How Ditching Carbs Can Hurt You
/For decades, carbohydrates have been the black sheep of macronutrients.
They are often demonized, with labels such as “the enemy”, “fattening”, and “inflammatory”, among others. With the aid of fear mongering media reports and articles directing people to avoid carbs, we have become a society in fear of bread, grains, and even fruit and certain vegetables.
The truth, as supported by the vast majority of the professional nutrition and dietetics community, is that carbohydrates are an essential component of a balanced, healthy diet.
So, before you kick carbs to the curb, let’s take a look at why they are important to health, performance, and well-being.
What are carbs and why are they important?
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients essential for health and can be categorized into fibers, starches, and sugars. Fiber and starch are complex carbohydrates, whereas sugars are referred to as simple carbohydrates. Carbs are primarily found in plant foods, with the exception of dairy which contains the sugar lactose and provides a wide array of essential vitamins and minerals. Other bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and antioxidants are found in a variety of carbohydrate-rich foods and are known to reduce inflammation and play a protective role against acute and chronic disease.
Common sources of carbohydrates include beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy. Found in these foods are nutrients such as B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and vitamins A, D and E, to name a few. These nutrients are crucial for immune health, energy production, growth and development, skin health, muscle contractions, sleep, and more.
Carbs are critical for optimal performance
Have you ever felt like you “hit the wall” while training or participating in a sport? This feeling is often due to your body running low on glycogen, the stored form of glucose in your liver and muscles. The only way to supply glucose to working muscles and replenish glycogen stores is by consuming carbohydrates. If glycogen is not sufficiently replenished, performance takes a nosedive. This is due to the body having a lower energy availability for subsequent exercise sessions. You wouldn’t expect your car to travel 200 miles on a quarter-tank of gas, would you?
When you fuel your body with carbs before a training session or competition, you increase your ability to sustain activity for longer durations at higher intensities. Likewise, when you consume the right form of carbohydrate, at the right time, in the right amount, you may notice a positive impact on performance. This is due to carbohydrates acting as an ergogenic aid, a substance or device that enhances energy production, use, and/or recovery. Would you be surprised to know carbs enhance all three? It’s true – they are that awesome.
Carbs can improve performance in other ways as well, such as supporting hydration and helping to build muscle. With every 1 gram of glycogen stored in the muscles, 3 grams of water is stored. This stored water aides in preventing muscle cramps and dehydration. As for muscle building, studies show that ingestion of protein and carbs after exercise enhances muscle protein synthesis, the process of muscle growth and repair. Very frequently, protein is overemphasized while carbs are overlooked as an important factor for muscle building. This is not to say protein is not crucial to building muscle, rather, that carbs are also important.
Carbs are an excellent source of fiber and support intestinal and digestive health
Fiber is another nutrient often overlooked as it relates to health. Carbohydrates provide most of the fiber in our diet from vegetables, fruits and grains. The fiber from these foods are immensely important to health and well-being as it impacts a variety of systems in the body, especially the digestive system. Fiber also promotes heart and vascular health by lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation, in addition to reducing risk of colon cancer.
Some of the ways in which fiber promotes intestinal health is by providing fuel for the intestinal microbiota (your gut bugs, as I like to call them) and supporting adequate motility and digestion. Having ample fiber in your diet cultivates the optimal environment for gut bugs to thrive and promotes diversity.
When you take care of your gut bugs, they take care of you. They do so by generating short-chain fatty acids that provide fuel to your colonocytes (cells lining your colon) and maintaining an environment that keeps the colonocytes healthy. Another way they benefit health is through taking part in the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter most known for its impact on mood. Though, within the gut, serotonin plays a different role by promoting gut motility and digestive secretions.
Carbs support brain health
Have you ever felt fatigued, foggy, or had difficulty concentrating after skipping a meal or waiting too long before eating? This is likely due to your brain running low on its preferred fuel source, glucose, from carbohydrates. Glucose is the sole energy source for the brain, except during prolonged starvation. Each day, your brain requires a minimum of about 130 grams of carbs to function optimally, so it is important to consume an adequate amount of carbohydrates to keep your mind energized, clear, and focused.
Now, you may have heard “carbs make you tired”, and while this can be true in certain circumstances, carbs are not always the culprit. There are many factors that affect how much energy you feel during the day, including sleep quality, medications, supplements, physical activity, meal composition and balance, meal timing, meal portion sizes, blood sugar management, and more. So, it is best to work with a registered dietitian and your physician to identify causes of poor sleep and daytime fatigue before ditching carbs.
With that said, carbs can promote better sleep, which has a profound effect on cognitive function and performance. When you consume a carbohydrate-rich meal, insulin facilitates transport of tryptophan, an amino acid, across the blood brain barrier. Tryptophan is then available to form serotonin and eventually, melatonin, both of which play significant roles in regulating sleep patterns. Studies show consuming a carbohydrate-rich meal 4 hours before bed improves sleep quality and duration. On the other hand, low-carb diets have been significantly associated with insomnia symptoms.
So, here’s the deal…
It is challenging to separate fact from fiction when it comes to nutrition information and recommendations. Nutrition is a science, which means it takes collaborating with an expert in the field to guide you in the right direction using science-based evidence. As for carbohydrates, science tells us they are essential to life and are vital for optimal functioning and performance, health, and well-being, so think twice before reducing or cutting them out of your diet.
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