To paraphrase a Chevrolet ad, it used to be that the only carbs we counted were under the hood. Today, we count carbs as if it is a paying job. Are those complex carbs, simple carbs, Rochester carbs? How many can I have? Zero grams? Twenty? One hundred and twenty?
A few years ago, a diet called the Atkins diet took the world by storm. It told us to eat cheeseburgers with no buns and have bacon and eggs every morning for breakfast. The Atkins diet will help you lose fat by forcing your body to use it as fuel. By depriving your body of carbohydrates and only giving it proteins, the body turns to its fat stores for energy.
The Atkins diet is a great short term solution--especially if you have a lot of fat to burn--but it can be very damaging in the long term. Your body needs 120 grams of carbohydrates for your brain and liver to function properly. Depriving your body of these essential nutrients can cause damage over the long term and, in the short term, can cause you to lose your mental focus and have a general feeling of poor well being.
Like anything else in this life, carbs are okay in moderation. Try to stick to complex carbs throughout the day. Foods like brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain pasta and whole grain bread will provide energy without the bloat. Save the simple carbs like biscuits, honey, bread sticks and anything with bleached flour for a post workout meal as your body will crave the sugars to fight catabolism. Try to avoid the most prevalent simple carb delivery devicessnack cakes (Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ring Dings, etc).
There are simple carbs out there that are okay and do not promote weight gain. In fact, you've probably heard of most of them. They are called "fruit" and can be found in almost any grocery store. Apples, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, lemons, peaches, strawberries and pears all have natural simple sugars, taste great and do not promote weight gain.
Continue to count your carbs and tune your Holley, just make sure you're counting the right carbs and not putting a size 88 jet into a Fuji apple.
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