DIET DOCTOR #6
Satisfy your sweet tooth while sticking to your diet
June 1, 2009
Q: I have a horrible sweet tooth that always seems to ruin my diet efforts. I'm trying to follow a low carb diet and I know that when I am allowed carbs I should be eating slow-digesting carbs like whole-grains. But I can't stop craving sweets like jelly beans and Starburst. Can you offer any help to turn off my sweet tooth and stick to my low-carb diet.
A: Yes, I can offer you some help that will allow you to stick to your low-carb diet AND let you to enjoy some of those sweets you're craving. At Hers we consider a low-carb diet to be about 0.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight. For females around 140 pounds, that allows for about 70 grams of carbs each day. The majority of these carbs should be low glycemic or slow-digesting, such as a cup of oatmeal at breakfast and a cup of blueberries before workouts. However, one of the most critical times of day to have some carbs is immediately after workouts. So for example, if you did eat oatmeal at breakfast and blueberries before your workout, the good news is that you still have about 25 grams of carbs left that you can eat following your workouts. Even better news is the fact that this is the one time of day that you want to eat high-glycemic or fast-digesting carbs. Yes, that means that jelly beans and Starburst are on the list! These fast carbs will boost insulin levels. This anabolic hormone drives the glucose from those carbs into the muscle to replenish the carbs you burned during the workout (mainly glycogen - the storage form of carbs in muscle fibers). It also pushes amino acids from the protein shake you are hopefully drinking after workouts, into your muscles for better muscle recovery. In addition, insulin itself signals the muscle to reduce muscle breakdown and increase protein synthesis or muscle buildup. So you can still enjoy jelly beans and Starburst, as long as you eat them within 30 minutes after a workout. To see more sweets you can enjoy after workouts and even some savory options that you may be craving, watch my M&F Raw!
Nutriton episode #3 - Postworkout Carbs at muscleandfitness.com.
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