Just joined gym!

[misombra]

i just signed up for a couple workout classes at the community college. i've also been on a low carb diet for the last two weeks. i had gained a bunch of weight during that whole fiasco with my family. eating out, eating unhealthy things. i was beginning to feel like shit. now i'm feeling better and i'm not abusing the comfort foods anymore.

[1averagejoe]

i've also been on a low carb diet for the last two weeks.

Don't tell me you're doing that Atkins diet bs. If you are, stop. It's terrible for you.

[misombra]

no. i still eat fruit. i just stopped eating white rice, bread, snacks, sweets, sodas, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and a bunch of other delicious things that i formerly loved to eat.

[miSSleepy]

the whole low carb thing doesn't last and doesn't work in the long run. You can't feasibly keep up a low carb diet forever, and when you get off the diet, the weight comes back on again. You need to make an effort to eat healthy permanently, not diet.

no. i still eat fruit. i just stopped eating white rice, bread, snacks, sweets, sodas, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and a bunch of other delicious things that i formerly loved to eat.

eat brown rice, eat wholemeal bread or multigrain bread, EAT SNACKS *PLEASE*, give yourself some sweets once or twice a week, and eat pasta.

[misombra]

i do eat that stuff.

i'm making brown rice as we speak. i'm still eating carbs! just staying away from the ones that will make my blood sugar rise.

diabetes runs in my family and i have to watch out for that.

[shh!]

Good for you for keeping an eye on that, misombra... I am getting a rotation at a diabetic foot clinic this semester... I will be seeing some nasty things.

Have you ever had your blood sugars evaluated?

[misombra]

well at my last job i worked with people who were diabetic and i got to learn all about it and would use their monitors sometimes to check. i was always okay but then i read somewhere that people turn 30 and their endocrine(???) system doesn't work so well...

i don't know, some such medical jargon...

[Lipp]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, I'm naturally thin and am trying to gain some weight while training alongside it, and I went into wholegrain breads/brown rice/wholemeal pasta e.t.c, since I figured if I was going to eat quite a bit it might as well be healthy so that it goes for my muscles rather than the stomach.

But are these sources low-carb and thus more useful for losing weight rather than building up?

[Gribble]

Wait... what's wrong with white rice? How could that possibly be bad?

[Lipp]

Wait... what's wrong with white rice? How could that possibly be bad?

Googling came up with this -

Rice goes through a variety of processes before it's ready for cooking. After harvesting, the seeds are run through a rice huller/husker for milling to remove the outer grain husks. After this process, you're left with brown rice. Nice and simple.

To create white rice, there's added steps. The germ and the inner husk (bran) is removed, the grain is then polished, usually using glucose or talc.

The crazy thing is that these added steps to turn brown rice to white remove nutrients that are sometimes then introduced back in via synthetic sources - this is called fortified white rice. The same type of thing happens in brown bread vs. white bread scenario.

The loss of nutrients is broad and substantial. Plain white rice has far less Vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folacin, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron and over dozen other nutrients. Added to that, the dietary fiber contained in white rice is around a quarter of brown rice.

[url]http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/94/1/Brown-rice-vs-white-rice.html[/url]

[miSSleepy]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, I'm naturally thin and am trying to gain some weight while training alongside it, and I went into wholegrain breads/brown rice/wholemeal pasta e.t.c, since I figured if I was going to eat quite a bit it might as well be healthy so that it goes for my muscles rather than the stomach.

But are these sources low-carb and thus more useful for losing weight rather than building up?

ahh...no? they're not low carb.
eat plenty of protein... meat, eggs
have some avocado
have a banana, have a whole bunch,
it doesn't matter, what you had for lunch
just eat it

[Lipp]

Ah, good, probably just misunderstood the previous posts.

[shh!]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, I'm naturally thin and am trying to gain some weight while training alongside it, and I went into wholegrain breads/brown rice/wholemeal pasta e.t.c, since I figured if I was going to eat quite a bit it might as well be healthy so that it goes for my muscles rather than the stomach.

But are these sources low-carb and thus more useful for losing weight rather than building up?

They aren't low-carb, but they aren't highly processed. Everyone should eat this way. Whole grain foods provide more nutrients than unrefined foods, and they are associated with a slower and less dramatic rise and fall of blood sugar. They are better for weight control, but eating the highly-processed foods don't help you build muscle.

[misombra]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, I'm naturally thin and am trying to gain some weight while training alongside it, and I went into wholegrain breads/brown rice/wholemeal pasta e.t.c, since I figured if I was going to eat quite a bit it might as well be healthy so that it goes for my muscles rather than the stomach.

But are these sources low-carb and thus more useful for losing weight rather than building up?

well, from what i read... those foods have the same amount of carbohydrates but they're complex and the body processes them slower than sugar or white bread/rice. when your body processes sugars quickly you get a rise in blood glucose, and insulin is produced by the pancreas. when there's a big spike in blood glucose, then the insulin comes in to attack it, there's a big crash and a hunger for more sugar results.

i wouldn't recommend somebody create big highs and lows in their blood sugar level simply to gain weight.

...and yeah, supposedly insulin tells your body to store food as fat. diabetes happens when your pancreas won't make enough insulin to support all the sugar in your blood stream and you have to do the pancreas's work all by yourself.

[1averagejoe]

[url]http://www.briancalkins.com/simplevscomplexcarb.htm[/url]

Simple sugars are what we normally think of as fast burning carbs. Pastas, refined grain like white bread, and candy. They can be good for when you're doing an intense workout and you need the energy fast. Another reason a lot of athletes will load up on pastas the night before a big game or race. But taking these and not doing any work right after to burn them off will turn them straight to fat.

Complex carbs are different, they take much longer for your body to process. Things like whole wheats for example. The idea is that your body will burn them more slowly and takes much longer for them to turn to fat. So you've basically got a longer amount of time to use them before turning to fat.

Think of them like comparing throwing paper to a fire vs throwing wood.

So simple sugars aren't necessarily bad for you...in excess yes. But in certain situations they can really do wonders for you. I always carbo load before a hard workout the night before. The difference it makes is definitely noticeable.