Saturday, January 24, 2009

Carbs and Weight Loss, Important Facts You Should Know

By Ricardo d Argence

You'll find that when you are interested in weight loss that the question of carbs comes up quite quickly, whether you are trying to shed those last few pesky pounds or you are looking at making drastic lifestyle change. When you are on a low carb diet you have a wide selection of foods available to select from, there are many foods in the market claiming they are low in carbs.

There are some facts you need to know about them before you make a decision. For example, what carbs are? Or, does cutting them out really cause you lose weight?

Initially, it is important that you are aware of what carbohydrates actually are. Carbohydrates, generally referred to as carbs, are very important in providing energy to the body.

Simple carbohydrates include sugars, while complex carbohydrates include starches. The difference between these two is how your body processes them. Simple carbohydrates are found in things ranging from pizza and chocolate to fruits, and they give your body a quick burst of energy.

Complex carbs are found in breads, cereals, nuts, pasta, and vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and corn. Starches take more time to digest, the release of energy is slow and it will last longer throughtout your body.

Both simple carbs and complex carbs are necessary for your body to function correctly, as you might expect. Consider that sometimes you feel immediate need for a quick energy boost, but you also need the foods that help you to maintain a steady metabolism.

The best way to make sure that you keep your energy going with simple carbs is to have a bit of fruit in the morning to get you started and eating well rounded meals that have good complex carbs in them. You store energy in the form of fat when you eat too many carbs. That's the reason why we gain weight.

So with this in mind, you'll find that it is quite important to look carefully at diets that claim to help you cut carbs. The problem that many people have with carbohydrates is the fact that they eat too much of them.

Cutting a whole food group out for yourself like this is typically a poor idea unless there is a problem with your body's ability to cope with them. When you are in a place where you want to lose weight, it is true that carb reduced diets do help to a certain extent, but frequently, they help simply because you are cutting back. As you can see from the facts above, your body does use carbohydrates for good things as well as bad!

What you should do, instead of cutting carbs, is just eat them in moderation and get a lot of exercise. Exercise can go a long way towards getting you the right kind of weight loss that you need, particularly when you are eating well, and it will help you get toned up and looking great. This is an important part of getting the body you want. - 15266

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