Thursday 3 February 2011

Carb control

Having spent a week in France without eating any cheese or chocolate you might think I have exceptional self-control when it comes to food! But for all my restraint in avoiding particular foods I'm not immune to over-eating, having eyes much bigger than my stomach!

Whenever I over-eat it's always high carb foods such as chips, crisps and pasta - it's really quite hard to binge on high protein foods. Whilst I love my carbs, eating a whole bag of doritos in one go really isn't great for the waistline, so whenever my jeans are feeling a bit snug it's time to cut back the carbs.

I'm really not cut out for a genuine low-carb diet, firstly you need robust adrenals glands (good resistance to stress) and secondly it's not ideal for anyone who trains regularly (other than as a short-term strategy to increase the ratio at which you burn fats to sugars for endurance sports). Low carb diets leave me light-headed, grumpy and reaching for coffee to keep me going ... not good!

However, cutting back carbs to a level where I'm still metabolizing normally (rather than going into Ketosis) gets me back on the straight and narrow and into my skinny jeans!

I'm not one for counting carbs, calories or anything else for that matter, so my rule is simple. I don't eat a portion of starchy carbs larger than the size of my fist with any meal or snack, and add extra protein and non-starchy veg to fill me up. I also avoid all high GI refined carbs (potatoes, white bread/pasta/rice any sugar) so I'm just eating healthy wholegrains that are more filling. It's not that sophisticated but losing weight doesn't need to involve complex maths ... just a bit of carb control!
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