Are carbohydrates fattening?

Question

My mum went on the no carbs diet and lost heaps of weight.

I have recently had huge lifestyle changes and have gone up a dress size.
This has really confused me because althought the lifestyle changes, I haven't suddenly started eating unhealthily, but I do eat a lot more carbs. Infact, I had thought that I was eating healthier. Less chocolate, no alcohol I could go on.

I do eat lots of bread and pasta and such like.

Someone help me understand please.

Answer 1

Yes. Carbs are easily converted into fat in the body. Think of carbohydrates as fuel - you only need enough to keep your body running. If you eat more than that then the body stores them away as fat in case you find yourself starving later. This was a great idea when we lived in caves and never knew when our next meal was coming from but not so good with a grocery store only a few minutes away.

The problem with carbs like bread and pasta is that they are very easily digested - the body uses very little energy to convert them into a useable form which means that it's easy to over-eat such "simple" or "refined" carbohydrates. It also causes a "surge" of glucose into your bloodstream (carbs are digested into glucose) and this in turn can not only cause the laying down of fat but also in the long term may make you vulnerable to diabetes.

Eating more complex and less easily digestible carbs such as found in fruit, vegetables and nuts makes our bodies work harder for the energy it needs and helps keep the weight down.



Hope this helps!

Answer 2

It's not the carbohydrates that are bad - it's the calories in the carbohydrates that are.

You need carbs. Your brain is powered on carbs exclusively, and they provide the majority of the energy needed to breath, pump blood, digest, and all those lovely bodily functions. Carbs are not good or bad by themselves, but too many simple carbs (ones without fiber - refined breads and pasta) can lead to weight gain.

I'd recommend that you start switching breads and pasta with whole wheat or whole grain varieties of the same. They are a lot more filling, have more fiber, and have more nutritional benefit than the plain ones. Also, add a ton more vegetables and fruits. These are carbs, but they tend to be low-calories and high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.

You may want to keep a food journal to make sure you are not overlooking another problem. Keep track of all the food and beverages you consume over the week, count up the calories, and see where the problem lies. It might be too many simple carbs, problems with portion size, or too much fat. You are looking for under 2,000 calories to maintain your weight (in most cases) and 1500 to lose. Good luck!

Answer 3

its not necessarily eating more carbs that makes you bigger. i personally think eating carbs is perfectly fine for you. however, carbs like those in pasta and bread aren't very easy to digest, so this could be the reason for your weight gain. i would suggest cutting down on the pasta and bread, although if you love bread and pasta as much as i do, try only to have one portion of it a day, and don't make it a big one!
its not only carbs that make you gain weight, however. a bit factor is fat. you probably know this already, but it is saturated fats that are the unhealthiest. if i were you, i would cut down on saturated fats and up the intake of unsaturated fats. you can find the fat content on all food labels, and within this figure is the saturated fat content. generally, if the sat. fat content is most of the whole fat content, by all means have the food, but don't have much.

i myself have tailor-made my own diet, and it is going extremely well. i used to be about 13 stone which is extremely unhealthy for a 14 year old. i opted to lose weight slowly, as this is much healthier than losing weight fast. i am now 18 and look really good, and i feel a lot fitter. i follow a very simple plan, but if it doesn't feel right for you, don't worry about not following, i'm just telling you since its worked for me. basically, always have a good breakfast, don't put salt in anything you make, since food contains salt anyway, and if you can manage it, have a good healithy lunch, but not too big a dinner, since after about 7 or 8 at night, it becomes difficult for the body to digest food and it just sits in your stomach. also, since about 70% of hunger pangs are actually thirst pangs, i take a bottle of water or a flask of smoothie with me whenever i can.
by the way, don't deny yourself treats. this is so important. always have something sweet at the end of the day, otherwise you'll feel like you've missed out and will end up eating more.

i hope this helps you. good luck :)

Answer 4

Hi,

Whether its fat, carbs proteins, sugar, if u are eating more than what ur body uses u will store the excess as fat!

Low carb diet or any diet for that matter cut down the amount of calories u consume, hence the weight loss.

If u r looking to lose a loittle weight i suggest u start exercising more and watching what u eat.

Writing down what u eat each day helps as u can distiguish where u r going wrong or right!

Once peice of info that helps me stay in shape is up uutill world war one we in briton only ate 2 meals each day, the lunchtme meal was introduced by lord sandwich to give the troops the extra strength they needed whilst they were fighting!

Bare this in mind when planning a weight loss campign.

Rx

Answer 5

Yes too many carbs, and not enough protein is probably the reason, you need to have a balance between the two as athough things like pasta and bread are filling, bread has hidden sugars and often oils added which is quite calorific, plus carbs tend to make you retain fluid, giving you a bloated feeling which might explain the size increase. Protein takes a longer time to digest and your body works harder to metabolise it, if you have a balance of good carbs and protein, you have a more filling and healthier diet and probably loose weight in no time.

Answer 6

Too much of anything is fattening. Going on a no carb diet is not the way to go! Carbs are very important in a diet, but its not good to eat too much just like too much of anything would be bad. If you go to like like mypyramid.com you can see how many servings of what you need each day. When it comes to eating carbs, eat whole grains and stuff packed with fiber (make your bread in pasta whole grain if you want!). And dark chocolate is wonderful for you but once again, too much of anything wont do you any good!

Answer 7

Eating too much of ANYTHING is fattening. Too much meats, carbs, fats, junk/fast food will make you gain weight. I am sure your mother lost a lot of weight. You certainly can with a no-carb diet....BUT.....she wil start to eat carbs again (you have to---you need them to function properly--you can't cut out a whole food group forever) and when she does start eating them, she is going to gain the weight back--and probably more.

Cut back on the carbs. Get out and exercise (walk, walk, walk) and that weight will go back down. If you were fine before and you know you've been hitting the carbs (emotionally) you know what to do to get the weight off.

Answer 8

Well, carbohydrates are, like calories, an energy source. They include grains, starches, and sugars.

When Carbohydrates are consumed, and not required by the body for energy, they are stored as Glycogen. Glycogen, while not fat in the traditional sense, can, in fact, add unnecessary weight.

Remember, however, that Carbohydrates are ESSENTIAL for day-to-day life. Without them, we would die.

Not all carbohydrates are bad - fiber is a perfect example of a GOOD carb. To calculate "net" carbohydrate intake for each food item, subtract the grams of fiber from the total number or grams of carbohydrates. (Found on the Nurtition Panel of all foods.)

Answer 9

Your mams no carb diet, sounds like the Atkins.
Still no proof that it good for your bodies organs, I recon its bad.
Carbs are basically sugar, your body recognises sugar first and breaks it down, then the fat is broken down or stored.
If you ate no carb, just fat, your body would recognise fat first and break it down, then it moves onto muscle breakdown. Which isnt good, cos muscle protects organs.
So me personally i would say, cut out some fats, eat low saturated fat products, cut down on sugars/carbs. eat a healthy diet, 3 meals a day, 2 snacks. roughly 3 hours appart. If you need alcohol on occasion, stick to white spirits i.e. vodka, gyn, rum with flavoured water. but watch for the sugar content.
Walk more, forget the gym lark, thats for people with heaps of energy and nothing better to do with their time.
Maybe swim, if you feel comfortable enough to go, and enjoy life.
Remember its a healthy living you want, not a diet for life, or some major organ failure. x

Answer 10

This may be alittle detailed, but
certain carbs, like sugar(glucose+fructose) or high fructose corn syrup, are fattening when eaten in b/c the body store them as fat if not "burnt" off soon enough. Starches(all glucose) on the other hand can be stored as glycogen, not fat, in the liver and muscle. However, there is a limit to the storage and excess can be stored as fat.

Basically it is important to still calorie count. The body likes to store fat b/c it's very efficient, but w/ our modern diets too many calories are available to be stored so we need to be judicious.