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High Carb, Mid Carb, Low Carb And High Protein, Low Fat Diet
Having a well balanced diet sounds easy but it's actually very difficult to achieve. To make matters worse, there are all sorts of conflicting information out there, adding to the confusion. So which diet works best? This article will clarify everything once and for all.
There are 3 important components to a well balanced diet - (1) protein, (2) fat, and (3) carbohydrate. Let's take a look at each one and then decide whether it's good to have a high, mid or low.
Protein.
Protein provides the basic building blocks for lean muscle mass. The average individual doesn't take enough protein for the day, especially those who don't watch their diet and nutritional intake closely. Over time, they tend to lose lean muscle mass and put on more fat. So what they should do is to increase their intake of protein so as to maintain lean muscle mass.
But it's not as simple as that. To maintain vitality and good health, one must also engage in exercise periodically. As you probably know by now after weeding through the articles on this site, exercise causes stress on your muscles. So if you are not replenishing your body with enough protein, you actually end up losing muscle mass, and that is not what you want. You want your muscles to grow stronger, so you need to eat more protein, especially after an intense workout. And that is just to maintain lean muscle mass. If you want to grow lean muscle mass, you need to eat even more protein.
To continue consuming more and more protein doesn't sound very practical because there is only so much meat/dairy products/soy you can eat for the day. So it's always good to supplement your daily meals with high quality whey protein. You can mix whey protein with cereals or just create a regular protein shake with milk or cold water.
We have established that the body needs protein in order to maintain, repair and grow muscle mass. So your daily meals should always contain HIGH PROTEIN. To grow bigger and stronger, always strive to consume 1g or protein for every pound that you weigh.
Fat.
Contrary to popular perception, fat is NOT the enemy. In fact, our body needs fat to be able to function normally and stay healthy. Fat is an important source of energy. The problem is that our body stores too much fat, leading to a host of heart related problems. Therefore, most people view fat as the enemy.
In reality, you should not remove all fat from your diet. What you want to avoid is saturated fat and trans fat (processed fat). Read nutritional labels and remove foods that contain saturated and trans fat from your diet.
The average individual will have a body composition of over 20% body fat. In other words, the body carries 20% of its weight in terms of body fat. A very fit individual will carry a lot less fat (10 to 15%) body fat and a lot more lean muscle mass. Bodybuilders in taking part in competitions have been known to carry less than 10% percent body fat. Note that such low fat levels can be harmful to the body and bodybuilders only stay at less than 10% body fat during competitions. After that, they have to eat well again and body fat will increase to 10 to 12% body fat.
To achieve a lower body fat composition, exercise is not enough. You must also watch your diet and fat intake. Most foods will contain oil and fat, so it's actually very easy to exceed the daily fat intake. What you should do is to consume low fat foods whenever possible - e.g. drinking non-fat milk.
So the final verdict is to consume a LOW FAT diet but do not eliminate all fat from your daily diet.
Carbohydrates.
This is the most tricky component of all. There are all sorts of fad diets out there that recommend high or low carb diets. Before going into further detail, note that carbs is the body's preferred energy source. Carbs are converted into glycogen and stored in muscles, and glycogen is the primary energy source that the body depends on during most physical activities.
What do you think happens to excess carbs that are not converted into energy or stored as glycogen? The carbs either get passed out from the body or stored as fat as potential energy for the body. How much fat is stored depends on the body's metabolic rate. A body with high metabolism will burn more calories and less carbs will be stored as fat.
Some diets recommend a low carb diet so as to maintain or lose weight. The rationale is that low carbs equals less calories and less opportunities for carbs to be stored as fat. So a low carb diet must be the answer to weight loss and a slimmer figure.
Unfortunately, the body doesn't respond well to such a diet. The reason is because low carb means the body now has less reliable energy source to depend on. So the individual ends up feeling more lethargic and athletic ability declines. The body may even start to adapt to the new diet and end up storing more fat in the body for survival purposes.
Consider the alternative. How about a high carb diet? Will it be beneficial to health? High carb will give the body a lot of energy. Usually, for those engaged in long duration exercises such as marathon runners, a high carb diet will improve performance. This is because such athletes need to store as much glycogen in their muscles as possible to last for many hours. In fact, even high carb is not enough. The athletes have to consume liquid carbs or gel during the event to replace lost glycogen.
For the average individual or for those who don't engage in long duration exercises, a high carb diet is not necessary. In general, if you don't intend to exercise for more than an hour each time, there is no need to consume high carb diets. A mid carb diet will be sufficient without impairing performance.
The reason why it's hard to get the amount of carbs right is because carbs is not usually seen as a primary energy source. If you see carbs as the primary energy source, you will know how to tweak your carbs amount to suit your daily activities. Remember that carb is like fuel - it's your body's preferred energy source. So how much fuel you need for the day depends on the type of activities you engage in.
A low carb diet certainly doesn't make sense, and a high carb diet is only suited for those engaged in long duration exercises. For the average individual, just stick to a mid carb diet - that is, your carb intake should take up 60% calories of each meal.
So in sum, if you want to maintain good health, remember this diet mix:
High protein, low fat, and mid carbs (variable). The carb component remains a variable component. Maintain your muscle mass and then fuel your body accordingly with the right amount of carbs. It takes time to get this right. That's why many people fail at having a well balanced diet.
Let me remind you that having proper nutrition is difficult to execute on a daily basis. But for the sake of good health, you must learn to form good eating habits. And that begins with knowledge.
Hopefully, this article and all other articles on this site will give you enough information to embark on a healthy diet that works in the long term to sustain good health.
