1. What are carbohydrates?
2. What role do they play and what are the benefits of incorporating carbohydrates into our diet?
3. What are for me the best times of the day to take them?
4. Myths about carbohydrates
Good morning everyone and welcome once again to a new blog.
Today we are going to cover a very common topic in our day to day but with which our knowledge about it has been changing over time. CARBOHYDRATES
1
I want to define very briefly what carbohydrates are within the context in which we find ourselves, which is sports.
It is one of the 3 macronutrients that we find in food and we use it mainly as an energy substrate and storage of said energy.
In the field of nutrition, it is possible to distinguish between simple and complex carbohydrates, taking into account both their structure and the speed and process through which sugar is digested and absorbed by the body.
I do not want to wrap up much in this topic, since in my blog WHAT FOOD ADVICE PRE-WORKOUT AND POST-WORKOUT, he talked about the different types of carbohydrates and which option is the best depending on the situation in which we find ourselves.
Many foods that we eat in our day to day are carbohydrates such as rice, cereals, legumes, tubers …
2 
As I have explained before, the role that carbohydrates play in our health is to be used as an energy substrate and send this energy to certain organs, such as the brain, so that they function properly.
But you already know that here we take everything to the sports and performance field, therefore, here inside what role do they play?
As athletes, in order to perform correctly and effectively in our training sessions, we must have the energy with which to perform them. Carbohydrates provide us with GLUCOGEN.
GLYCOGEN is an energy reserve polysaccharide formed by branched chains of glucose, which promote the muscle contraction that we always seek in our training.
The higher the glycogen, the higher the muscle contraction, and that muscle contraction gives us that fullness that we look for in our workouts, taken to the field of fitness, we look for that congestion that makes us look fuller and hydrated.
All this on paper sounds very good, but I always say, in practice not everything goes, all this is not possible if we do not eat a balanced and correctly distributed diet with the three macronutrients (PROTEINS, CARBOHYDRATES and FATS).
If you like this topic, I could talk about what nutrients and minerals favor glycogen to pass to the muscles and therefore that congestion and that feeling of being “loaded”. Do not hesitate to write me by mail or by direct message from Instagram @ jorge.darek.
3
We return to the topic of what is the best time of day for me to include them, and this has many variables.
It all depends on the sports objective in which we find ourselves, a person who is in a goal of muscle mass gain, another of fat loss, or another who is preparing for a bodybuilding or sports performance competition will not be the same.
I am going to talk about the ones that for me in any of these examples, I would include them.
– PERI-TRAINING moment.
This is the environment before, during and after training.
Within this environment, they only seem fundamental to me before training, if we want to have that energy that they provide us for that training and be effective in it.
If you ask me, during training it is impossible for me to take them even in liquid form, since I do not digest them well and they produce flatulence and digestive discomfort, therefore not performing in training.
After training they are not a bad option, but they do not seem essential and I find it more interesting to include an intake of whey protein just after training and hour, hour and a half later, eat a much more complete meal with the three macronutrients.
– At your last meal of the day.
This option seems very interesting to me, especially in people who, within a nutritional plan, suffer from anxiety about eating or cravings.
At night it is usually the time in which these people usually have this pathology since, we come tired from the day, we sit on the sofa and before going to bed we have more time to “sin”.
If you suffer from this and your last meal of the day is fish with vegetables, you will have a really bad time even skipping your eating plan and moving away from your goals.
Including carbohydrates before bed, leaving a good margin of time for your body to digest them, and thus, not going to bed in full digestion, has many benefits, among them:
– Avoid nighttime anxieties and cravings, since you are eating foods that will leave you more satiated and also, your brain will give your body a feeling of greater well-being.
– You will rest much better, since carbohydrates favor the release of insulin, which will cause it to activate your natural melatonin, improving your quality of sleep.
– You will wake up in a much better mood, since you will have rested better, and you will not have anxiety about eating since at your dinner you ingested a good dose of energy.
But, haven’t they always told us that we can take carbohydrates at night because they make us fat? Let’s go to the last point and uncover false myths.
4
Within the myths of taking carbohydrates, I find two very pronounced but both are uncovered with the same statement.
We found the one that CARBOHYDRATES ARE FAT, and that you CANNOT TAKE CARBOHYDRATES AFTER 7 PM BECAUSE YOUR BODY STORES THEM AND DOES NOT USE THEM DURING THE DAY, THEREFORE, YOU WILL GET FAT.
There may be people who reading this are already up to date and laugh, but these two statements have been very present in our lives, especially in people who were looking for body aesthetics.
Thanks to the progress and especially to the amount of studies and tests that we have today, we know that this is not the case at all and that we can perfectly deny it.
Carbohydrates are not fattening, you are the one who gets fat.
If you have an expenditure of 2900 kcal per day and you eat 3300 kcal, you will have a surplus of 400 kcal that you will have accumulated by eating more than what you spend on TOTAL ENERGY FROM YOUR DIET.
If you want to lose weight, lose 400 kcal from your diet, move more, and you will achieve it.
Continuing with the myths, your body DOES NOT UNDERSTAND HOURS, it does not matter if you eat something at 5 in the morning or at 9 at night, your body will digest it the same.
The important thing and what we will have to take into account and be aware of is the total calculation of calories ingested at the end of the day and the amount of calories we have used that day.
If the result is positive for calories ingested, you will accumulate energy while, if it is negative, you will have used more, therefore, you will lose weight. THAT SIMPLE
And so far this blog, I hope you liked it, and if so, I appreciate you sharing it and having your opinion. Greetings guys.