6 Week Body Makeover - Slow Carbs and Slow Proteins

Learning how carbohydrates and proteins work with your body is a crucial part of losing weight while on the 6 Week Body Makeover, or any diet to be exact. Did you know that there are certain carbohydrates that will make you gain weight and other carbohydrates that will help you lose weight? People have the understanding that all carbohydrates are bad for them and that all carbohydrates will make them gain weight. However, this is not the case. People need carbohydrates to have energy throughout the day. All protein diets are a very bad idea and should be avoided. Diets that focus on eating only protein will ensure that you will gain weight and will lead to obesity later on in your life. The reason why all protein diets do not work is because your body needs carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are energy for your body. It’s the fuel that provides energy for your muscles, organs and hair. Your brain can be considered the most important in organ in your body. If there is no fuel for your brain, you will feel slow, react slow and will not be able to think all day. Your body is a very adaptive entity and can adapt to many situations. If it’s not getting adequate carbohydrate intake, it will start breaking down your body’s muscle tissue and convert your muscle tissue into glucose (sugar/energy). Lean muscle tissue is very important and is a building block for burning calories. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn. The less muscle mass you have, the fewer calories you will burn. Get the picture? You are basically stealing your fat burning power by focusing on an all-protein diet.

People are mis-educated about carbohydrates and that’s the reason why they stay away from them. Instead of thinking carbohydrates as your enemy, think of them as a fat-burning building block. There are carbohydrates that will increase your sugar levels and spike your insulin levels due to these carbohydrates being broken down at a rapid rate. Most people that gain weight eat simple carbohydrates that are stored as fat instead of burned as energy. The reason is that simple carbohydrates are easily converted into sugar. If this sugar is not burned right away, your body will store it as energy in the form of fat for later use. The problem is that your body will never burn the fat because it will continue to store glucose as fat and your fat intake will be stock piled.

Using “slow” carbohydrates is the way to fight the fat storage. Slow carbohydrates are complex carbohydrates that are harder to break down in your body. Your body will break down these carbs at a slower rate and you will have energy throughout the day. Another benefit of complex carbohydrates is that you will feel full longer and won’t want to eat as many meals a day. Some people need to be very careful about the carbs that they intake as even something simple as fruit juice will make them gain weight. People on the Michael Thurmond 6 Week Body makeover already know their body types. My body type is a C and is not as susceptible to gain weight from carbohydrates as other bodies. The ratio of carbs to protein is also important. Eating carbohydrates (simple and complex) alone without any proteins for Type A people will slow their conversion rate of sugar into energy and will virtually halt their weight loss.