Do Not Fear Carbohydrates! Carbohydrates and Exercise – Fitness Tip & Trick #2

Carbohydrates and Exercise, Do you fear eating too many of the starchy kind of carbohydrates? Eating too many carbs beyond your body’s needs causes your body to store them as fat. That is not just carbs though, that is true for any macronutrient.

Storing food as Fat is a concept goes back thousands of years so nothing you do about it is going to change that. Our ancestors needed to store food because they were hunters and gatherers. Nowadays we are not so much hunters or gatherers unless you count going to the grocery store as hunting and gathering…Lets face it, if we are hungry now we can eat almost as soon as possible. Hundreds and Thousands of years ago that was not always the case!

Carbohydrates are great for fuelling and recovering from your workouts and depending on what you do with your day fueling and recovering for your day too. Use them as a tool to fuel your body when your body needs it! There are times and circumstances when you need a lot of carbs – and there are times and circumstances when you don’t.

What Carbohydrates Should I Be Eating?

Sweet Potato or rice within an hour of your workout is an awesome idea. Many Carbs are processed, think of all the ‘higher carbohydrate’ foods at a grocery store, many of them are processed, and many of those in my opinion are not really even food because they are so processed. Try to eliminate those types of carbs completely!

Fruits and Vegetables are also carbs – don’t forget that! Those especially are by far the BEST Carbs you can eat!

I recommend people to eat most, if not all of their starchy carbs toward the beginning of their day and try to avoid them at the end of the day – the only real exception is if you have a late day workout or “event” such as a meet, game, or competition of some type. I also recommend eating vegetables as your carb source in the afternoon and evening. Your body doesn’t need a bunch of sugar at the end of the day to relax and go to bed.

On days you are not working out or not performing in an event, I would recommend not eating many or any starchy, sugary carbs at all, and if you can from time to time totally avoid them. They are just extra fuel that you probably don’t need. Stick with more vegetables if you can and some fruits in the morning or with your lunch.