‘Carbs stop you losing fat’. ‘Don’t eat carbs after 5 pm.’ ‘Carbs should only come after training…’

When it comes to myths around carbohydrates, we’ve heard them all! But let’s clear up the facts to show you why you shouldn’t fear adding carbohydrates to your diet.

Key takeaways

• Energy balance, not carbohydrate intake, determines whether we gain, maintain or lose weight.
• It is almost impossible to eat a ‘zero-carb’ diet, as vegetables and fruit are a vital source of micronutrients and fibre.
• We distinguish between starchy and non-starchy (fibrous) carbs. A healthy, balanced diet contains a combination of both, although those with poor body composition may not require as many starchy carbohydrates.
• How you cook foods makes a difference to how quickly they digest.
• Fruit can play a part in a healthy diet, but avoid juices and smoothies with high amounts of fruit.
• Opt for food sources like root vegetables and whole grains when you add in starchy carbohydrates.
• Recommendations for daily fibre intake range from 20-25g per day for women and 30-38g for men under 50.

Contrary to popular belief, carbs are not the devil and are certainly no impediment to fat loss. While we often help our clients follow a low-carb approach at the start of their transformation, carbohydrates play a vital role in performance and recovery.

It’s almost impossible to follow a ‘zero-carb’ diet, as most natural fat sources contain trace amounts of carbohydrates. Not only that, vegetables and fruit are a vital source of micronutrients and fibre in the diet.

Vegetables: Starchy vs Non-Starchy

Vegetables are packed full of micronutrients and are your main source of dietary fibre. Vegetables can be classified as either starchy or non-starchy based on their carbohydrate content:

Non-starchy vegetables contain less than 10g carbohydrate per 100g of uncooked weight.

Starchy vegetables contain more than 10g carbohydrate per 100g of uncooked weight.

Non-starchy vegetables are a dieter’s secret weapon, as they contain very few calories per serving. One of the first recommendations we give to clients struggling with hunger is to add more non-starchy vegetables to their meal plan.

Starchy vegetables are also a great source of micronutrients and fibre but are more calorie-dense. Therefore, you should pay close attention to your serving sizes. For example, it would be almost impossible to overeat on kale, but you can very easily consume a large number of calories eating potatoes.

As a result, we have listed starchy vegetables alongside grains in the food tables, as they are more similar in calorie content.

Cooking makes a difference

The nutrient content of vegetables can deteriorate during cooking. For example, boiling vegetables for too long can cause the nutrients to leach into the water. Try steaming or stir-frying them instead, and include a mixture of raw and cooked types in your diet.

This is also an additional reason why the ‘glycaemic load’ of foods may not always be as it appears. The glycaemic index rates foods according to the rate at which they break down at a molecular level through digestion. The less molecularly complex a food is, the quicker it will hit the bloodstream, causing our blood sugar levels to spike as a result. However, there are two points to remember here:

We rarely eat carbohydrates in isolation. Eating carbohydrates alongside fat and protein will slow down digestion and therefore the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream. Imagine if you eat pure table sugar: it will hit your bloodstream rapidly, as the digestive system must do very little work to break it down. However, if you were to eat the same amount of sugar in a slice of cake, the blood sugar spike will take longer to occur because there is also fat and some protein (from ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, etc.).

The cooking method and the temperature of the food makes a difference too. The fundamental reason that we cook foods is that we have evolved in a way that means we can no longer digest the raw forms of most foods. Cooking is almost like the first stage in the digestive process, helping to render foods into a form that we can digest.

How we cook things breaks things down into differing molecular structures.

For example, if you take a potato and cook it in the microwave, the potato will be broken down to a greater degree at a molecular level than if you boiled it, meaning that its glycaemic index increases, even though the food source is the same.

Equally, if you boiled your potato instead but then left it to cool down, the contraction of the molecules as the food cools means it also becomes harder to break down.

The takeaway? GI matters but not as much as most people think. Go for mostly whole foods that are going to give you as many nutrients as possible, rather than worrying about GI.

Can I eat fruit on a diet?

One of the main reasons people avoid fruit is because of concerns over its sugar content and the impact this may have on their health. However, it’s important to distinguish between natural food sources of sugar, like fruit, and refined sources, such as non-diet soft drinks, cakes and sweets. While the sugar molecules found in fruit are chemically identical to those found in refined sugars, they also come packaged alongside a host of vitamins, minerals, fibre and other key nutrients.

Consider the example of an orange, which provides around 15g of carbohydrate but also 12% of your daily fibre requirements, and nearly all the recommended amount of vitamin C. In comparison, a tablespoon of table sugar contains an equivalent amount of carbohydrate but nothing else. As a result, it is an example of ‘empty calories’ in that it provides energy, but little or no nutritional value.

Fruits make a great snack option, because:

The high water and fibre content of most fruits means that they contain relatively few calories per serving. For example, an average-sized apple or banana both only contain roughly 100 kCal.

The naturally sweet flavour can help satisfy sugar cravings. Fructose, the primary carbohydrate in fruits, is the sweetest tasting sugar molecule and a key ingredient in food sweeteners.

Not all fruits are diet-friendly, and we do not recommend including dried fruits and fruit juices as staples in your transformation diet.

Dried fruits are more calorie-dense due to the removal of the water content and are therefore easier to overeat. For example, 100g of grapes contains roughly 65 kCal, whereas an equivalent serving size of raisins (dried grapes) contains 300 kCal.

Fruit juices, like most liquid calories, are calorie-dense, digest very quickly and are not as satiating as solid fruit.

Grains: Whole vs Refined

Unless your carbohydrate target is very low, you will struggle to get enough carbohydrates in your diet by only eating fruit and non-starchy vegetables. Including starchy vegetables and grains can help you to meet your target, as they provide a more concentrated source of carbohydrates.

Any food made from cereal grains like wheat, rice and oats are grain products. There are two main types: refined grains and whole grains.

Refined grains have been processed to remove two-thirds of the grain kernel (bran and germ) for a finer texture and longer shelf life. This also removes fibre, iron and many B vitamins. To account for this, most refined grains are ‘enriched’, which adds back some of the B vitamins and iron, but not the fibre. Common examples include breakfast cereals and white bread.

Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel and are also high in fibre and micronutrients. A common example would be oatmeal.

If you control your calorie intake and make sure that refined grains do not displace more nutrient-dense foods in your diet, then you can include them without any adverse health effects.

However, we recommend prioritising whole grains, as they are typically less calorie-dense and provide an additional source of micronutrients and fibre in your diet.

The only instance in which you may not want to do this is with rice. Many people believe brown rice to bring more health benefits than white rice and, indeed, it does have a higher fibre content on paper. However, the husk on the rice means that we are not able to absorb this fibre to the same degree, and brown rice may be an irritant for those with gut health issues.

In addition, brown rice can contain high levels of an anti-nutrient known as phytic acid or phytate. It may also contain higher amounts of arsenic, a toxic chemical. Much of these compounds can be reduced by soaking the rice in advance of cooking.

The Takeaway? Opt for brown rice if you enjoy it, but white rice is one of the few times that processed food is favourable over the unprocessed form.

Dietary Fibre

There are several different types of fibre, which can be divided into:

Soluble fibre: dissolves in water and forms a thick gel-like substance in your digestive system.

Insoluble fibre: does not dissolve in water and passes through your digestive system relatively intact.

Soluble fibre slows down the digestive process by delaying gastric (stomach) emptying. This promotes a feeling of fullness and helps to control your blood sugar levels following a carbohydrate-rich meal.

Insoluble fibre has the opposite effect and works to speed up the digestive process, by pushing foods through your system. This natural laxative effect helps to keep you ‘regular’ and is why many people refer to fibre as ‘nature’s broom’.

Including a balance of both types in your diet is important for digestive health and appetite control. They are typically found together in food sources such as fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products.

You do not need to track your fibre intake if you include a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet.

Current recommendations for daily fibre intake range from 20-25g per day for women and 30-38g for men under 50. However, most adults only manage an average daily intake of around 16g. Over the age of fifty, this drops to 21 grams a day for women and 30g a day for men.

It is possible to consume too much fibre, and this can cause gastrointestinal discomfort and malabsorption of vitamins and minerals.