Excess carbohydrates, or carbs as they are often called, are the biggest interfering factor in the majority of people’s diets when it comes to burning fat. Although it might appear to be more logical to reduce the intake of fat when trying to lose fat, the hormonal effects of high carb intake will completely block the body’s ability to burn fat. This issue is often how lose weight programs fall short of producing good results – they simply don’t emphasize the importance of avoiding carbs.
Carbohydrate intake blocks the body’s ability to burn fat because it triggers the production of the hormone insulin. Most people associate insulin with the disease diabetes and with blood sugar control, but it is also directly involved in the storage of fat in the body. Insulin stimulates the tissues to convert excess blood sugar and store as fat, and at the same time will block the conversion of fat back to sugar so it cannot be burned for energy.
When you consume a high carbohydrate meal, the carbs are rapidly digested and absorbed into the bloodstream as glucose, or “blood sugar”. Chemical sensors in the body register this rise in blood sugar, and when there is more present than the body needs right away, the pancreas releases insulin, which stimulates the tissues of the body to store the extra blood sugar as glycogen (a quick energy supply stored in the liver and muscles) and fat to be used later. The body’s capacity for glycogen storage is pretty small compared to the capacity for fat storage, so the more carbs you eat and the higher your blood sugar goes, the more fat you store.
Some people think that they can overcome this problem by simply exercising more to make up for eating too many carbs, but this will not work. Even though exercising more will burn additional calories, they won’t be fat calories!
When you don’t eat a lot of carbs, and don’t produce a lot of insulin, exercise stimulates the body to first burn glycogen, and then turn to burning fat when the glycogen is gone. But, in the presence of high insulin, once the glycogen is used up, the insulin blocks the conversion of fat to blood sugar, so the body has to burn something else instead to get energy. That something else is protein from your muscles, not fat!
Although initially it may seem like you’re burning fat, instead you are losing water weight and muscle. As this goes on longer, the loss of muscle results in a lower metabolic rate, which makes it even harder to lose weight. In the long run, the person who continues to eat carbohydrates in excess while trying to lose weight will simply wind up feeling weak and tired, and frustrated because their body fat percentage will be even higher than when they started trying to lose weight.
Dr. George Best is a holistic healthcare provider in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, and to get his free ebook that explains how different hormones trigger fat gain and loss, visit his lose weight help website.
No related posts.
You must log in to post a comment.