How Much Carbohydrate Do You Need?

Not enough carbohydrate is likely to cause fatigue, moodiness, lack of concentration, increase sweet cravings and could even lead to unnecessary weight gain, but how much carbohydrate do you need?

Carbohydrate is a large molecule, consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, providing the body the body with its primary source of energy, it can be long chain(starches and fibres) and short chain(simple sugars).

These chains can be categorised into three groups based on GI (glyceamic index, the amount of time your body takes to break down the molecule), the first group being High GI, short chain molecules which take about 1 hour or less to digest such as Rice cakes, chips, sugar, scones parsnips, watermelon, bran flakes, etc.

The second group being Medium GI, medium length chain molecules which take a relatively short amount of time to digest(around 2 hours) such as croissants, honey, couscous, sultanas, raisins, pineapple, pita bread, crumpets(white), etc.

And the third group being Low GI foods, long chain molecules which take a longer time to digest(around 2-3 hours) such as kidney beans, baked beans, wholegrains, jam, apples, etc.

Around 60% of your diet should come from carbs, as this will provide you plenty of energy for both mental and physical performance during the day, so in a 2000 calorie diet, you must consume 1,200 calories of carbohydrate, which is 400 grams, since 1 gram of carbohydrates is equal to 4 calories.

But, you must consider what Glyceamic Index the food is dependant on what kind of activity you are planning to do within the next 2-3 hours, for example, if you are about to do a heavy workout in the gym, you would want to consume around 10*No. of kg bodyweight/ hour of high GI carbohydrate, as this will fuel your muscles during exercises and aid in performance, however, if you are planning to do a large amount of paper work, meaning sitting down, you will probably want to have either medium or Low GI foods as they will leave you with a satisfied feeling for a longer period of time and will be slowly released providing sustained energy.

So, this means that everyday, an athlete will probably want their carbohydrates coming from:

20% High GI sources

30%Medium GI sources

50%Low GI sources

This will likely give you a good mixture of sustained energy and short bursts of higher energy allowing you peak performance during sport.

Here is a table containing a load of different sources of High, Med, Low GI foods:

Fast releasing: High GI foods

Rice cakes                Scones               Bran Flakes               White bread              Bread

Chips                        Parsnips            Corn flakes                 Baked potatoes        Dates

Sugar                        Watermelon       French bread             White Rice                

Medium releasing: Moderate GI foods

Croissants                 Sultanas             Pita bread                   Basmati rice             Cream

Honey                      Raisins               Crumpets white           Sweet potato            Apricots

Couscous                 Pineapple           Rice                            New potato        Bananas

Slow releasing: Low GI foods

Chickpeas               Apples                Lentils                         Celery                      White fish

Kidney beans          Pears                  Cabbage                     Grapes                      Spinach

Baked beans           Grapes                Peas                            Leeks                       Oily fish

Whole grains           Orange                Cauliflower                  Chicken                   Turkey

Jam                         Avacados            Almonds                     Mangos                    Low-fat yoghurt