My advice about carbohydrates shifted a little. Here is the best advice for you about carbohydrates consumption:
Summary of simple powerful rules on carbohydrate consumption:
1. Eat always lean protein and some monounsaturated fat like olive oil with your carbohydrates – protein stimulates glucagon, which reduces insulin secretion, and fat and fiber slow down the rate of entry of any carbohydrate to further reduce insulin secretion.
2. Eat primarily low-density carbohydrates, like fruits and most fiber rich vegetables – keep track of the amount of carbohydrates you are consuming in a given meal. By eating low-density carbohydrates, it is very easy to avoid over consumption of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates.
People are genetically designed to eat primary fruits and vegetables as their major source of carbohydrates. And that’s exactly what I want you to do. Make fruits and vegetables to be the main part of your carbohydrates eating.
Grains, starches, bread, pasta, rice are very high-dense in carbohydrate making it bad stuff to put into our system.
If you want to bring your health and performance to the next level, limit your carbohydrate consumption to only fruits and vegetables. Little bit of brown rice or pasta is fine here and there. But only little bit and only with protein and healthy fat together when you eat it.
Carbohydrates act like powerful drug.
This is a fact that most people don’t realize. Excessive carbohydrate consumption causes your body to overproduce insulin. And than your body goes through very big, unhealthy blood sugar level swings caused by elevated insulin.
What causes elevated insulin in your body?
1. It causes foggy thinking by reducing blood sugar levels to the brain.
2. It will decrease your overall physical performance.
3. Elevated insulin effects your overall health in very bad way.
4. It makes you fat.
5. It is one of the causes of the heart disease.
Everyone needs to be aware of the effect of carbohydrate on insulin. If you want to improve your health, performance and loose weight, keep this rule in mind:
Let most if not all of your carbohydrates come from fruits and vegetables, and use grains, starches, pasta, rice and bread in moderation.
I personally tried it. I used to be a competitive athlete and I still engage in very high energy demanding activities like surfing, running and bicycling long distances and strength training. You would really thing that my performance would go down switching pasta and rice for fruits and vegetables. But, the opposite is true. My performance is like never before. And knowing than when I was a competitive rower, what I know now, my medal collection would be much bigger.
The best carbohydrate choices:
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Chickpeas
- Celery
- Cauliflower
- Asparagus
- Strawberries
- Spinach
- Lettuce – arugula, butter head, romaine
- Mustard greens
- Raspberries
- Swiss chard
- Kohlrabi
- Peaches
- Onions
- Mushrooms
- Leeks
- Kidney beans
- Grapes
- Yellow squash
- Cherries
- Cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Radishes
- Green beans
- Grapefruits
- Fennel
- Eggplant
- Cabbage
- Black beans
- Bell peppers
- Barley
- Apples
- Pears
- Plums
- Oranges
- Okra
- Oats – steel cut
- Wine
- Nectarines
- Lentils
- Kiwi
- Brussels sprouts
- Bok choy
- Artichokes
- Turnip greens
- Apricot
These are carbohydrates rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals.
This perfect health and performance diet recommends eating primarily fruits and vegetables for its carbohydrate sources. It is a diet that is exceptionally rich in fiber, yet moderate in the amount of insulin – promoting carbohydrates consumed.
Eating most of carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables will supply you not only with large amount of fiber, but also with very significant levels of vitamins and minerals.
You need to control the amount of carbohydrate you eat in a meal to control insulin secretion.
Your body needs a constant intake of carbohydrates for optimal brain function. Too little carbohydrate in the blood stream, and your brain will not function efficiently. Too much carbohydrate in the bloodstream, and your body responds by increasing the secretion of insulin to drive down blood sugar to a level too low for your brain to function effectively.
What your body and brain need for perfect functioning is not too much, not too little carbohydrates.
It is almost impossible to overeat on these best choices of carbohydrates.
That means that, if you eat any of these carbohydrate choices and you eat them after or with protein and little bit of healthy fat, you can have as much of it as you can handle. But if you eat pasta or rice, you need to watch, how much you consume.
All carbohydrates have different carbohydrate density. For example 1 cup of pasta have the same amount of insulin promoting carbohydrate as 6 cups of cooked broccoli.
When you eat grains, pasta, rice or bread, have the same or less amount of it as protein on your plate. If it’s one of the best choices of carbohydrates, eat as much as you want of it with your meal.
Elevated insulin is the reason you get fat and stay fat.
Insulin is your body’s storage and locking hormone. The elevated insulin levels generated from large carbohydrate meal prevent your body from using any of it’s stored fat for energy. It prevents you from burning the fat you already have.
More about healthy and performance eating: