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Glycemic index and bodybuilding
Posted by: Jon
Let me give you a quick explanation of why the glycemic index matters to you, a bodybuilder. The glycemic index gives a numerical value measuring how fast a carbohydrate triggers a rise in blood sugar. Basically, bodybuilders want to stick with eating foods with a low glycemic index number. But why? Here is a VERY basic level explanation.
When you eat a carbohydrate food with a high glycemic index, your body reacts by digesting that food quickly (sharply raising your blood sugar levels). Unfortunately, your body can only use so much of that food at one time. So, let's say you eat a food containing 40 grams of carbohydrates that has a high glycemic index. Your body will digest that food quickly, let's say one hour. However, your body can only utilize 10 grams of carbohydrates in that hour. The remaining 30 grams of carbohydrates are digested, in your system but not used. What happens to the unused carbohydrates? They are stored as fat.
There is one time when you may want a high glycemic carbohydrate. That is directly after your weight training, when you have your protein drink. The rise in blood sugar levels helps shuttle the protein and nutrients ingested to your body's cells. As you all know by now, you want to get that protein into your cells quickly to begin the recovery process.
This is why you want to eat foods with a low glycemic index value. Let's use the same example of a food with 40 grams of carbohydrates. This time, your body is slower to digest the food. For example, it digests at a speed of 10 grams per hour. Again, your body can use 10 grams of carbohydrates per hour for energy. The result is that you are digesting only the amount of food your body needs each hour. The result, no left over carbohydrates (energy) to be stored as fat.
The above examples are just for illustration. These figures are not actual, but just used to show a concept. Please check out the Glycemic index to read detailed descriptions.
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