Moderate your carbs for 2 reasons:

 

Firstly, carbs are the body’s preferred energy source and fuel us when we exercise and for daily living so it’s important we continue to eat them. Carbs are broken down into glucose in the bloodstream and insulin is released by the pancreas to transport glucose to be used as energy or to be stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. The key point here is that any excess glucose not used will be stored as fat (NB without necessarily consuming much saturated fat, v common in today’s society) so hence the need to keep active to burn energy AND reduce the amount of carbs we are consuming.

 

Secondly, the constant presence of insulin from excess carbs switches off the hormone glucagon.  We need glucagon to convert stored glycogen and fats to glucose when we exercise. It is our fat burning friend – we don’t want to prevent fat burning in this way! Also, if there is too much glucose present and insulin has to be constantly present, our system becomes insensitive to insulin – hence the onset of Diabetes Type 2.

 

So, the solution! Think about reducing carbs to a fistful (or 50g women, 100g men) per day to prevent unnecessary fat storage. Go for lower GI more complex carbs (wholegrains, brown rice and pasta, sweet potatoes) for a slower release of energy.  Try to keep refined sugary carbs to a minimum - **always check Carbs nutritional info on packaging: keep under 6g sugar/100g – you’ll be amazed at all the hidden sugar!