Miscellaneous
Today's Episode is the first installment in a multi-part series on Carbohydrates.We answer frequently asked questions about carbohydrates including:What are carbohydrates?What are the different types of carbohydrates?Do we even need carbohydrates? If so, how much carbohydrate do we need?Can the body create its own glucose or do we need carbohydrate in our diets?We touch on ketosis and the ketogenic diet and discover that there is no such thing as an "Essential Carbohydrate" However, things are more complicated than that. Carbohydrates are our fastest and the body's preferred source of energy. This can be both a good and a bad thing. We discuss how carbohydrates are digested in the body starting with salivary amylase in the mouth and through the GI tract.More importantly. we discuss what happens when you have an excess of glucose in your body. Excess glucose is concerted into glycogen, but there are only 2 areas in the body that can store excess glycogen.Excess glucose that can not be stored as glycogen will be converted to fat and deposited into adipose tissue. We also answer some of the questions people have above eating combinations of foods. For example, some people promote not to have carbs and fats in the same meal.We introduce Smart Carbs (or complex carbs), which will be covered in more detail in Episode 13.What is carb cycling? and how do you use that in weight loss and weight management?What about endurance athletes and the concept of fat adaptation? Yes, these do exist. What about the old myths about carb loading before a big race? What about nutrition and fuelling (re-fuelling) strategies for marathons and endurance events? How do you prefer muscle breakdown during endurance events?Question of the week from Chris in Singapore - "what are the best sources of soluble and insoluble fibre?"