THE G.I. FACTOR: THE HIGH CARBOHYDRATE DIET
Our bodies burn fuel all the time and the fuel our bodies like best is carbohydrate. Just as you would never try to run your car without petrol—its essential energy source—you should not try to run your body without carbohydrate—your body’s preferred energy source. Carbohydrate is the main fuel we use when we walk, talk, think, move, scratch, sneeze, jump, or sleep. Everything!
You might think of carbohydrate as the all important ingredient that makes foods taste sweet. It is also the starchy part of foods like rice, bread, potatoes and pasta. In fact, carbohydrate is the most widely consumed nutrient in the world, after water. It’s important to the human body because it yields glucose. Glucose is so important that if your diet doesn’t provide enough carbohydrate, your brain signals a shortage of glucose, and muscle tissue will be broken down to supply the shortfall. This basically means that you lose body muscle to feed your brain. Carbohydrate also displaces fat from the diet. While not all fats are bad (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated are fine), they are all easy to overconsume, i.e. eat in excess of your requirements. It’s easy to put on excess weight if your diet is dominated by fats. Ideally, 50 to 60 per cent of your daily kilojoule intake should come from carbohydrate.
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