitness efforts. What I want to do today is to let you know how simple and complex carbs can affect your weight, health and energy levels.

Some advocates of flexible dieting would have you believe that as long as you don’t consume too many calories from carbohydrates, then it doesn’t matter in what form the carbs come in. that’s only half true, while you do have to watch the quantity of carbohydrates consumed, the quality is equally, no much more important. The structure and nutrients available in a carbohydrate will affect how you digest it, your blood sugar levels, energy levels as well as fullness.

Most of the time you are better of consuming complex carbs over simple carbs, now you might be wondering, what are the complex carbs? Examples include yam, sweet potatoes, whole grain foods, whole grain rice, amala, beans, whole grain oats, apples etc.  While simple carbs include: white bread, Irish potatoes , white rice, pasta, noodles, pastries, fruit juice, sports drinks etc.

STRUCTURE:

Structurally, simple and complex carbohydrates also differ. With simple carbs composed of a single sugar unit , or multiple units of up to 20 strung together, while complex carbs can have up to 100 units, meaning that they are digested differently. Simple carbs are digested much faster than complex carbs and this has implications for you blood sugar, energy levels etc. More on that later.

GLYCEMIC INDEX AND SPEED OF DIGESTION:

The Glycemic Index is a system that ranks carbohydrates (on a scale of 1 to 100) by how quickly glucose enters the blood stream, the higher the G.I, the quicker glucose enters the blood stream after eating. Simple carbs are of a higher G.I than Complex carbs, so they will shoot up your blood sugar much faster, and this has attendant health implications. This include quicker digestion , leading to more hunger feelings, quick rise and crash in energy levels etc.

INSULIN AND BLOOD GLUCOSE RESPONSE:

As glucose enters your blood stream, your pancreas will release insulin to help move glucose to your muscle or fat cells where it is stored for work i.e exercise. Over time if you constantly consume simple carbs, your system is flooded with glucose faster and more insulin is required to quickly remove this high blood sugar. Over time this can lead to a condition called hyperinsulinemia , a taxed pancreas and leads to insulin dysfunction, which is associated with impaired glucose tolerance and weight gain. This results over time in elevated blood glucose levels which are a precursor to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic complications. On the other hand, eating complex carbohydrates results in the slower release of glucose in the blood stream, lower insulin release and steadier blood glucose levels.

ENERGY LEVELS:

Have you ever noticed these symptoms when you have gone a long time without food? Feelings of lightheadedness,  fatigue, hunger and an intense craving for sweets? Well, when you go a long time without food, blood sugar levels normally dip below normal, this is called hypoglycemia. However, if you eat simple carbs after staying too long without food, there will be an intense rush of sugar into and then out of your blood stream, resulting in a dip in blood glucose and the urge to eat again. So it is advisable to eat complex carbs if hungry. They will digest slowly and release sugar into your blood slowly so you don’t get hungry quickly.

FULLNESS:

Physical hunger is related to digestion and the volume of food in your stomach. The faster carbohydrates are digested and pushed through the stomach and intestines, the sooner you will feel hungry again. Due to their fast digesting nature, simple carbohydrates are not ideal for maintaining fullness and if you consume them more while trying to lose weight, you are likely to fail. Complex carbs on the other hand take longer to break down; it has a starch called fibre which actually slows down digestion and allows time for appetite suppressing hormones to be released into your system. Fibre also adds weight to your food, and fills up your stomach without adding extra calories! Hell, in fitness and weight loss fibre is probably your best friend.

NUTRITIONAL CONTENT:

Now, we all know that sweets, ice cream, chocolates etc are not very nutritious. However, there are other foods that people believe are nutritious but in actual fact do more harm than good. Even grains like white rice, pasta and bread are nutrient poor. The problem with them is that their grain has been stripped on its endosperm and bran which contains most nutrients and vitamins and leaving only the simple carbohydrates. Even the fibre is stripped off!! Please do not be deceived if the package in the store says it has been enriched, this is just a poor effort to return a tiny amount of what has been stripped off! If you must eat bread, rice and pasta (indomie too) then look for the whole grain variety. They are not as sweet but are more healthy and filling.

FINALLY:

There you have it, the low down on why complex carbs are better than simple carbs. So am I saying you should avoid simple carbs completely? NO! Simple carbs have their time and place, such as during and after exercise to sustain your energy levels. The trick is not to consume much,  also don’t be a fanatic about carbs, a piece of cake here and there is not going to turn you fat overnight. However to help maintain and lose weight, fight off diabetes and have optimum health, it is best to inculcate complex carbs into your diet as much as possible.

Thanks, and have a great day!

P.S: I have been off the grid for about a month now, what can I say? Life does creep up with its demands from time to time, sorry!!