How the Body Uses Carbohydrates

 

Carbs are broken down into simple sugars, and in turn absorb through the bloodstream.  As your sugar levels increase your pancreas releases a hormone (insulin), which transports glucose into your cells supplying them with their source of energy. When this process happens too quickly your energy is used up faster and you become hungry sooner.  However, when the process is slower as with; complexed carbs your energy levels are sustained longer.  Which mean you are satisfied longer, thus you eat less.

Carbohydrates produce six different functions in the body:

Provide energy and regulation of blood sugar

1. Sparing the use of proteins for energy
2. Breakdown of fatty acids and preventing ketosis
3. Biological recognition processes
4. Flavor and Sweeteners
5. Dietary fiber

There appears to be a direct link between what is going on with the blood sugar and diabetes and heart disease.  This makes it very important for you to select your carbs wisely to maintain healthy levels of insulin in your blood to avoid these diseases.

NancyT

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CARBOHYDRATES

Most foods contain carbs, which the body breaks down into simple sugars and are the major source of energy for our bodies.  Understanding carbs and their purpose will help us make healthier carb choices and not get caught up in fad carb diets. 

Carbohydrates give the body energy to perform its many functions. There are two different types of carbs; simple and complex.

 Simple Carbs (simple sugars) are found in table sugar, candy, fruit and milk.  Of those three, fruit and milk are the healthier choices.   Fruit contains vitamins and fiber and  milk contains calcium. (I am not a big advocate of milk and I will share why at a later time).  While simple sugars give a quick energy increase, they also crash quickly causing you to be hungry sooner.

 Complex Carbs(starches) include the grain products; bread, pasta, crackers, vegetables and rice.  It is always best to select unrefined grain products over refined.  Refined, are white flour, white rice any thing that has been bleached and or processed.  Unrefined grains are best because they have not been processed to the point of removing fiber, vitamins and minerals. These carbs stick with you longer with the added bonus of fiber, which helps with digestion and elimination.

NancyT

Plan Your Success Part 2

Knowing our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is helpful when planning our meals.  This tells us how many calories we need to stay at our current weight or to achieve our desired weight.  Go to (http://exercise.about.com/library/blbmrcalculator.htm) and plug in your height, weight and gender to get your BMR.

1.  Decide how much we want to lose each week (no more than 1 -2 lbs.) and pace ourselves accordingly.  Losing weight too fast can result in saggy skin and can sometimes be unhealthy. 
2. Keep track of our blood pressure.  BP machines are free at most Fry’s Food Stores.
3. Take a week to observe what we actually eat.  Write down every single thing that goes into our mouths daily.  We’ll be surprised at some of the mindless eating we often do.

Meal planning is vital to weight loss.   In order to maintain good health it is best to eat balanced meals.  Let’s plan our meals and try to eat more whole foods and less processed foods.  Taking a lunch to work verses eating out will not only help our waistlines but also save money.  Include healthy snacks such as carrots, celery, fresh fruit, nut and berries.  We can make our own trail mix with nuts and raisins, so we don’t get too hungry in between meals.

Eating an apple a day is really good for us!  God’s natural candies (fresh fruit) are healthy and make great snacks when on the go.  Drink plenty of water.  Listen to your body it will tell you when you eat something that does not agree with you.  You know that bloated feeling you get after a heavy greasy meal.  That’s your body telling you not to do that again.

Remember, we don’t want to live to eat; we want to eat to live!

NancyT

My Strategy For Weight Loss

I don’t like the word diet because the first three letters spell die, and I am not trying to do that right now.  So I opt to eat more living foods such as fruits, nuts and vegetables as close to their natural state as possible.   

 Now that doesn’t mean I don’t have fried chicken, which is my personal favorite.  But I keep the bad, unhealthy meals to a minimum.  I do a Daniel fast at least twice a year.  During this time I only eat raw fruits, nuts and vegetables for a month.  It gives your body a rest from all the processed junk.  It allows you to get protein and fiber which helps clean you out.  I usually chop up the vegetables differently for different taste.  For salad dressing I mix together pure lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

By the time I finish my Daniel fast, my taste buds have changed.  I gradually reintroduce meats and other things into my meals and often find that they don’t taste as good as they once they did.  But the best secret I can pass on to you is how to structure your plate at meal times.  If you follow this you will lose weight.

●Make sure ½ of your plate is filled with fruits and/or vegetables,  ¼ grains and beans and only ¼ is devoted to meat, poultry or fish:

   

●Fill up on high fiber food and you won’t have much room for the other stuff.  I have  a salad with every sit down meal, even if it is just some fried chicken!

 ●Drink plenty of pure water and don’t substitute any other drink!If you’re a soda drinker cut down as soon as possible.  Later I’ll explain why.

 NancyT

Plan Your Success Part 1

The bible teaches us to write our plans down and make them plain and a healthy body is (or should be) part of our overall life plan. Some of us may need to modify our weight because of health issues. We highly recommend consulting your Doctor prior to starting any weight loss program.

Let’s note where we are and set some realistic goals for ourselves.

1) Write down our measurements including neck, arms (biceps), above and     under the breasts, waist, abdomen, hips, both thighs, calves.
2) Weigh ourselves and then decide:

• What size we want to wear (4, 5, 6, 10 or 12)
• How much we want to weigh
• What we want our measurements to be (36, 24, 36 is not for everyone)
• Favorite kind of exercise
• How often we will exercise (3 times a week is ideal)

3) Keep a weekly log of our progress. Take note of setbacks (why, what we can do differently, etc.) and be encouraged by our accomplishments.

NancyT