Carbs & Saturated Fat

It took me a very long time to get it, but nutrition is 80% of achieving your physical goals.  Eating the right quantities of carbs, protein and fat, at the right time of day. 

I've had weeks though when I have been sticking to my macro nutrients and not seen the results I expected.  The following week it would usually level itself out, but I read an article this weekend in Muscle & Fitness which might just have unlocked the mystery.

I've copied in the body of the text but for the meal plans you'll have to buy the magazine yourself.  That would be ripping the piss....

A reader writes in: 

Dear M&F, I eat very clean but lately I seem to be storing more fat.  Can you look at my diet and see what I'm doing wrong.

NB:  On first, second and third glace I couldn't see much wrong with it.  Below is the M&F answer....

At first glance, this diet looks good.  You've got adequate amounts of protein, carbs and fat to build muscle, and you've made healthy, mostly whole-food choices.  There is one problem: the combination of carbs and saturated fats in several meals.  The mistake commonly goes unnoticed when designing a bulking or cutting plan, but the effects are quite apparent.

The fact is, carbs and saturated fats don't work well together.  When eaten combined , they can cause hormonal changes that lead to the storage of body fat.

Here's how it works.  As you probably know, your body releases insulin in response to consuming carbohydrates.  Insulin is a highly anabolic hormone.  The problem is that insulin is indiscriminately anabolic - all it cares about is maintaining healthy blood glucose levels (80 to 110 mg/dl), so when your blood sugar rises in response to a meal, insulin will take that blood sugar and store it in your tissues.  If the receptors on your muscles are sensitive to insulin effects, your muscles will uptake this glucose.  They'll get bigger and you'll recover faster from your last workout.  On the other hand if your muscles's receptors are resistant to insulin, the insulin will store this blood sugar as bodyfat.  Therefore you want your muscles's insulin receptors to be as sensitive as possible.

Unfortunately, saturated fats combined with carbs decreases insulin sensitivity.  (Interestingly, this is not an issue if you eat the two separately.)  So if you combine carbs and saturated fat in one meal, you are facilitating extra bodyfat storage regardless of your healthy food choices. 

Time to rethink that beef chilli and rice I made up for lunches this week....

Love

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