Home Chat General Chat

White or Brown

BonusBBonusB Posts: 279
Bread pasta etc...



I was under the impression that wholemeal food products were better for triathlon on the basis that they are a better source of complex carbo's than their refined counterparts. However in a recent arguement someone made the piont that carbohydrates retain the same structure regardless of the product they exsit in and the only reason why these products are better for us is the fibre. Is this the case or is there more to it?

Comments

  • loonytoonloonytoon Posts: 673
    I dont believe this is the case.



    Carbohydrate comes in many forms depending on the form it is in e.g. complex or simple(think you answered your own query here) sugar / starch etc



    brown pasta and bread have a lower glycemic index (GI) than their white brothers/sisters which means they release their sugar slower which means that it gets used more as needed where as high GI release the sugar into the blood quicker and any excess is mopped up by the body producing more insulim.



    http://www.weightlossforall.com/complex-carbs.htm

    http://www.weightlossforall.com/simple-carbs.htm



    The GI diet uses this to create a "hype" around it but it makes sense to athletes because of the slower release of carbs (of course you need em fast when racing/training hard) in low GI foods rather than blood sugar responses



    http://www.weightlossforall.com/glycemic-index-diet.htm



    The triathletes training bible explains it all much better from a training point of view



    that was long sorry



  • loonytoonloonytoon Posts: 673
    you will notice in all those links that apples(as an example) have a low GI but are high in simple carbs..meaning they are a good source of simple carbs but do screw with your blood sugar meaning that they(and others) are the best of both worlds..



    sort of!!! but its never that simple









  • BonusBBonusB Posts: 279
    Thanks for the help. The arguement I was having ended up in a bit of a stalemate, mainly due to interferance from work!
Sign In or Register to comment.