Carb advice please

andy 3654

I think Im being a bit dumb but I think my diet has too much carbs in it however my question is this what happens if there are too many carbs in my diet?

I do have a large appetite and takes a lot to fill me up is there anything I could have instead?

ShutUpLegs

What food do you normally eat?

andy 3654

I have at least 2 sandwich a day crisp like snack and breakfast oat bars is a typical lunch dinner consists of either rice , pasta or some form of potatoes with usually a curry or chilli.

And breakfast depends on if I can stomach it or have time for it but either wheatabix or porridge.

simon_e

If you think you're eating too much carbohydrate then why not eat less of it? Smaller amounts of bread, spuds and pasta and cut right back on sweet foods like those bars.

Eat foods that are less carb-dense - particularly raw vegetables - and foods with protein and, dare I say it, healthy fats, which will help you feel full.

Although the middle of winter isn't the easiest time to try it, you can train your stomach to expect less food; it just takes some willpower and time.

diy

drink more water

andy 3654

I have tried eating more veg and fruit but it really does not fill me up. Yes I know the oat bars arnt great but I view them as slightly better than a choc bar, so is what people are saying if i added a little more protein that would help?

For the risk of sounding really dumb how would more water help?

LegendLust

andy 3654 wrote:

I have tried eating more veg and fruit but it really does not fill me up. Yes I know the oat bars arnt great but I view them as slightly better than a choc bar, so is what people are saying if i added a little more protein that would help?

For the risk of sounding really dumb how would more water help?

Less carbs - more protein. And make sure your carbs are either from starchy veg (sweet potatoes, celeriac etc NOT potatoes) or whole grains, Brown Basmati rice is best. Think low GI. Only time you should eat High GI carbs is STRAIGHT after a hard ride.

stueys

LegendLust wrote:

Less carbs - more protein. And make sure your carbs are either from starchy veg (sweet potatoes, celeriac etc NOT potatoes) or whole grains, Brown Basmati rice is best. Think low GI. Only time you should eat High GI carbs is STRAIGHT after a hard ride.

Yes. Most people eat too many carbs as this tends to be the food that's readily available to buy, it's effectively the cheapest type of food so shops tend to go that way. You'll probably feel better with more protein in your diet.

I made a conscious effort to balance out a bit last year. The only way that worked for me was religiously tracking what I eat and monitoring it. I found it took my body about two weeks to adjust to not getting most of its energy from carbs (you feel hungry a lot) but after that point it was relatively easy.

andy 3654

Cheers for your help I shall see what alterations i can make

team47b

andy 3654 wrote:

I think Im being a bit dumb but I think my diet has too much carbs in it however my question is this what happens if there are too many carbs in my diet?

I do have a large appetite and takes a lot to fill me up is there anything I could have instead?

Not having the answers is not dumb.

Before we can tell if it's too much, how much do you weigh, height, amount of exercise per day/intensity, calories per day, are you trying to maintain weight?

As a rough guide if you eat a 2000 calorie a day diet then the carbs could make up 1000 calories which is about 250grams of carbs. It makes a difference which carbs you choose, simple carbs are fast acting energy and complex carbs are slow release energy and fill you up for longer.

To answer the actual question you asked "what happens if there are too many carbs in my diet?" you will increase your insulin produced, have more glucose in your system that you can use up as energy and the insulin will convert some glucose to fat and make this fat unavailable for fat burning as you have lots of carbs available.

andy 3654

I'm 183cm, and about 85kg

I would like to drop between 5-10kgs recent weather has reduced my exercise as I try to ride to work everyday which is 20 miles and I ride moderately as I try to make sure I'm consistent with the time it takes.
I don't even know how many calories it burns my average speed is roughly 17.5mph

team47b

To drop one kilo of weight is about 7,000 calories, so reducing the amount you eat by about 500 calories a day will take a fortnight.

Easier to reduce intake than to burn more calories try eating less processed food ie white flour white rice, potatoes, eat wholemeal and brown rice to help fill you up for longer, easiest way is to simply reduce the portion sizes.

Your commute could burn 900 calories.

awsm

it's not as simple as "too many carbs". It's about the type of carbs and 'diet' as a whole. Most people would consider me a whippet and I pretty much live on complex carbs.

marz

andy 3654 wrote:

I think Im being a bit dumb but I think my diet has too much carbs in it however my question is this what happens if there are too many carbs in my diet?

I do have a large appetite and takes a lot to fill me up is there anything I could have instead?

Why do you think your eating too many carbs? Are you adding on weight you don't want?

andy 3654

Well it seams to be the bulk of what I eat and I dont eat huge amount of fat but my wieght is constant.
It hasnt dropped since I became born again cyclist.
So Im thinking that Im eating too many carbs and not using them all.

smoggysteve

The food you mention could do with being changed a bit. Crisp like snacks are generally full of fat. And if you eat a sandwich whats in it? Breakfast bars have been found to be high in sugar and salt.

Try to eat breakfast more often. Even a bowl of corn flakes or toast is better than nothing. This can help stop with the snacking on the crisps which again are full of fat and low in proper energy making you hungry again. As mentioned, pasta, potato and bread (wholemeal) are best during the day go keep your blood sugar level going through the day without crashing. Little and often is generally better than 2 big meals as they tend to just sit there and the body turns it into fat. Even if you say you do not eat a lot of fat the calories you take in are not being burned effectively and so you are not losing weight.

LegendLust

SmoggySteve wrote:

The food you mention could do with being changed a bit. Crisp like snacks are generally full of fat. And if you eat a sandwich whats in it? Breakfast bars have been found to be high in sugar and salt.

Try to eat breakfast more often. 1. Even a bowl of corn flakes or toast is better than nothing. This can help stop with the snacking on the crisps which again are full of fat and low in proper energy making you hungry again. 2 As mentioned, pasta, potato and bread (wholemeal) are best during the day go keep your blood sugar level going through the day without crashing. Little and often is generally better than 2 big meals as they tend to just sit there and the body turns it into fat. Even if you say you do not eat a lot of fat the calories you take in are not being burned effectively and so you are not losing weight.

1. Corn Flakes are full of sugar and therefore will cause a sugar/insulin spike and crash. Same again if the toast is made from white bread.

2. This only applies if all these carbs are low GI. White pasta and potatoes are High GI. Instead go for wholemeal pasta or sweet potatoes. Anything oat based is also very good and low GI

team47b

Exactly.

"1. Corn Flakes are full of sugar and therefore will cause a sugar/insulin spike and crash. Same again if the toast is made from white bread."

...and it is this 'insulin spike and crash' that tells your brain you are hungry, and it makes you eat more.

SPOC

Good luck, I just recently mentioned on another thread that the best advice for weight loss is not what you eat but the amount you eat. I lost close to 20 lbs last year, simply counting calories and creating a calorie deficit of 500 a day to create a pound of weight lost a week. This worked almost like clockwork and all the weight has stayed off by maintaining now a sensible diet daily (Again, counting what goes it and burnt off).

There is simple science behind just creating a calorie deficit and as long as you stick to it with discipline you can't go wrong.

For what it's worth I am about 145lbs and I do a 20 mile commute daily and I burn off usually between 500-600 calories, pan flat, anything from 15-17mph.

smoggysteve

team47b wrote:

Exactly.

"1. Corn Flakes are full of sugar and therefore will cause a sugar/insulin spike and crash. Same again if the toast is made from white bread."

...and it is this 'insulin spike and crash' that tells your brain you are hungry, and it makes you eat more.

I never said it was ideal, I said it was better than eating NOTHING!!!! He said he eats porridge in the morning sometimes so I wasn't going to push that. Also mentioned wholemeal bread.

simon_e

SmoggySteve wrote:

Even a bowl of corn flakes or toast is better than nothing. This can help stop with the snacking on the crisps which again are full of fat and low in proper energy making you hungry again

Eating corn flakes for breakfast won't necessarily prevent you snacking. Neither that or toast is as good as fruit or snacking on nuts and seeds. Demonising all fats and filling up on processed breakfast cereals or bread isn't the answer.

Wholemeal isn't a great deal better than white bread regarding its effect on your blood sugar levels. If you eat bread then slow-risen homemade, with fewer additives and preservatives is better than stuff in packets from the supermarket shelf. See this and this for info on Chorleywood industrial breadmaking.

smoggysteve

Again, I was not suggesting cornflakes and toast made the ideal breakfast. If you read what I wrote I said even they were better than nothing. I could have said a mars bar. Point I was making was that you need something in your stomach to get your metabolism going. Skipping breakfast has been shown to raise risk of developing diabetes.

Please read comments before following up with other comments.

neeb

I have a fair amount of carbs for breakfast in the form of bread, but it's two thick chunks of a sourdough wholegrain bread made by a bloke with his own one-man business who delivers to a local shop - expensive and bloody hard to get hold of (I have to go there at a certain time of day on one of two days of the week), but worth it.. I use high quality olive oil rather than butter or margarine, and stuff like almond butter or low salt yeast extract on top. Bread is great food, but it's got to be great bread, and finding that these days can be a real PITA...

Ditch the crisps and breakfast bars, you can't eat that sort of crap and expect to live...

neeb

P.S. Fruit is no substitute for proper breakfast with complex carbs, fruit sugars will have similar impact on your blood glucose levels as cake (albiet with without the fat and a lot more nutrients).

LegendLust

SmoggySteve wrote:

Again, I was not suggesting cornflakes and toast made the ideal breakfast. If you read what I wrote I said even they were better than nothing. I could have said a mars bar. Point I was making was that you need something in your stomach to get your metabolism going. Skipping breakfast has been shown to raise risk of developing diabetes.

Please read comments before following up with other comments.

You can achieve that with a good quality espresso!

smoggysteve

And what exactly is the nutritional and calorific count of a shot of espresso ? May be fine for a wake up but not before a 10 mile cycle ride.

LegendLust

SmoggySteve wrote:

And what exactly is the nutritional and calorific count of a shot of espresso ? May be fine for a wake up but not before a 10 mile cycle ride.

Try it. Have a shot of espresso, do your 10 mile ride and then have your nutritious breakfast straight after. If you're eating correctly, your glycogen levels should be full before your 10 mile ride, so why put more in? You wouldn't put more petrol in an already full tank in your car would you? The espresso will switch your metabolism on, do your ride, then your breakfast should supply all the carbs, protein and nutrition your body needs at the right time that it needs it.

Doing this will also switch your body to use fat for fuelling the ride rather than glycogen - unless you're doing your 10 mile ride at full on time trial pace!

simon_e

SmoggySteve wrote:

Point I was making was that you need something in your stomach to get your metabolism going. Skipping breakfast has been shown to raise risk of developing diabetes.

I'm not sure everyone would agree. If it's sugary and devoid of nutrition - as Corn Flakes are, according to the late Magnus Pyke - then it probably is worse than nothing.

I ride 35-40 mins to work in the morning without any food but feel better than if I had eaten beforehand. 2 hour+ rides first thing in the morning without any food, I take water and have a fruit bar/Snickers mid-ride. Are you telling me I'm likely to develop type 2? I'd call that scaremongering. Risk of developing type 2 diabetes depends on other factors.

Try reading this:
http://optimumnutrition4sport.co.uk/art ... e-of-mind/
As for sugar, try this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... scientists

@neeb - yours the kind of bread we should be eating, not packets of cotton wool that still don't go mouldy after a week.

simon_masterson

SmoggySteve wrote:

And what exactly is the nutritional and calorific count of a shot of espresso ? May be fine for a wake up but not before a 10 mile cycle ride.

I'm not sure what you're implying: that you need to eat before a 10 mile ride?

My understanding was that unless you are really going hell for leather, your body should be able to do somewhat more exercise than that (assuming that the average person might finish that 10 miles between 35 and 20 minutes) if you eat even vaguely properly... I've done rides that distance (mostly commuting) with and without breakfast beforehand and never noticed any difference at all.

P.S. I miss my espresso maker.

smoggysteve

LegendLust wrote:

SmoggySteve wrote:

And what exactly is the nutritional and calorific count of a shot of espresso ? May be fine for a wake up but not before a 10 mile cycle ride.

Try it. Have a shot of espresso, do your 10 mile ride and then have your nutritious breakfast straight after. If you're eating correctly, your glycogen levels should be full before your 10 mile ride, so why put more in? You wouldn't put more petrol in an already full tank in your car would you? The espresso will switch your metabolism on, do your ride, then your breakfast should supply all the carbs, protein and nutrition your body needs at the right time that it needs it.

Doing this will also switch your body to use fat for fuelling the ride rather than glycogen - unless you're doing your 10 mile ride at full on time trial pace!

The OP was talking about cycling to work. Should he have his breakfast there? I'm sure your coffee and then a breakfast when you get home works fine, but if he is on his way to work he has to then eat something there which unless he packs double food for the day is going to be the sort of stuff he has been eating already. Crisps and snacks and most likely junk. If you wanna keep talking about cornflakes , have you seen the crap in breakfast bars which are meant to cover this very thing.

smoggysteve

If you do want to help lose some weight, I could say try drinking green tea 3 times a day as I dropped 12kg in 4 months using it. Same lifestyle, same exercise rate.

But, I guess someone will shoot it down for some anal reason. Just because that's what some people do here. Don't help the OP but just nitpick unimportant side points.