The Best Ways You Can Lose Weight
The human body is considered to be very complex. Every second, millions of physiological and chemical reactions take place in order to maintain good health. The body breaks things down such as stored fat and food and it also creates things like heat, muscle, proteins, RNA, hair, nails, enzymes, fat tissue, and bones. These anabolic and catabolic processes, along with all organs and systems, need fuel to enable them to function. The body uses fuel or energy and they come from the food and drink that we consume in our diet. In a nutshell, food is human gasoline.
Carbohydrate is one of the three macronutrients, the other two being protein and fat. Carbohydrates provide essential energy for the brain, red blood cells and a growing fetus. There’s also the fact that carbohydrates is the principal fuel source for strenuous muscular activity. The carb food group includes many foods that are packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (disease-protective plant chemicals). A healthy diet must include carbohydrates.
The favorite fuel of the brain is carbohydrate. If absolutely necessary, the brain will utilize fat (in the form of ketones), but it performs less efficiently on this type of energy. A clear association between intellectual performance and the presence of carbs is demonstrated by current evidence. For instance, after a carbohydrate meal, better performance was observed in all types of age and social groups. It seems that even though research is ongoing on, in order to have optimum intellectual activity we need a regular intake of carbs.
There are two main types of simple carbohydrate or simple sugars in terms of chemical structure and these are Monosaccharides and Disaccharides and then there are complex carbohydrates or complex sugars like Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides. Even though the simple sugar lactose is found in milk and milk products, carbohydrate comes mainly from plant-food such as vegetables, fruits, cereal grains, and beans.
Simple carbs include glucose, fructose and lactose. Common sources include table sugar (sucrose), boiled sweets, syrups and honey.
Complex carbs comprise starches or fiber. Good sources of starches include, bread, pasta, rice, beans and some vegetables. Vegetables, fruits, beans, along with the indigestible part of the grain, like wheat bran and oatbran are all examples of good sources of dietary fiber.
The protein, carbohydrate, fat, and alcohol we eat is included as our food fuel. But typically, the exact mixture our body uses varies according to circumstances such as our last meal, our physical activity, etc. There is an “order of priority” that dictates which fuels are burned first. Alcohol calories are burned first. This is because alcohol energy is something we cannot store. Next, protein will be burned, followed by carbohydrates, then fat. However, we typically burn a “mixture” of carbs and fat, with the ratio being dependent on meals in practice. We mainly burn carbohydrate just after meals while between meals, we tend to burn more fat.
Learn the basics of be healthy for a longer, healthier and happier life.