I heard that carbs are bad.

Let's talk carbohydrates.

I was talking to another lady who I volunteer with today, and she had a cleanse drink with her. We started talking about cleanses, and the conversation ended up something like this:

Lady: I heard that your body can produce it's own carbohydrates, so I don't need to eat them. Carbs are bad, they make me fat.
Me: noooo.... your body can't produce carbohydrates.
Lady: Yeah it can! So it's ok to do a Master Cleanse for weeks.
Me: oh god... no, your body can produce glucose from fat and protein. But it's incredibly inefficient, and can lead to really major health problems. Plus you'll probably have some major vitamin deficiencies from not eating for weeks...
Lady: I guess, but I'd still lose weight, right?
Me: *cringe*

Oh, it makes my ears bleed! There are SO many people out there who think that carbs are evil and make you gain weight, and that therefore reducing or eliminating carbs is the best thing ever.
SERIOUSLY???

Let's talk.

What's the deal with carbs?
Carbohydrates break down into glucose when you digest them. Depending on the type of carbohydrate, it may break down faster or slower (e.g. complex carbs, like whole grains, versus simple carbs, like table sugar). Carbohydrates also includes fibre, which is super important to help material get moving through your digestive tract. Soluble fibre can also reduce blood cholesterol!

Why do I need carbs?
Glucose is the body's main source of energy. Your brain ALONE needs 100g of carbohydrate daily just to maintain normal function, let alone everything else your body needs to do (heartbeat, breathing, voluntary muscle movement). This is why things like the Atkins diet scare the crap out of me - I've heard tell that the diet cuts participants down to about TWENTY grams of carbs per day. That's the equivalent of about 1/2 a banana.

But carbs make me fat.
No. An excess of ANY macronutrient will make you fat. Carbs are not the only thing to blame. You could cut carbs entirely out of your life and eat nothing but fat and protein, and still gain weight if you're eating more than you need. All three can be converted to body fat if consumed in excess. A diet that is well balanced, including adequate carbohydrates, will help you to lose/maintain your weight.

What if I don't eat carbs?
A couple of things can happen. As I mentioned, your body can produce glucose from fat and protein, but it's incredible inefficient. From the fat cells in your body, only about 5% of the triglyceride molecule can actually be used to make glucose. With protein, the deamination of a protein also frees up pieces of the molecule. The rest of the molecules are left unused, and can cause some major health problems. Those extra fatty acids and amino acids produce ketone bodies, and when produced in excess (i.e. you're relying entirely on fat and protein for glucose), the number of ketone bodies gets out of control and can lead to ketoacidosis. This condition lowers the pH of the blood making it more acidic, and can be FATAL.

Another major issue - the body doesn't store protein like it does with fat (remember, excess protein is stored as fat, not as protein). Protein that is in the body is active, being used as muscle tissue, hormones, enzymes, bone, and other major functions. So, by taking protein away from it's regular function to make glucose, you could be taking away some major body functions. Not to mention wasting muscle tissue, increasing risk of osteoporosis and reducing your ability to metabolize anything else you eat since you won't have functional enzymes.

Oh, and since you won't be consuming much/any fibre, you'll probably be pretty constipated too. Fun!

So yeah, you'll lose weight. But then you might die. Just saying...

I don't want to be constipated/wasting away/osteoporotic/dead! How much carbohydrate do I need?

The recommendation in Canada is that 45-65% of your total caloric intake should be from carbohydrates. In particular, it emphasizes focusing on complex carbohydrates, such as veggies, fruit and whole grains, and limiting the simple sugars and added sugar.

How's School Going?

I get this question a lot. I am so in love with my program and all the amazing stuff I'm learning, despite how swamped with readings/assignments/essays/craziness I have been all semester. And today, I received some new and exciting news to make me love it even more!

I have just been accepted into an international interdisciplinary course for spring 2011! The course is for students in the Faculty of Community Services (including social work, nursing, midwifery, nutrition, urban planning, etc) to work together in helping a community with all of our specialized knowledge and skills put together. We learn from each other's disciplines to understand how all of our knowledge comes together to help communities in a holistic way.

Neat huh?

But you know what the best part about the course is???



WE'RE GOING TO NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be in N'Awwlins for TWO WEEKS to work together and help to rebuild the community that has been devastated, after surviving Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Thousands have lots their homes and their jobs from these two events, and the community needs not only physical rebuilding, but economic as well. As health professionals-in-the-making and other community support people, our job will be to explore how the community has been impacted, how far-reaching these impacts are, and what can be done to help improve the health status of the residents of New Orleans and rebuild their lives.

WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea yet what the actual course content will be or what the project in New Orleans will entail (I suspect it involves a lot of hands-on community involvement, potentially assisting in construction and education opportunities). But I'm SUPER excited :D!!!!