What's the right ratio of carbs and protein?

guest — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:53:11 GMT

What’s the right ratio of carbs and protein? I was on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet to try to lose weight but my workouts sucked. I know carbs are important for athletes -- but what’s the right balance?

The good news is carbohydrates are NOT fattening so you have no need to cut back on them as a part of a weight reduction plan. Excess calories are fattening, in particular,excess calories of fat. People lose weight when they give up carbs because they actually give up the dietary fat that accompanies the carbs:

--butter on the potato,

--mayo on the sandwich,

--cheesesauce on thepasta.

Initially,the dieters also lose water-weight, because for each one ounce of carb stored in your muscles as glycogen, your body stores about three ounces of water. When you deplete the carbs by exercising, you lose the water (weight).

The carbohydrates in fruits, vegetables and grain-foods are important for athletes because only carbs convert into muscle glycogen, the fuel that keeps you from “hitting the wall.” Glycogen depletion is associated with fatigue. You'll have trouble doing hard exercise with a low carb diet.

You should plan a sports diet that includes quality carbs as the foundation of each meal, such as

--cereal for breakfast,

--sandwich bread with lunch, and

--starch(rice, noodles, pasta, potato) with dinner.

Round out the meal with more carbs from fruits and veggies.

You want more grams of carbs than grams of protein. Include at least 200 to 300 calories of grain-food per meal—about 1/3 of your plate. Protein should take up about ¼-1/3 of the plate and be the accompaniment to the carbs, but not the main focus of the meal. Choose additional “quality carbs” from fruits, vegetables and whole grain breads to round out the meal. These are preferable to the sugary carbs (sweets and treats) that can also fuel your muscles but fail to invest in optimal health.

Fuel wisely and feel great!

Nancy

For more information: Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook has chapters on protein, carbohydrate, and weigh loss.

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Nancy Clark RD CSSD Tagged With ratio_carb_protein

What's the right ratio of carbs and protein?