Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Understanding the Net Impact

Ok, some day the FDA will implement some serious standards with regards to supplements and proper nutritional guidelines, not to mention clear and concise definitions and terminology that are actually helpful to those who are seriously looking to improve their health, but until then, here is some information on the misleading carbohydrate phenomenon known as “net” and “impact” carbs.

Since the Atkins revolution, individuals have been banning carbohydrates from their diets, swearing that this way of eating has been their only means of reducing body weight. Manufacturers, smelling the fear from those carbohydrate depleted individuals, have pounced on the market place and have bamboozled those poor people with a game of “Three Card Monty”. Take a carb here, move it over there, switch it over there and call it a “net carb” and voila, no more carbs. Hmmm, I’m new to this game so let’s see that again. Ok, I’ll do it again in slow motion. I take a carbohydrate (which has 4 calories per gram) and there are 20 grams per serving, now out of that 20 grams, 15 are sugar alcohol, but sugar alcohol doesn’t effect your blood sugar as quickly as refines sugars do so we don’t have to count that . Sound good? Sure, but hey, what about those total calories listed? There’s 80 calories total but only 5 are impacting me so that should only be 20, right? WRONG! Too many people who are convinced that Atkins and others came up with such a brain storm of an idea are either kidding themselves into thinking this is the proper way to go or they are too afraid to deviate from what they think has triggered their success. Most are failing to realize the fact that just eliminating simple and refined sugars could have been done a long time ago and their body weight would have been reduced without a doctor’s name attached.

"TRAIN WITH A PURPOSE"

Fred Fornicola
www.premierepersonalfitness.com