Don’t get me wrong…grains can be helpful for some people (especially athletes training for many hours at a time) to get enough carbohydrate to fuel their activity requirements, and some people thrive on a high carbohydrate diet, BUT carbohydrate intake depends on several factors, including;
- Ethnicity
- Genes
- Metabolic state (which is also heavily affected by the above)
- Activity levels
So, if you are not as tolerant of high carbohydrate intakes due to your ethnicity or your current metabolic state (i.e. you are prediabetic, resistant to fat-loss, or are experiencing early-onset cognitive decline), then you should certainly consider reducing the amount of high-carb foods in your diet. And of course, if you’re not as active as an Olympic level marathon runner, you certainly don’t need to eat like one! In fact, many of us need little or no grain as we get enough carbohydrate from berries, fruit, sweet potato (kumara), and sprouted legumes, even if we are very carb-tolerant.
Especially avoid grains if you are trying to lose stubborn body fat, if you have ‘peaks and troughs’ in energy through the day, or if you get ravenously hungry within a few hours after breakfast or have a large ‘crash’ in the early afternoon. If your health practitioner has suggested you have any signs of a metabolic disorder then you should probably also reduce or eliminate grains, but you should do this under the advice of your qualified, registered health practitioner. If you’re trying to lose stubborn body fat, try ditching the grains!
If you’re trying to lose stubborn body fat, try ditching the grains!
From Carb-Appropriate 101 by Cliff Harvey PhD
Carb-Appropriate 101 gives you 101 daily tips to help you achieve the energy, health & performance you deserve. It includes daily tips for nutrition, movement, exercise, meditation, mindfulness, sleep, stress-reduction, and more! These tips are some of the themes that Cliff has written and spoken about over his decades in practice, in ‘bite-sized’ mini-articles.
Read the book from cover-to-cover, applying a tip a day, or simply open the book to any page to find a valuable health and performance tip to help you feel and perform at your very best.
