You know the feeling. Tired, wired, and irritable. This is what happens when you eliminate carbs from your diet and continue to train very hard.⠀
.⠀
Nutritious foods that were once considered essential, things like rice and potatoes, are now often viewed as villains in the diet worlds.⠀
.⠀
But if we look at the physiques and nutrition strategies of the legends who pioneered the fitness lifestyle decades ago, we see that carbohydrates were a staple in their diets.⠀
.⠀
Our challenge is to choose the right carbs (more whole smart carbs and less processed fast carbs) and then treat them so that they are partitioned in a way that supports lean muscle mass and less body fat.⠀
.⠀
Treating carbs to turn them into resistant starches transforms the way they are handled in the body. They function as soluble fiber by way of retrodegration which improves insulin sensitivity (helps your food get stored into muscles instead of fat cells), regulates appetite (helps you stay lean), and has been shown to help upregulate BDNF (miracle grow for your brain).⠀
.⠀
Here are three ideas on how to eat carbs again without feeling guilty about it or worrying that they’ll ruin all your hard work in the gym:⠀⠀
⠀⠀
✅Potatoes ⠀⠀
Here’s the method: Boil them and refrigerate them for 24 hours. Here’s the reason: The process of boiling and then cooling cause starch retrodegration. This process turns the carbohydrate source into a resistant starch which improves insulin sensitivity, reduces blood sugar levels, and regulates cravings.⠀⠀
⠀⠀
✅Rice ⠀⠀
Here’s the method: Cook your own rice with coconut oil (1 teaspoon of coconut oil for every cup of rice). Here’s the reason: By cooking your rice this way and then cooling it overnight, the carbohydrate turns resistant again offering benefits such as improved insulin sensitivity, reduced blood sugar, and a regulated appetite.⠀⠀
⠀⠀
✅Pasta⠀⠀
This requires less work because you can just buy pasta that is made from a legume. Legumes (beans and lentils) by nature are resistant starches so you get all the benefits of eating a resistant starch while enjoying the texture and experience of eating pasta – a food group that normally reserved for a cheat meal.