When it comes to losing fat, the first thing that we’re going to reduce in our diet is carbohydrates (aka carbs). My question is cutting carbs really necessary? A low carbs diet limits your carbs intake. Carbs are foods like rice, pasta, bread, fruits, and starchy vegetables. These are common carbs that is consumed daily by many of us.
As you switch to a low carbs diet, you will be eating more protein and fats to supplement the missing carbs. In this article, I am going to help you take a step back and view the benefits of including carbs as part of diet.
- Provides energy
- What do you need to get through an intense workout? Carbs! It is a great source of energy. After consuming carbs, your body stores them in your muscle to be used later during intense and strenuous activities, like your workout sessions. Hence, when you are lifting weights, sprinting, or doing intense circuit training your body will burn out these carbs to fuel your sessions.
- Vitamins and minerals
- Surprise, surprise. Carbs are also an essential source for vitamins and minerals for your body. Whole food carbs, like fruits and vegetables, is able to provide you with a substantial amount of nutrients! (Something you can never get as much as from sole consuming proteins and fats).
- Delicious ?
- Cakes, ice cream, nasi lemak, Malaysia’s kuih muih or even char keow teow are all delicious carbs! These are food that we often eat now and then. Yes, some of time are high in carbs. But, can you live a life without carbs?
- If your diet restricts certain food group that you normally eat, for instance rice. You are going to crave for it, whether is it after one week or three months down the road. Fact is short-term drastic change to your diet is not going to work long term. Most of us will return back to our old eating habits and end up gaining back all the weight lost, if not more.
Now, here is how you can keep carbs in your diet and move forward with your fitness goals:
SWITCH YOUR CARBS SOURCE!
A bowl of cooked white rice is 204 cals. We can substitute that with 100 gram of couscous which is 114 cals or we can use cauliflower rice which is just 40 cals a cup. Another instance is substituting spaghetti, that has 220 cals, to 2 cups of zucchini, that has 66 cals.
By making some of this simple substitution in your diet, you are indirectly consuming lesser calories but still consuming the carbs needed for your body. Eating carbs in your diet can help you to not only lose fats, but it is also the most sustainable approach for most of us.
Read more: Good Food vs Bad Food
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