In Defense of Carbs

            Recently, there has been more and more buzz surrounding the avoidance of carbohydrate as a healthy way to structure one’s eating habits.  There are a lot of misconceptions about what carbs are, what they do, how they’re utilized by the body, and their impact on health and body composition.  Unfortunately, as with most things that end up being discussed in the media to any significant degree, there is an overreaction in one direction or another.  Let’s clear up these ideas and hopefully get some people back to following sensible dietary habits.

Carbohydrates and General Health

            For some reason, what tends to happen in the world of specialized dietary practices is propagation of those practices to the general population.  I can’t explain why, but numerous special diets that are really intended to tackle a specific problem are eventually adopted by everyone as a “healthy eating practice.”  One of the biggest examples right now is the advertisement of many foods as gluten-free.  So many people seem to think eating gluten-free foods is somehow healthier for your average person.  There is literally nothing wrong with consuming gluten, unless, of course, you have a gluten allergy, or some other unique circumstance that would dictate the need for reduction or elimination of gluten from the diet.  Well, low carbohydrate diets started out the same way: a means of combating epilepsy.  A substantial amount of research has been done on low carb diets applied to this specific population.  For some reason, for which I’ve never seen a firm explanation, low carbohydrate diets do seem to stop or reduce seizures in some individuals.  So, if you are avoiding carbs to keep your seizures under control, then by all means.  If you’re part of the vast majority of the population that doesn’t have regular problems with seizures, then you have no reason to avoid carbohydrates.

            Carbohydrates tend to find themselves next to numerous micronutrients and phytochemicals which are positively associated with health.  For example, fiber (soluble and insoluble) and B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and folic acid) are both found in substantial amounts in grain products, which tend to be rich in carbohydrate.  How about fruits, which contain an innumerable variety of vitamins and minerals?  In my opinion, avoiding an entire subgroup of nutritious foods like this is never optimal for your average, healthy individual.  Removing an entire source of numerous micronutrients is asking for deficiencies.  Additionally, carbohydrates themselves have an important role in the body at a minimum: brain function.  Your brain cannot operate at full capacity without some glucose, which is what carbs are broken into before entering the bloodstream.  Even if you adapt to a low carbohydrate diet and start producing ketones (a substance derived from fatty acids) as an alternative brain fuel, you still need some small amount of carbohydrate.  The brain never quite adopts ketones as an exclusive fuel source  Carbohydrates are also stored in the liver and muscle tissue as a means of producing energy, especially higher intensity activity.  Your ability to produce energy at a high rate is severely compromised without any available carbohydrate.  Thus, carbs, as well as micronutrients found next to them in some foods, are very useful to the body!

Carbohydrate and Fat Loss

            Alright, here’s the section that half of the people reading this skipped over everything else to find.  Well, this is also one of the areas riddled with the most confusion.  First of all, let’s be clear that there is both fat loss and weight loss.  Fat loss describes the loss of stored body fat; weight loss describes the loss of weight for any reason.  When trying to improve the body composition (i.e. how you look naked) or health, fat loss is what matters.  It does not improve health to reduce the amount of retained water, muscle mass, bone mass, or anything similar.  Although giving up some body water can result in more visible musculature if you’re already pretty lean, it is not possible to maintain a constant state of dehydration for any prolonged period without compromising health and/or performance.

            In the case of carbohydrates, this distinction in loss of body mass is important.  Many people suggest that low carbohydrate dieting is “more effective.”  Well, let’s take a closer look at such claims.  Carbohydrate is a hydrophilic substance.  That’s a fancy way of saying that water molecules are attracted to it.  This largely explains why people see fairly dramatic weight loss the first week or two on a low carbohydrate diet.  You are losing a lot of your body’s stored carbohydrate (several hundred grams worth), and even more water along with that.  This can account for multiple pounds of weight loss seen in the initial stages of dieting.  Although I admit this can be motivating, and hopefully perpetuate continued success, it does nothing for direct improvements in health or looks.  Some people will take this another step further and suggest that low carbohydrate diets are also more effective for fat loss.  This is also patently untrue in the sense that most people imagine it.  In an acute sense, it is indeed true.  That is, you actually metabolize more fat to power activity.  However, in a more chronic sense, there is no substantial difference in fat lost between low and high carbohydrate diets.  Chronic is what we care about: sustained fat loss over a lengthier period of time.

Carbohydrates and Muscular Hypertrophy/Performance

            Let’s take a look at the impact carbohydrate can have on getting someone huge.  When talking about building muscle, the macronutrient that gets all the love is protein.  Well, I’m here to tell you that although sufficient protein is important, there is a point of diminishing returns.  The highest protein intake I have ever seen supported in a study is 2g protein/kg body weight.  For those who are lifting weights and looking to increase muscle mass, a range of about 1.5-2g/kg is frequently suggested.  So, for a 175lb person, that’s about 120-160g of protein per day, which equates to 480-640 calories per day.  That’s a fairly small portion of the required calories for the day if you’re trying to gain mass.  Where are the rest of the calories going to come from?  You definitely want some portion to come from fat, but recommended daily intake typically falls between 15-30% of total calories.  So, if you’re smart, a big portion will be coming from carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are extremely anabolic because of their insulinogenic (result in increases in insulin production) nature, and also provide the primary type of fuel needed to power sets of resistance training geared toward muscle growth.  Carb intake for the day for an individual looking to increase muscle mass should be about 5-7g/kg.  Again, for our 175lb individual, that would be about 400-560g of carbs per day.

            As well, carbohydrate provides an especially potent boost to performance and muscle growth when consumed before and after a workout.  This is true for both endurance and strength performance alike.  For those competing in endurance events, if you haven’t looked into carbohydrate loading or consumption during a race, I suggest looking into it.  Performance improvements from ingesting sufficient carbohydrate, especially when properly timed, is well documented.  Also, for those interested in getting big and strong, carbohydrate ingested before or after a workout has been shown to increase protein synthesis (manufacturing of new proteins) dramatically.  Most people think protein shakes are the best thing to consume around a workout.  Yes, protein is important, but protein ingested alone doesn’t do much; carbohydrate ingested alone actually does quite a lot.  The two consumed together is the sweet spot, with suggestions ranging from 2-4x more carbs relative to protein.

Go Eat Some Carbs!

            If you haven’t gathered, I think including sufficient carbohydrate in your diet is quite important, especially for more active individuals who can take advantage of the performance benefits.  I am of the mind that excluding any major food group from your diet is not optimal for health.  Different food groups all bring something to the table, and losing out on the nutrition that group provides just doesn’t make sense to me.

            This article isn’t a license to eat a bucket full of noodles.  Even if carbohydrates are important for numerous reasons, many of the forms you find them in are quite calorie dense.  You should be aware of this and moderate accordingly.  However, total elimination is not the answer.  This is Michael Phillips signing off, preparing  to go eat a Chipotle burrito to keep my muscles fueled.