Since we launched body contouring promotion in this month, we had nearly tripled body contouring booking compare with normal time. After clients finished their sessions, one of the questions I get asked most often is "how to keep the body contouring result for a long period?" While...my answer is "change your lifestyle, especially your diet. After all, your calorie intake needs to be at least the same as your calorie expenditure, so you can keep your body in a good shape". Lots of people now think that a healthy diet consists of only eating food with high protein and crude fiber but cutting out carbohydrates completely. I want to point out this is so wrong. After having my first child, I was very anxious about my body shape for a while, and I asked a dietitian customize a diet plan for me which can help me get body shape back quickly. And what my dietitian has been instilling in me is that you must never cut out your carbohydrate intake. So with knowledges I learned from my dietitian, today let's talk about how to properly consume carbohydrates during the fat loss period.
1. Can we really getting slim without taking carbohydrate?
The answer is definatly NO. There is another name of carbohydrate which is "sugars". In nowadys, we all learned from TV or magazines that sugar is a key factor of inflammation, aging, acne, and obesity. So in our mind sugars is contrary with slim or beauty. But there are not many people realized carbohydrate converted "sugars" is not the sugar we normally talked about. Carbohydrates converted "sugars" are the main energy source for the human body. Together with proteins and fats, they are collectively referred to as the "three macronutrients". So it can be directly concluded that our life can not survival without carbohydrates.
If we cut out carbohydrates, our metabolism rate will getting slower. This obviously against the basic concept of weight lossing, which is burning fat quickly. Therefore, when carbohydrates are ingested, your blood sugar and insulin start to secreting, which will synthesize and secrete "leptin". The main function of leptin is to limit the content of adipose tissue. It's more like leptin telling your brain you already full, and then you stop eating. Then leptin and insulin together will help you metabolizing all calories intaked. However, complete blockage or excessive carbohydrates intake will diactive leptin and then induce resistance. As a result, metabolism may slow down, and your brain doesn't recognise you already full, so overeating will occur.
In addition, as mentioned earlier, carbohydrates are an important source of energy. If there are not enough carbohydrates been took, our body will firstly burn protein in the muscles as energy, which will result in muscle loss. At the same time, fat cannot be efficiently converted into energy. All of these will cause your body shape looks very loose and baggy.
So in summary, reasonable intake carbohydrate is necessary for preventing the body from gaining weight quickly.
2. Cutting out carbohydrate does make you change
If we cut carbohydrates intake completely, our body is bound to getting some changes. But the question is "will our body change in positive way or negative way?"
According to research, 80% of people suffered from poor sleep quality, insomnia, and bad temper during their weight loss period. Most people think these are very common, but not many people knew these are actually related to elevated "cortisol". Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that from the adrenal glands. It will soar under stress, staying up in night, unhealthy diet, and excessive exercises. High level cortisol will cause emotional instability and overeat. And cortisol just like leptin, is also inextricably linked to carbohydrates. Reasonable intake of carbohydrates can maintain the stability of blood sugar, stabilize the secretion of leptin, reduce the excessive increase of cortisol, and have a positive impact on the weight loss plan.
Furthermore, brain function is mainly maintained by carbohydrates. If you do not consume starchy foods at all, it may lead to unresponsiveness, inability to concentrate, and dizziness. Over time, it may even cause emotional problems. Women will also experience hormone level disorders when they lack of carbohydrates. The most intuitive is that aging is accelerated and the skin is sagging; more serious, it may become the reason of irregular menstruation. Carbohydrates are also an important source of hair nuturation. When the intake of carbohydrates is insufficient, your body will preferentially decompose proteins to ensure that the human body has sufficient energy, which will lead the supply of hair follicles insufficient, then the hair will become dry, yellow, fragile and easy to fall off.
3. How should we consume carbohydrates reasonably
When we talk about carbohydrates, we normally think of pasta, chips, bread etc. These are classic starches and sugars. If we consume them correctly, they will be digested and converted into glucose which will provide energy to our body. If we want to lose fat reasonably, our daily carbohydrate intake should be NO LESS than 100 grams. However, it is not means you can eat what ever you want without limit. Because excessive glucose will be converted into fat and accumulated in you body, finally leading to obesity. Different types of carbohydrates should be mix consumed daily. For example, fruits and vegetables are considered as green carbohydrates. Grains and beans are considered as high fibre carbohydrates. These are "good carbohydrates" which should be mix consumed with small amount of white refined carbohydrates such as bread or pasta. Furthermore, high sugar and high fat in refined food is always the problem on nowadays. But if you eat these foods with less frequently, and only take small amount in each time, fat won't accumulate in your body. Actually these foods can be used as a placebo, they will improve your happiness during fat loss period.
In Summary
I'm not an expert in nutrition area, and most of what I knew are from my dietitian. I hope my limited knowledges can help you better understanding how important carohydrates to our body. Whether it's for health or good looks, find a way that suits you, implement it scientifically and reasonably, and focus on taking care of your physical and mental feelings during the process. Let's enjoy a beautiful and happy life together.
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