What Are Carbs

What Are Carbs?

And is it true that they are evil and will ruin your life??  First off “carbs” is short for carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients that make up our food.  Protein and fats are the other two.

And no, they are definitely not evil.  But can they ruin your life?  Sure, just like anything in excess can.  Too many carbs will lead to too many calories.  And too many calories leads to weight/fat gain. 

But so will too much protein or too much fat.  Any of the 3 macronutrients that you are consuming in excess will add up to too many calories.  And once again, TOO MANY CALORIES WILL LEAD TO WEIGHT GAIN.  If you take only one thing away from this article I hope it’s that.

Carbs tend to be higher in sugar which is why they get a bad rep.  So all of the delicious (addictive) stuff tends to be high in carbs…ice cream, candy, all the great snacks like potato chips, french fries, etc.  All of the delicious drinks like soda pop, beer, fruit juices, wine.  Heavy yummy foods like pasta, pizza, pancakes, waffles, etc.

And all of those options listed are certainly not great for us…IN EXCESS.  Of course a pizza slice here and there is fine, or some gelato occasionally is perfectly ok.  The problem is when we consume an entire pizza or an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting.  Binging like this regularly will regularly create a caloric surplus and likely lead to weight gain.

On the flip side there are better carb options like rice, sweet potato, lentils, beans, vegetables.  These carbs are a better source of energy and have a lower glycemic index.  Glycemic index is beyond the scope of this article so we won’t delve into that but the idea is these carbs give longer sustained energy vs a quick energy spike and crash like those sugary carbs listed above.

Here are some common carbs listed below grouped into bad and good:

Good

Vegetables

White/Brown Rice

Quinoa

Beans/Lentils

Sweet Potato/Red Potato

Bad

Sugar

Candy

Cake/Donuts

Soda Pop

Fruit Juice

Beer

Next question, what is not excessive carbs?  What is the correct amount to eat?  In general, and in balance, a good amount of carbs to take in daily is around your body weight in grams of carbs.  I maintain right around 200 lbs so I typically take in around 200 grams of carbs per day for maintenance.

People that are trying to drop weight or fat usually need to cut those numbers down by 25-50% though.  So when I’m trying to drop body fat I cut my carbs down to the 100-150 gram range.

How do I get that amount of carbs throughout my day?  We are going to use an example weight of 150 lbs so shooting for 100-150 grams of carbs.

Breakfast

2 eggs, bacon, potatoes (1 cup)

Carbs = 30 grams

Lunch

Chicken salad

Protein = 20 grams

Dinner

Salmon, broccoli, rice

Protein = 50 grams