Do Bread and Pasta Make You Fat?

by Tony Bianchino, owner Out Run Your Fork Personal Training and Nutrition in Westfield, NJ

Everyone always asks me if carbs are bad for you.

I always come back with this question: “Why do you ask?”

Their answer is usually something like this:

“Well, everything I read tells you that carbs make you gain weight… you know, bread, pasta, pretzels… I thought pretzels were ok to have. I used to eat potato chips and switched to pretzels because I thought they were better for you. They have so much less fat and calories. I’m confused. What can I do?”

Not all carbs are created equal.

“What do you mean? Calories are calories and all carbs are carbs, right? Is there something I’m missing?”

Yes, a lot!

For starters, carbs can be divided into two categories: High glycemic and low glycemic. Here’s what that means:

High Glycemic Carbs:

This is just a fancy way of saying carbohydrates that spike your blood sugar. They get into the gut, digested and released into your blood stream VERY quickly.

Now, your blood is only to have a certain amount of carbs (called glucose) at any one given time.

You can think of it as a crowded room. Have you ever seen those signs at a restaurant or bar that says something like “Maximum Capacity 110”?

That means only 110 people can be in that restaurant at any one time. Any more people in the restaurant would be illegal. Bad things could happen. For example, in the event of a fire, too many people would rush the door, crowding the doorway. Everyone may not get out alive.

Well, something similar is true with respect to the amount of blood sugar (glucose) that is allowed in your blood at any given time. That number is 76 – 110 mg/dl. So, imagine that number is similar to the number of people allowed in a restaurant at any one time.

But, unlike a restaurant, your body can’t regulate the amount of glucose entering the blood stream once it is digested. And it’s REALLY dangerous to have too much blood glucose.

So, how do our bodies deal with this glucose occupancy limit: By releasing insulin!

Insulin. The dreaded foe of every diabetic.

Insulin’s job is similar to a that of a taxi cab… Once your blood gets overcrowded with glucose, insulin shows up on the scene to take glucose to an alternative destination. That alternative destination is usually fat storage! Watch this quick video by a personal trainer near me to see why High Glycemic Foods make you fat »

Released by the pancreas, insulin floods into your blood stream and quickly does its job. All these little taxi cabs get in an out as fast as they can.

But sometimes these taxi cabs take a few too many passengers from the crowded room and then blood glucose drops drastically. Well below the required 76mb/dl level.

What happens next? Your body realizes that it needs more glucose fast! Your brain immediately sends out signals (ghrelin) that make you hungry for something that will raise your blood glucose quickly. And what foods raise your blood glucose quickly?

Sugar! and other high glycemic foods.

This is why we get hungry after eating Chinese Food. The rice is high glycemic causing a spike in blood sugar and eliciting an over reactive insulin response. Wow.

How do you avoid this? Eat lower glycemic foods.

Low Glycemic Foods

Low glycemic is just a technical term for foods that get digested and released into the blood stream at a much slower rate than high glycemic foods.

Examples of low glycemic foods include: sweet potatoes, beans, tart apples, peaches, pears, berries, prunes, plums, whole oats, and steel cut oats.

To learn more about how to avoid weight gain from high glycemic foods, check out this short video »

Part two of that video is here »

If you want help getting your nutrition right, then click this link and I’ll work with you personally in order to get your diet right!

Tony Bianchino, owner, Out Run Your Fork Personal Training and Nutrition near me in Westfield, NJ

When this happens, your body produces a LOT of insulin.