The Power of Carbs

Have you ever examined a food label and learned about the various nutrients in foods? Do you know what makes each of these nutrients unique and important to our health? In this blog post, let's start our exploration of nutrients by looking at carbohydrates.

From food labels, you may already know that we need to consume a large amount of carbs every day. In fact, in a typical diet, carbs are one of three macronutrients, nutrients that foods contain in large quantities and that provide our body with energy. (Do you know what the other two macronutrients are? Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about them!)

Each gram of carbohydrates that we consume provides us with 4 kilocalories of energy. In other words, we can multiply the number of grams of carbs we eat by 4 to determine how many calories those carbs contribute to our diet.

We can consume carbs from a variety of sources, including bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, and cookies. When we eat these foods, the carbs are broken down to smaller building blocks called monosaccharides, the most abundant of which is called glucose. In order to store carbs in our body for later use, glucose and other monosaccharides are converted to glycogen and stored in locations like our muscles and liver.

Why do we store carbs in our body? Because we will need them for energy when we exercise and play sports! Our stored glycogen is converted back to glucose, which is then broken down to generate energy via either an anaerobic pathway or an aerobic pathway. (Check out my blog post called "The Origins of Energy" to learn more about these pathways!) Generally, our body relies most heavily on carbs for energy when we are performing high-intensity exercise.

If you are an athlete who requires high energy in short periods of time, like a sprinter or a weightlifter, then you should prioritize carbohydrate consumption in your diet since carbs are your primary energy source. Furthermore, the glycogen stores in your body are limited and can be depleted quickly during high-intensity exercise. To optimize the glycogen stores in your body, your daily consumption of carbs should be about 3 to 4.5 grams per pound of body weight. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, your optimal daily carbohydrate intake would be about 420 to 630 grams. Remember that this recommendation is mainly for athletes who perform high-intensity exercise, which heavily relies on carbs for energy. For low-intensity sports, athletes do not require as many carbs for energy because their energy largely comes from other nutrients. (Stay tuned for future blog posts about these nutrients!)

Once you are finished with your high-intensity exercise or sport, you want to make sure that you are recovering by allowing your muscles to resynthesize glycogen. To accomplish this, it's suggested to consume carbohydrates immediately after exercise, especially if you need to recover quickly for another game or competition within 24 hours.

In this blog post, I talked about carbohydrates, the first of multiple nutrients that I will be discussing in blog posts. We explored common food sources of carbs, our body's storage of carbs, their important contributions to high-intensity exercise and sports, and recommendations for the consumption of carbs. Hopefully, you've learned a lot of fascinating information about the role of carbohydrates in exercise and sports, so you can apply this information to your own routines. Got a high-intensity competition coming up? Start fueling up with carbs!