Carbohydrate Counting - Is It Really Necessary?

New ways of eating appear as if everyday, maybe not enough every day, but every few years a new diet appears to catch everyone's attention. No matter who you are, eating healthy foods is an important part of your daily routine and making dietary money doesn't have to be part of it.

Most diets encourage you to start carbohydrate counting; The premise that cutting out carbohydrates will help you burn fat and build muscle. However, this is not entirely true, as not all carbohydrates are created equal. So before you start carbohydrate counting and cutting out your carbohydrates, you need to learn the difference between good and bad carbohydrates and the easiest way to do this is with a glycemic index.

Your body needs carbohydrates to survive, to allow it to function normally. Therefore, stay away from any diet that recommends that you eliminate carbohydrates from your diet completely. But you should avoid bad carbohydrates that carry high glycemic index ratings and ideally you should aim to eat foods with low glycemic index ratings, foods like pasta, green vegetables, cereals and oats.

Doctors and nutritionists often use the glycemic index to help explain briefly how carbohydrates are broken down and used by the body. It's easy to understand the rating system, which uses a scale of zero to one hundred. If you are seriously burning fat and losing weight, it is important that you understand the glycemic index and how the food is rated.

So, how is the Glycemic Index Calculated?

Ratings are calculated based on the rate of digestion of a particular food. For example fast foods that are digested have high ratings, while slow foods are rated lower.

This is important because foods that are quickly digested cause the blood sugar to rise as the sugars from the food are absorbed into the bloodstream quickly. This stimulates the release of insulin which causes the sugar to be stored in the body as fat. It also has implications for diabetics who are unable to control their blood sugar levels. Different foods with lower ratings cause a gradual increase and decrease in blood sugar levels, which is safer and healthier for the body and thus less sugar is stored as fat. Therefore, this type of diet is ideal after training to supplement your muscle with carbohydrates before the next session.

In an ideal world, it would be useful to have glycemic index ratings published on all food labels to increase awareness among the general public. However, you need to take it on your own to do your own research. There is nothing to prevent you from calculating carbohydrates, but never cutting off carbohydrates completely. With the right goals, your dietary advice and diet plan can really get you the body of your dreams.

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