Do carbs make you fat?

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Published: September 10, 2019

For the past decade, trainers, scientists, and health gurus have been working on answering the question: “Do carbs make you fat?” Carbs have gotten a label of the public health enemy number one because they had a reputation of sabotaging benefits of weight loss exercise. Most popular diet books, websites, and health enthusiasts have completely excoriated carbohydrates. People believe that they have single-handedly caused the obesity epidemic in the West. However, this actually isn’t the first time the question has been in focus.

Girl with a flower in her belly button
Most people get interested in following a low-carb/high-fat diet because they hope it can help them lose a lot of weight fast. Who wouldn’t want to lose their love handles quickly?

 History already tried to answer do carbs make you fat

The food group has been anathema ever since the 19th century. The popularity of low-carb diets dates all the way back to 1863. Then it was known as “banting” after the undertaker William Banting. Mr. Banting made the diet a trend with a bestselling pamphlet. The diet was in such high demand, that people took up a phrase to inquire one another, “Do you bant?”. Or “Are you banting?”. Which is basically what we ask now with – Do carbs make you fat?

In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, there was another really popular low-carb diet by the name the Atkins diet. Then in the 2000s, we witnessed an explosion of different kinds of exercises to lose belly fat and low or no-carb regimes. There was paleo, South Beach, the acclaimed Whole30, and other slow-releasing glycemic index carb diets.  These were just some of the most popular. While they all varied based on the level of carbohydrates they allowed to the dieter, they all, as a rule, discouraged foods like bread, rice, and starchy veggies like corn and potatoes.

Continuing into the 2010s, the war on carbs didn’t calm down

It has furthermore picked up steam with some catchy names regimes, like the Bulletproof Diet and the Carnivore Diet. The carbs are losing the battle so bad, that many people are starting to eliminate them altogether chasing that state called “ketosis”. In theory, this state should allow your body to fuel itself without any carbs at all. Bottom line, it seems that we have moved past the question of do carbs make you fat and entered a whole other realm. As it appears, carbs not only create fat, they affect your overall health very badly. And health gurus have even included spiritual health here as well.

But the tides have changed

There are confessions of gym rats that report that they have been good soldiers in the war on carbs. They have maintained a relatively low-carb diet and trained with their female personal trainer Dubai. They even coupled this routine with intermittent fasting. But after a few years, they admit having started to see faults in the “Do carbs make you fat?” narrative. It usually began after they got really committed to barbell training. They continued to maintain a high-fat/low-carb diet but found themselves struggling in workouts.

Then somebody recommended to them to try a high-carb/low-fat (and high protein) diet. Within one week, they report they’ve noticed major improvements. They began to successfully finish workouts, adding more weight to the bar, and they felt they had more energy throughout the rest of the day as well. Some people also report they have started to lose weight — despite eating the same number of calories as when they were on a high-fat/low-carb diet. Once they switched to higher-carb/lower-fat since then, they felt they had more strength and energy. And most of them have never switched back again.

Healthy breakfast with toast and a do carbs make you fat question
Where things get suspicious is when someone who’s on a low-carb/high-fat diet explains that you lose weight on low-carb diets, because it was carbs that made you fat in the first place. And that avoiding them is why you lost the pounds.

These reports have made trainers and other health enthusiasts to take a second look at carbohydrates and their evilness.

What we’ve learned throughout our years on improving people’s health and levels of stamina, we declare a ceasefire on carbs! So our answer to your question: “Do carbs make you fat?” is a big fat “No!”. Carbs are not evil. They alone don’t make people fat. In fact, it has been scientifically proven you can lose body fat while on a high-carb diet, as many people have done before. And, if you plan on eating a lot of carbohydrates while working on improving your strength and stamina at the same time, there is no reason why that wouldn’t be possible.

Why Carbs Don’t Make You Fat

You’ll certainly find too many online testimonials to count from people talking about how moving from bread and rice to avocado and bacon was a huge success for them, allowing them to lose a significant amount of weight quickly and fairly easily. And we don’t doubt that they’re telling the truth. But let’s make one thing perfectly clear. You also absolutely can lose weight by committing on a low-carb/high-fat diet. This has been proven via scientific research.

What Happens In Your Body When You Eat Carbohydrates

  • Carbohydrates digestion is a complex process in the body whit lots of different systems all operating at the same time. But here is a simplified version of the conundrum – do carbs make you fat and how it all works.
  • When you consume carbohydrates, your body will break them down into a sugar called glucose. Glucose is basically your blood sugar. Our bodies utilize glucose, together with fatty acids, as fuel for our cells. In the cells the acids and the glucose transform into energy we use to move and just exist.
GIrl and guy doing push ups on one arm
Your muscles like glucose. They use blood sugar to power themselves, especially when you’re engaging a very strenuous activity like lifting weights, running, or walking up a flight of stairs.

Your blood sugar will rise after digesting carbs, so your pancreas has to release a hormone called insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin causes the insulin receptors in our cells to open and then glucose can enter them. At that moment insulin signals your brain to take in that glucose, it will use up 50% of the glucose in your body. So take advantage of that energy, contact a personal trainer in Dubai, and enjoy the weather, the beaches, and the foods! We hope you have an inspiring workout!

 

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