Who Deserves To Eat Carbs?

Who deserves to eat carbs? Yes, I know everyone needs some carbohydrates, even those who are on a Keto diet still need some carbs on occasion. The question is not who NEEDS carbs, the question is who DESERVES carbs?

This question is entirely different. Those who deserve carbs are those who have earned it. Those whose metabolism is running on all cylinders as a result of eating the foods that keep hormone production high and they exercise enough to use those hormones to produce muscle and burn body fat. What are the body signs that you deserve carbohydrates? Read below to see if your metabolic engine is running fast enough to say, “I deserve carbohydrates.”

Can you see your abs?

Human beings are given muscles around our abdomen to stabilize and protect the body during movement. Consequently, like any other muscle, the more that the body moves the greater these muscles become. The goal of exercise should not be to make just bigger and stronger ab muscles, but rather move enough to make sure that they are active and toned.

Movement coupled with the appropriate dietary intake helps to keep us in a state of optimal body fat composition. When you can see the abs on a male athlete, they are generally under 10% body fat and for females they are usually under 14% body fat. This is the range where one ‘deserves’ carbohydrates.

Do you deserve any carbohydrates?

The answer here is no. We are talking about clean carbohydrates. Carbs that your body can use for energy, muscle refueling, and better sleep. What makes a clean carb? Ask yourself who made it? If God made the carb, it is a clean carb. If man made the carb, it is not. There is not a field of bagels or a donut tree growing somewhere! A clean carb is void of any chemicals, processing, or a label.

A simple way of looking at any food is to see what it does in its natural state. Is it green or did it use to fly, run, or swim? If the answer is no to those questions, then don’t eat it. Now, when you can see your abs and you are in the optimal body fat composition, then you deserve some more fun. Ask yourself these questions then: Did it grow on a tree or on a bush? If the answer is yes, now you deserve to eat these carbs.

Clean carbs that you deserve include fruits, rice, and quinoa. Fruits like dates, figs, blueberries, strawberries, and even bananas are great sources of clean carbohydrate intake. Grains like rice and quinoa are full of carbohydrate energy for replenishing muscle sugar after exercise. But remember, these foods are fuel and when taken in excess can lead to fuel storage (fat gain).

Do I need carbs for energy?

There is a myth that humans, even athletic humans, need carbohydrates for energy. The truth is that the body is designed to run on fuel from fats and proteins. These energy sources have more calories than carbohydrates per gram but the likelihood of you overindulging on these is minimal. Therefore, a diet high in protein, fat, and green vegetables will provide both enough nutrients and energy for a happy, healthy and energetic lifestyle.

If you are training at a high level and you want to minimize your carbohydrate intake but are worried about having enough energy, try L-glutamine. L-glutamine can restore glycogen stores, the sugar inside of muscle cells, after exercise. What is nice about L-glutamine is that it can restore this sugar to the muscle but it will not raise insulin levels. This keeps muscle soreness to a minimum. Ketones can also be used for energy if you find yourself really dragging.

Action point: Add 10g of L-glutamine to your dietary intake everyday.

The Fat Switch

Once the body has undergone some time of training with minimal amounts of carbohydrates, it will adapt to burning fat as fuel. This phenomenon has been referred to as ‘The Fat Switch.’ The Fat Switch is advantageous for endurance athletes, resistance training athletes, and those seeking to reduce visceral body fat. Visceral body fat is the brown fat that resides between your organs and inside your abdomen and is highly related to heart disease and cancer.

Action point: Try adding 30g of fish oil to your diet everyday to help your body start this adaptation.

Summary

Couple a daily high fat intake with a low to no carbohydrate diet to quickly train the body to burn fat as its primary fuel source. This will result in a leaner body fat composition.
Couple less body fat with some exercise and you begin to see your abdominal muscles appear.
Once your abdominal muscles are visible, you deserve some carbohydrates!

We hope that you have a bit more understanding of who ‘deserves carbs.’ If you have any questions about this nutrition topic or any related one, please feel free to ask during your next office visit. We are dedicated to seeing you reach your body composition goals as a part of helping you become healthier than you have ever been!