We are a dedicated team of professional personal trainers who create programs and classes designed to help move your body into the future YOU.

250-618-3443 3- 2330 McCollough road, Nanaimo Mo-Fr: 6am - 8:30pm | Sa: 7am - 3pm | Su: closed
Follow Us
v

Body Tempo

  /  Nutrition   /  Carbs… are they good or bad?

Carbs… are they good or bad?

We have all been through the low fat and no fat diets: they seemed to make sense. The thought process is simple: “…not eating fat means I won’t gain fat, right?” WRONG! The “fat-free” trend actually had the opposite effect for dieters. The reason is that in order to meet demand for “fat-free” products companies created low-fat, or zero fat items by adding more sugar and other chemicals. The problem here is that these ingredients caused more weight gain than if the would-be dieter just stuck to their old fat-riddled diet.

We are now starting to see the same trend with carbohydrates where companies are capitalizing on public perception that carbohydrates are intrinsically bad. Did you know that most vegetables are made up of carbohydrates? So if we follow this logic then even eating veggies must be bad for us! In reality, of course, there are good carbs and not so great ones just like with fats. Really any attempt to categorize the nutritional value of broad categories of food is inherently difficult. Sometimes it just takes a bit of common sense and some label-reading. In the meantime here’s a little list for you so you can get the “good” carbs and avoid packing on the fat.

Good Carbs:
  • All fruits and vegetables in their natural state
  • Brown Long grain rice
  • Potatoes all kinds
  • Rolled oats
No so great:
  • Potato chips
  • Breads… even the sprouted or ancient grains
  • Flavoured rice cakes
  • Pastries

If you need help with menu planning or nutrient timing I would be happy to help you figure out how to find a sustainable lifestyle balance when it comes to eating or training.

Happy Eating and Training