Carbs

Living a healthy lifestyle is not about strict diet limitations, trying to be unrealistically thin or depriving yourself of the foods you love. For me, it’s all about feeling great, having more energy, improving my outlook on life and stabilising my mood.
There is some very overwhelming and conflicting diet advice out there, don’t be discouraged, you’re not alone.
Let me help you cut thought all this confusion and learn how to create a healthier lifestyle that is good for mind and body.
Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain weight, build muscle, become fitter, feel better, feel stronger, have more energy, check out these tips to help achieve a healthier improved you.
So following on with the nutrition blog posts let’s talk about Carbs today…….

Carbohydrates (Carbs) are made up of sugars, starch and fibre. We need carbs for energy. When you eat carbs, your body breaks them down, turns them into glucose, which is used for immediate energy or stored in your muscles as glycogen for use later. When you are active and exercising regularly, means you will need more energy and will need to replenish regularly.
If you choose to overeat/choose the ‘wrong’ kind of carbs, your body will store the excess glycogen and convert it into fat, so will/can lead to weight gain.

You should include:
Starchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potato, squashes, and soaked/sprouted/fermented grains and produce, eg spelt pasta and rice. Also includes exercise recovery drinks, sugars, sweets, fizzy drinks, etc.
When should you eat them?
Best time to get the best results is first meal of the day and post workout. It’s all dependant on energy and goals. If you do your workout in the afternoon then please include carbs with your evening meal, this ensures your body can recover from the workout.
How much do you need at each meal?
• Women- similar to size to palm of hand, can have more if getting hungry or lacking energy, listen to that body.
• Men-about double the size of palm of hand, again as with woman can play with amounts.
Don’t forget sugar is a carb, so try to minimise or cut back on this. Things like a chocolate bar or bag of sweets, fizzy drinks all limit our progress so try to avoid.

Choosing between good and bad carbs:
You shouldn’t necessarily being asking if it’s a good or bad carb but has it been processed and if it has chances are it’s less nutritious for you than say the whole food would be.
If it comes in a box, packet, has ingredients in the list you can pronounce, or doesn’t look like its original state, then the nutrient density is defiantly going to be lower. The fibre content also tends to be lower in such products. Which can irritate the gut, and of course the sugar content in product will be higher, which can therefore result in fat gain, so best avoided or kept to a minimum.
Whole food carbs will be much more nutrient dense and ensure you have a good slow release of energy, resulting in a healthier metabolism to help burn fat and support healthy muscle growth. One of my favourite carbs is oats, I soak overnight to break down the starch and help my body digest it better. It provides a slow release of energy after eating them. The best time to eat carbs for me, is first thing and post workout to replenish energy levels.
Let me know your thoughts on Carbs and please don’t cut them out of your diet as they are a vital nutrient the body needs to be healthy and strong.

I’ll be back next week continuing on with this nutrition mini series, and it will be all about Fats.
Stay Flawsome my friend,
Lots of love,
Jem xoxo
P.S. Want to plan your meals and track what you eat, as the week goes on? Why not check out my 90 Day Journal here!


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** DISCLAIMER **
I am not a dietician or a doctor. The ideas suggested here, are intended to be used for educational purposes only based on my own personal experiences. The author ‘Jemma Stevens’ ‘Flawsome Jem’, is not rendering medical advice, nor to diagnose, prescribe or treat, any disease, condition, injury or illness.
It is imperative before beginning any exercise or nutrition programme, that you receive full medical clearance from your GP (doctor/physician).
Flawsome Jem and Jemma Stevens, claim no responsibility for any person or entity, for any liability, loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused as a result of the use, application or interpretation of the materials presented here.
Please understand there are some links, that I may benefit from financially.
No part of this publication, shall be reproduced, transmitted or sold, in whole, or in part, in any for, without prior written consent from the author.
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Flawsome Jem (c) 2019.

Carbs

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