Your body is like a machine, you have to fuel it to keep it going. To eat or not to eat Carbohydrates and fats is a question of weight gain, in most cases.
Carbohydrates are the first source of energy; without carbohydrates, you will actually get too tired to even move or talk. Your brain will hate you for that.
Fats, on the other hand;
- Give your organs protection.
- Give you heat when it starts to get cold.
- Give your body energy.
- Protects your organs.
- It is a good home for fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A, D, E, and K.
In other extreme situations when you do not eat any carbohydrates, your body can
start to burn fats for energy, as carbohydrate alternatives.
Question
Fats or Carbs, which ones should you worry most about?
Maybe we should start by talking about the different kinds of carbohydrates and the different types of fats to make a very informed decision when it comes to weight loss, managing diabetes, or just maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle.
What types of carbohydrates do we have?
1. Simple carbohydrates, the ones we grab and go.
2. Complex carbohydrates that are life savers.
Simple Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrates are sweet in the mouth but extremely toxic to your body. More of “when the deal is too sweet, think twice” Worse is that we have introduced them to our children as sweet treats, but maybe we should treat simple sugars as poison to our bodies.
Cakes, biscuits, soda, and candy never miss at our convenience shops, and we binge on them more like our lives depend on them.
Obesity/Overweight is among the top risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain types of cancers.
Simple sugars lead to weight gain so fast, and for a person living with diabetes, simple sugars pose every danger of hyperglycemia, which can actually be life-threatening.
From the science of digestion, the breakdown of carbohydrates starts right from your mouth, simple sugars get absorbed faster than complex carbohydrates.
The glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream, and then the hormone insulin comes in to move the glucose from the bloodstream into our body cells and muscles for energy.
This explains why a person living with diabetes should avoid these simple sugars at all costs.
Researchers believe that moderating your intake of simple sugars can actually reduce the risks or better yet prevent these life-threatening diseases.
Simple sugars are also an enemy for those of us on a weight loss journey, as of course, it will lead to an unnecessary rather unwanted weight gain very fast.
Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates are the life savers, why? Complex carbohydrates come with lots of dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that are very crucial for a healthy lifestyle.
These carbohydrates get absorbed slowly, mostly because of the dietary fibre, making these the kind of carbohydrates that should be on your plate.
It’s the massive benefits that come with these complex carbohydrates that are of interest here.
The dietary fibre tags along so many phytochemicals, minerals, and vitamins that
often get scrapped off during processing. In the making of processed carbohydrates in other words simple sugars.
What this therefore means is that complex carbohydrates are not only good for helping in blood glucose control in people living with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes but also make the process of weight loss easy enough and more result oriented.
Complex carbohydrates include unprocessed grains like brown rice, and brown wheat products like brown bread, oats, millet and sorghum. Basically, complex carbohydrates have not undergone too much processing.
This is mainly what researchers and Nutritionists recommend in most diet plans.
Whether to go on a low-fat diet, fat-free diet or even more fat is a question asked so
many times.
There are two types of fats, that we are going to discuss down below, which will give an insight into making good decisions when it comes to weight management.
What types of Fats do we have?
1. Saturated fats/ The bad fats.
2. Unsaturated fats/The good fats.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats are fats whose primary source is animals, like pork and beef, and also from high-fat dairy products like butter and cheese.
We get more of these saturated fats from the processed foods we love dearly, like
sausages, bacon, burgers, chips, and so on.
The only problem with these saturated fats is that they produce so many Low-density Lipoproteins LDL, which only form a blockage in your blood vessels, which we call plaques.
This blockage increases your risk of heart disease when blood flow to the heart is
hindered, stroke when insufficient blood gets to the brain, and also very common, hypertension.
Researchers believe that you can prevent weight gain by limiting your intake of red meats, processed meats, and other processed foods including high-fat dairy products.
Fats provide more calories as compared to proteins and carbohydrates, as 1 gram of
fat will provide 9 calories unlike 1 gram of proteins and carbohydrates which only provide 4 calories.
This shows that even with a small intake of food high in saturated fats, there’s actually
a very high risk of weight gain.
Unsaturated Fats
Unsaturated fats are what researchers term the healthy kind of fats, why? Because most of it is sourced from seeds, for example, sunflower oil, nuts like peanuts, fruits
like avocado, and generally from plants. These types of fats do not increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases, which is why they are recommended.
Back to our question:
Fats or Carbs, which ones should you worry most about? Do carbohydrates make you fat?
Complex carbohydrates and unsaturated fats are your secrets.
1. Avoid processed foods, as most are the home of simple sugars and saturated fats.
2. Hydrate often.
3. Keep physically active.
