Are Carbs Important? The Most Discussed Macro-nutrient
Carbohydrates some people fear this macro-nutrient and some people love it! Today I blog about how carbs are an essential part of helping humans function. Let's start by bringing it all the way back to biology. Your body can run on three sources for energy protein, carbohydrates, and fat. There's diets out there that are based on carb cycling, high protein diets, and trending diets that use "fat" as fuel. Now I have had my own experiences with trying different diets and have learned a lot from them.
One diet in particular is carb cycling back when I trained for bodybuilding shows this is what I followed to get lean and shredded. I realized while doing this diet although I became lean and shredded my body didn't feel very healthy because my mental game was challenged (basically I wasn't thinking clearly at times due to lack of carbs) and my energy would be very low on the low carb days and on the high carb days I would feel so much better mentally and physically. That's one way I learned the importance of carbs besides the usual biology I learned in school.
Carbohydrates are the first fuel source your body utilizes for energy, then fats, and lastly proteins. Some diets use fat as the primary source of fuel and although this may work with helping you lose weight, I personally do not necessarily think this type of diet is good for longevity because there is a lack of carbohydrates. When fat is used as energy all the time ketones develop and if the body develops into ketosis and then ketoacidosis this can be very detrimental to one's health (ie: hormones, insulin, etc. pick up any anatomy and physiology book to learn more about it).
We can also get into simple carbs vs complex carbs or another topic some people like to call "good carbs vs bad carbs" (hahaha is there even a such thing?), but that would be a whole other blog post lol. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are equally important to help humans function. Each macro-nutrient has a way of helping the body grow, regulate, and fuel the body to help us perform daily activities. Remember the reason why "trendy diets" work for losing weight is because the diet is eliminating garbage foods one may have eaten prior to starting the diet or the diet may include cutting calories (which is a whole other blog post too lol). My diet now consists of eating balanced meals of carbs, fats, and proteins to help function better in life. Everyone has their preferences on diets and some work differently than others, but I feel like carbs are an important source for helping people function.
