Protein Vs. Carbs

millie916

First time poster, long time reader (well a month or so). I have a quick question. Is it just me or does any one else have a problem getting the "goal carbs" in? When ever I eat something high in carbs, like rice, pasta, bread or cereal I seem to crave more within a hour, like my stomach is a bottemless pit. My snacks have been fruit so the carbs aren't racking up. This is why my protein is always above the goal number. Does anyone else have this problem? Or am I just exceptionally odd?

TinaS88

I try to keep my protein high and my carbs low! Well, not sure low, but a decent bit under what MFP has set more me. It's soooo hard because I LOVE bread, pasta, etc... lol

EmBlazes

Hi - great post :happy:

You definitely aren't the only one that feels like that. I almost never get anywhere near my carb goal but I try to get enough protein. I feel better when I don't "binge" on carbs.

It's different for everyone but I think you can adjust the proportions of nutrients if they don't work for you.

Emilie

change_happens

Hi. You are not exceptionally odd, I am the same way. Once I eat something like a potato, bread, crackers, i crave more and more of it. I am sure others are the same way. Don't worry, you aren't an oddity

adamcf

that would be normal. I won't pretend to know alot about food. But from what I understand there are two different types of carbs. starches are the pasta, rice, bread, and such. The other is from fruit and veggies.

There's two different fuels our bodies use. Fat and Carbs. Fat is like gas in a car. A car is supposed to run on gas. But a car only has a certain size tank. Our bodies are supposed to have only a certain amount of space for fat. We wouldn't fill up the back seat or the trunk of our cars with gas. Or we wouldn't tow an extra tank with gas in it. But we tend to do that with our bodies. We keep storing fat (fuel) when the tank is already full.

Carbs are like nitrOS. You know, the little tank those street racing cars have that injects nitros oxide in the engine. Cars don't really need nitros, but bodies need carbs. We inject carbs all day long so we can keep going. and when that type of fuel runs low, the fat kicks in for fuel.

It sounds like what you're doing in only using carbs and not letting your body use fat as fuel. I've been running the last few months and had been training for a 1/2 marathon which I did this last weekend. As I researched a little, I found that real runners train to use fat as fuel. This is how it works. When we get those starches, our body generates insulin which is what burns the carbs as energy. but when we eat too much starches, that insulin gets really high and doesn't want to come down. when it doesn't come down, the insulin blocks fat from being used as energy. Even though we have all that extra fat fuel waiting to be used, the insulin blocks it and we get tired and really hungry for more starches for fuel and the cycle continues. But too much of those starches tend to get stored as more fat.

So in that training, I cut out starches for about 6 weeks. No pasta, rice, sugar, bread or anything like that. My carbs all came from fruits and veggies. As I ran throughout the week, my insulin stopped generating as much and allowed the fat to be used as fuel. It's really tough at first, but after a week or so, it felt normal and I lasted much longer on my runs. the week of the race, I introduced more of those starches back into my diet and the morning of the race, I got a lot of oatmeal, which is awesome just before a big event like that. Those carbs kicked in and it was like nitros for the first 6 miles or so. But as I burned that all up, fat fuel kicked in and I was able to keep going.

I hope this helps. my suggestion is to look into how diabetes works and why so many people are being diagnosed now. It all has to do with what you are experiencing. Not that you might have diabetes, its that this way of eating is what causes it in so many people.

Lyadeia

I believe that MFP defaults the protein level too low and the carb level too high for most people, and you have described one of the reasons why I believe so.

You can change your own goals manually on this site once you determine what it is that you want to try. I prefer something more even when it comes to protein and carbs, like 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fats. Everybody responds differently to different ratios, so just play around with it until you find out what works for you.

ReeneyReeney

Sorry to just jump in... but this topic is really interesting to me. Insulin resistance is on the road to diabetes. Many people test as having perfectly normal blood sugar levels. what you can't see is the massive insulin spike necessary to keep their blood sugar levels normal. But it manifests itself in that non stop nagging hunger an hour or so after a high carb meal and it encourages fat gain (especially around the middle aka the most dangerous type). And eventually the pancreas can't keep making so much insulin and you develop pre-diabetes and diabetes. I have to keep my carb levels way lower than the default recommendations. Otherwise I'd be starving!

adamcf

Sorry to just jump in... but this topic is really interesting to me. Insulin resistance is on the road to diabetes. Many people test as having perfectly normal blood sugar levels. what you can't see is the massive insulin spike necessary to keep their blood sugar levels normal. But it manifests itself in that non stop nagging hunger an hour or so after a high carb meal and it encourages fat gain (especially around the middle aka the most dangerous type). And eventually the pancreas can't keep making so much insulin and you develop pre-diabetes and diabetes. I have to keep my carb levels way lower than the default recommendations. Otherwise I'd be starving!

I think you hit the nail on the head here. i totally agree with you.

millie916

I've been keeping my carb and fat levels for that matter below the recommended. I am predisposed to diabetes on both sides of my family - one has type 1 the other has type 2 I've always figured I would be the lucky one and one would balance out the other!

Since I've started tracking I chose more lean meats and fish with veggies at lunch and dinner, fruit, popcorn, and Nature Trails bars for snacks, and an occasional cut of uncle bens wild rice. I had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner and I craved more for the rest of the night. I just thought it was weird that the carbs in my snacks don't cause me to crave and rumble but spaghetti and breads do.