Carbohydrates & Fitness nutrition

On this subject we are often confronted with the following questions: What exactly are carbohydrates? Are they unhealthy? Do they make you fat?
We would like to communicate a little essential knowledge as compactly as possible. First, we come to the "what." Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients: fat, carbohydrate and protein, which consist of sugar molecules and differ in the number of sugar blocks. In our diet, carbohydrates play the most important role for the energy supply as well as fat.

However, carbohydrates have a bad reputation today. Many swear even to eat no more carbohydrates in the evening to prevent a weight gain. All those who are now approached are said that whether or not carbohydrates are fat or not, it does not matter whether they are eaten in the evening, in the morning or at noon. It is only the calorie balance that is important for a weight increase or decrease. In short, if I consume more energy than I absorb, I take it off. If I take more energy than I consume, I gain more. It’s as simple as that.

The timing of food intake may play a role in certain situations. For example, the glycogen stores (sugar stores) of the muscles are emptied after a strong physical load and must be refilled. This is a good time for fast carbohydrates (one- and two-way sugar) after the sport from the point of view of weight maintenance and reduction, because most of the carbohydrates taken up are not stored as fat, but preferably in the form of glycols. Of course, but only if the recorded quantity is limited. However, it is common to say that the time of food intake should play the smallest role in the dietary system.

What’s the issue with carbohydrates? Let us first lay down a few basic rules before we go into the details. It’s always recommended using foods with high nutrient content and low energy content. This means the amount of nutrients that a food is supplied by weight should be high and the amount of energy should be as low as possible.
The amount of energy that the various foods supply is usually expressed in kilocalories. Now, however, you do not have to memorize a table or the like in order to know how carbohydrates are healthy and in what form they are not recommended.

We all know since childhood that fruits and vegetables are healthy. And yes, even these contain carbohydrates. But these are mainly carbohydrate-bound carbohydrates, as they are also found in whole grain products.

Although the body cannot utilize the dietary fiber, dietary fiber can be used for other important functions in the intestine, to increase the sense of saturation, and to allow carbohydrates to be absorbed by the body at a slower pace. In addition, fruit and vegetables have a high nutrient content and low energy content.

Although there are no essential carbohydrates on the contrary to essential fatty acids (carbohydrates, which the body needs and can only be made available to them by food intake), it is by no means recommended to completely dispense with carbohydrates, just for the reason That this would also mean having to forego fruit and vegetables. The fear of the fact that even fruit sugar makes fat is in this case completely unfounded, because the concentration of sugar in the fruit is far too small to cause a weight gain. In the case of fruit juices, on the other hand, the whole situation looks different.

It’s much more important to choose the carbohydrate sources properly. In general it can be said: What nature gives you can’t be bad. In reverse, this means that highly processed foods are only to be recommended under reservation. Any form of food that is enriched with fast carbohydrates and at the same time low nutrient content should be avoided. Even if they taste good, they aren’t well for the body.