Performance Nutrition 301. The 4-Day Rotation Diet: Carbohydrates
In parts one and two of this series, we covered the definitions, functions, and sources of protein and fat. In this article, we will cover carbohydrates, their function, sources, and proper role in a healthy, high performance diet.
Carbohydrates: An Introduction
Carbohydrates are organic compounds (that means that they contain carbon) that encompass the food group known as “that which most of love to eat the most.” They include simple sugars, like glucose – the sugar that you get in an IV bag at the hospital – and galactose, most commonly found in milk and beets. Carbohydrates also encompass more complex sugars like sucrose, or table sugar, fructose – the sugar found in fruits – and even more complex sugars, chemically know as polysaccharides.
Another, more common name for polysaccharides is starch. Starches make up just about every commonly known carbohydrate – grain sources from wheat, barley, oats, rice, corn, etc., as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams; and all the derivatives of those whole food sources: bread, pasta, chips, cookies, crackers… the list goes on and on.
Starch in the human body is stored as glycogen, and is the primary and preferred fuel source for the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) – the basic unit of energy in the human body. Every carbohydrate, no matter how complex its chemical structure, ultimately becomes a simple sugar as it is broken down by the body for energy. This fact, though well-established in the medical literature, overlooks the additional fact that the human body is a relatively highly adaptable organism that molds to its environment.
Another way of saying this is that the human body’s “preferred fuel source” – ATP resulting from the breakdown of carbohydrates, is a direct result of human nature, which is commonly to seek out that which is sweet. As you will hopefully come to understand, there is often a variance between what we want and what we need, and I postulate that the typical American diet – YOUR DIET – is out of balance with what is technically best for your body.
