CARBOHYDRATES

What are Carbs?  In short, it’s what most people call starches.  For the sake of simplicity, we’ll just say, Rice, Potatoes and yummy Pasta.  It’s also bread, chips most products made from grain.  Unfortunately, it’s also sugar and the stuff in BEER.

Carbs have gotten a bad reputation thanks to the Atkins diet and Dr. Atkins has a point, but the Carbs alone are not necessarily bad.  Runners like to “Carbo-load” before a race.  Carbs give you energy. Sugar is a probably the most commonly used carbohydrate.(and it comes in various types). But if you’ve ever had the 3:00PM blues and you’re really tired, if you grab a candy bar like a Snickers or a Baby Ruth, you’ll be humming for about 10 minutes until you go into insulin withdrawal.

This is where Carbs get ugly.  Personally, when I need energy or motivation, I grab a Neapolitan Icecream sandwich.  Now, these IceCream Sandwiches are not what they were 30 years ago.  They’ve gone up in price and down in substance.  It’s like a bag of chips.  The bag is the same size, but it’s got more air in the bag than chips.  But if the Carbs can motivate you, creativity might keep you going until you can finish off the day.

So much for the good aspect of Carbs.

Ah………I just had an Ice Cream Sandwich.  Hey it’s 3:00PM.  So now let’s have a quick discussion about the negative aspect of Carbs.  Have you ever noticed that really obese people MUST have bread with their meals?  Whether it be rolls or a loaf of French bread, obese people are addicted to the extra carbs.

This is the issue plain and simple.  Just as your body needs insulin to distribute (almost escort) sugar to your muscles and soft tissue, Carbs act like spackle and attach themselves to fat cells.  This is why Dr. Atkins says, the big mac is ok as long as you don’t eat the bun.  You see; the fat (theoretically) cannot attach its’ self to your body if it doesn’t have the Carbs.  THE FAT CANNOT ATTACH ITS’ SELF TO YOUR BODY IF IT DOES NOT HAVE CARBS TO ESCORT IT.

Using this logic; can you now understand why some of the worst foods are carbs that are deep fried?  Yes, even Donuts.

The problem with Dr. Atkin’s diet is attrition.  The key to any diet is consistency which is the opposite of attrition. I love white bread.  I eat 2 slices a day.  My ex-wife would only buy wheat bread for 17 years and I missed white bread almost as much as I don’t miss my ex-wife.  I eat one slice of white (Wonder Bread if I can find it) and two table spoons of natural crunchy “Laura Scudder’s” peanut butter with a squirt (teaspoon) of Welch’s grape jelly on the side.  It’s about a 170 calories but the peanut butter is monosaturated fat so it is actually good for me and rids me of hunger.  Then, like the slim fast diet, I have a reasonable dinner.  So it’s one meal a day and two PBJs.  If I get hungry during the day, I have a handful of unsalted roasted peanuts.

And since I’m not going to spend time on salt, just let me say it’s not the evil that it has been made out to be.  Salt will make it harder for you to lose weight because it makes you retain your liquids.

So the key to reducing your fat ass is to monitor your SATURATED fat intake.  Is it mono or poly saturated?  That’s what the bottom line is.  If you’re going to have “Meat Loaf” and Mashed potatoes for dinner, just make sure that you buy low fat ground meat.  I use ground sirloin.  Granted the taste comes from the fat, but you’ll get used to it.

Substitute Olive oil for cooking oil.  It’s much pricier, but it’s probably the second healthiest thing you can do to fortify your weight loss attempts.  Remember, attrition can kill your feeding habits as bad as binging.

OVERVIEW

When it comes to my view on carbs, I find rice the hardest to refrain from.  Chinese food without rice is like Spaghetti without pasta.  Only, Chinese food is hard to consume without saturated fats.  As for potatoes, I’ve given up the ever so enjoyable French fry.  The best way to do this is to give up fast foods.  Do you know how McDonalds’ got its’ reputation for having the best French fries in the fast food industry?  They were using beef tallow to fry their fries in.  Beef tallow can give you chest pains just thinking about it.  Scientist discovered quite easily that a small order of McDonalds’ fries had more saturated fat in it than a Big Mac.  One of the few regulations the government did that I have to agree with was forcing Mickey Dees to quit frying their slivers of potatoes in pure emulsified FAT.  But they tasted great.  It’s no wonder the boomers that grew up on fast food are having heart issues.

If you eat carbs, make sure you don’t eat the fats that go with it.  The old saying that carbs turn to fat is a wives tale.  It takes forever for carbs to turn to fat.  On the other hand, carbs mixed with fat is like adding a fuse to dynamite.  That’s the best description I can give you.  A fuse won’t kill nor will a stick of dynamite without the lit fuse.  But put the two together and you can kiss your 32 inch waste goodbye in a very quick amount of time. (Depending on how mobile you are during the day).  So go ahead and eat your bread, it won’t kill you.  Eat your Brat, it won’t kill you.  But put the brat in a bun and you’ve just stuck the fuse to the dynamite.