Is there such a thing as an essential carbohydrate?
We’ve all heard of essential fatty acids. We’ve all heard of essential amino acids. But is there such a thing as an essential carbohydrate? Essential macronutrients are required in the diet because the body can't produce them. Chemical reactions in the body can provide non-essential macronutrients.
It’s important to note that ALL carbohydrates in food are broken down and converted into pure sugar (glucose and fructose) or indigestible fibre. Although glucose, fructose, and fibre are all technically carbohydrates, they each have a different effect on the body.
Give your clients a licence to eat carbohydrates
Is there a nutrition secret to going harder, faster, stronger, and longer? There is a whole mythology built up around “eating to perform": protein powders, carbohydrate back-loading, intermittent fasting, post-workout macronutrient ratios, etc. We've been told that carbohydrates are bad for us? But don’t we need carbohydrates to fuel our high-intensity training sessions? One of my teachers used to say, “most people don’t deserve carbohydrates, you can have carbohydrates in your diet, but they have to be clean carbohydrates.” The best way to determine if it’s a clean carbohydrate is to ask the questions, “did a caveman have access to it?”