There are two types of cabs you eat, plus we’ll throw sugar into the mix as well because simple carbs and sugar tend to come in pairs.
- Complex carbs
- Simple carbs and sugar
Complex carbs are foods such as potatoes, wholegrain rice, wholegrain pasta, vegetables, and legumes like black peas and lentils.
Simple carbs are foods like bagels, white bread, and breakfast cereal, the sandwich and crisps in your dinner time meal deal or the pizza and chips for tea. If you’re chomping down on sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks, and throwing half a ton of sugar into your tea will add to your simple carb and sugar intake
Download shopping list for a complete list of complex cabs, protein, fats, and vegetables.
What you should know about insulin
Insulin is a hormone, It’s the only hormone you have some control over, and this article will show you how to take control of insulin to promote all the wonderful things insulin contributes to.
Insulin has many jobs but for today we’re going to talk about insulin in the context of fat gain and fat loss.
So, when you eat carbs, you produce insulin from the pancreas.
In a grey box. Fun fact, the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are called islets of Langerhans: which when I come across, I always think sounds like a windswept island, being berated by horizontal rain with a lighthouse on it somewhere in the Outer Hebrides. Complete with some old geezer with a massive beard and weathered skin, gazing longingly out into the distance and into the world beyond, reminiscing on a life well lived.
Insulin and complex carbs
When you eat a meal with complex carbs this will produce smaller amounts of insulin from your pancreas slowly over a longer period of time. This will keep your blood sugar stable; you’ll avoid the sugar rush, keep a good metal focus and your mental and physical energy balanced. Good times.
Insulin, simple carbs, and sugar
When you eat a meal full of simple cabs and sugar this will produce larger amounts of insulin from your pancreas and in a quicker burst, then comes the grim sugar crash. This is going to negatively affect your physical energy and mental focus, and you’ll be sneaking off to the toilet cubicle at work for your power nap at around 2:30pm.
For optimal health, the ability to get lean and stay lean, to have stable physical and mental energy, controlling insulin spikes are going to be a huge factor.
With well-balanced nutrition habits and a solid exercise program, carbs and insulin can work together to have a positive effect on the body and work to increase your health span.
Here’s how.
Here’s how carbs and insulin work well together.
When you eat carbs, they’re digested and find their way into your bloodstream. The pancreas then produces insulin and pumps it into your bloodstream, insulin then travels through your bloodstream picking up the carbs along the way and escorting the carbs to the muscle cells.
When Insulin arrives at a muscle cell, insulin and your muscle cell have a friendly little chat, the muscle cell says,
“Ello mate, have you got some carbs for me?” Insulin then replies,
“Yes mate.”
So, the muscle cell says,
