Now we know good carbs are important for muscle growth for different reasons
They give you energy for your workouts and because carbs combine with proteins stimulate muscle growth more than protein alone
But can you eat just any carbs
the answer is some carbohydrates are considered better options because they give you a steady flow of energy for your workouts and
Help you grow and stay lean at the same time and we're going to talk about those carbs in this video
but before we talk about the actual foods
You need to know how all this works
The short version is that carbohydrates can be made of simple small molecules that your body can break down very easy
And these are called simple carbs or they can be made of long
Complicated molecules that take longer to digest and these are called
Complex carbs simple carbs are not the best option because your body breaks them down very fast
Sending a rush of glucose to your bloodstream and glucose is the simplest form of sugar
This rush causes your body to release a lot of insulin or what we like to call an insulin spike
to control all this glucose floating around in your blood
Now here's the problem
When insulin spikes your body stops burning fat and all the extra glucose is stored as body fat or fluff in
Simple terms this effect that the food has on your insulin levels is measured by the glycemic index or GI
You need to understand this term because it's one of the ways we decide if a carbohydrate is good or not
GI numbers go up to 100 and lower numbers are better because they mean less of an insulin spike
Complex carbs are the best choice because they are broken down slowly by your body
Creating a more constant flow of energy for your lift and they make the insulin go up slowly
Instead of a rush helping you grow muscle instead of fat lots of science here
But you need to understand this stuff now that you hopefully got the basics though
Here is my list of the best Carb foods that help you work out how to feed your muscles and grow lean number one beans
Those of you who've known me for a while. You know that I love my black beans Erica
My wife is from Brazil and she introduced me to them and I have been hooked ever since
Beans are a great source of complex carb with a low glycemic index of 30 and they also have some extra
Yeah benefits
They have a good amount of fiber about 15 grams of protein in one cup and they also have minerals like calcium
for example
My main suggestion here is that you buy the beans and bags and not in cans it
Is okay to eat in cans as long as you don't eat a bunch of cans in a week
But the problem is with cans that they're lining contains a chemical called
BPA that is believed to cause health issues like cancer and low sperm count not good
Your best bet is to buy the bags and cook a batch while you're prepping your food for the week
And I personally like eating my black beans with rice and chicken. Number two lentils lentils are just awesome guys
Not only because they have good carbs but they also have about 18 grams of protein in one cup, which is more than beans
They actually have more fiber than beans too. So if you're not eating lentils, you should really add it to your mix
They are cheap and you can eat them with chicken as a side for fish or even using salads and if you don't eat meat
Lentil should definitely be a part of your meal plan
Number three is sweet potatoes now sweet potatoes are staple in most bodybuilders diets mine included
They are good carbs and a great source of vitamins and fiber but here is something I recently learned
How you cook your sweet potatoes makes all the difference
That's because cooking changes how the carb molecules are arranged changing how fast your body can break them down
Boiled sweet potatoes have a much lower glycemic index than baked potatoes
The boil glycemic index is around 45 while the baked is around the whopping 94
Which is not good
This means that you should boil your sweet potatoes or you're not really helping yourself because you're thinking you're eating complex carbs
But in reality the sweet potatoes are acting more like a simple carbs number four is brown rice
This is the most nutritious type of rice because it goes through very little
Processing this type of rice has the lowest glycemic index and the most amount of fiber vitamins
And minerals the second best choice is wild rice white rice is at the bottom of the list because it's more processed with the highest
glycemic index white rice also has most of the nutritious components removed
So it has more calories per serving less vitamins and less fiber
Yellow rice in rice pilaf should also be at the bottom of the list because of all the processing they go through as well
Next up is whole grain bread whole grain bread is a great option as a source of carbohydrates and it has a decent
glycemic index about 69
But not all breads are made equal don't fall for the gimmicks that companies use to make their bread seem healthy
some say multigrain are made with 8 grains or
246 different types of grain
100% natural or many other lines to make you think the bread is healthy now
I don't care about any of these claims. You need to read the label and make sure the bread is made with 100%
whole grain
This is because there is something very important you need to know
100% whole grain bread is different than whole wheat bread whole grain bread is healthy
It has a low glycemic index while whole wheat bread has the same high or bad glycemic index of good old white bread
This is because bread made with whole grains is made with the entire grain including a very nutritious part
Which is the germ or the center part whole wheat bread is processed more and they removed the germ now
I know this can be confusing but you need to buy bread made of whole wheat flour from 100% whole grain
The key to remember is a low percentage of whole grains means a higher glycemic index
Also always pay attention to the first ingredient on the label of the bread
according to regulations companies have to list the ingredient used in the highest amount first so that tells a lot
the front label of the bread should say
100% whole grain in the back where the nutrition information is the first item on
The ingredient list should be whole wheat flour
There should be no other type of flour listed also
They use different flour names to impress you like enriched wheat flour
for example
Don't buy that that's just plain old flour with added crap now a great bread option is Ezekiel bread
It doesn't get much better than that. Unless you make the bread yourself here are good examples of bread labels
This first one is Ezekiel bread and you can see it says 100% whole grain bread
Here is another one clearly saying 100% whole grain
Now check out this label. It clearly says water is the most used ingredient and the second is whole grain whole wheat flour
Now, let's see a bad example. Look towards the bottom at the ingredients section
The first one says unbleached enriched wheat flour, which is bad
Also notice it says whole wheat flour, but towards the bottom
Which means it's not the main flour used
Number 6 whole grain pasta the same things we talked about for bread are true for pasta
Make sure you're buying 100% whole grain pasta and also check the labels like I mentioned earlier
One thing to know is that brown rice and oat flowers are always whole-grain. So these are good choices
Now here are some examples of what to look for on pasta packaging again. Look at the labels clearly saying 100% whole grain
Number seven is oatmeal
This is another staple food found in almost every meal plan oatmeal is an awesome source of complex carbs
And it comes with some protein and fiber as well
I add it to my protein pancakes in the morning and is an excellent option as a pre-workout meal
I also mix it with a scoop of syntha-6 isolate for some extra protein
My only warning here is that you should stay away from the pre-made packets with different flavors
Like maple and brown sugar or apples and cinnamon. Those are loaded with sugar the last Carb source
We're going to talk about is quinoa and people think that quinoa is a grain like rice, but it's actually a seed in
General it is a better option than even brown rice
It has a low glycemic index and is also packed with vitamins and minerals
Quinoa is also gluten free and when compared to brown rice serving per serving, it has more fiber and more protein
Quinoa has 8 grams of protein per serving versus brown rice with 5 grams. The taste of quinoa can be a bit bitter
So it is an acquired taste but is a great option as a carb source
I like to cook it just like rice
Or use it cold in salads because all the other ingredients help mask the bitterness a little bit
I hope you guys enjoyed this video and if you learned a thing or two
Be sure to hit that like button and subscribe for more great content
I would also love it
If you guys would write down any other suggestions you might have for
Nutrition type videos so we can help educate you more on great nutrition topics
Now for those of you who are looking for new high-protein food sources, check out True Gains
This is my high protein food line with great choices
like oatmeal pasta granola protein bars and chips all high protein low carbs
and packed with fiber the link is in the info section below. I hope you guys have a great week and as always
More good stuff coming soon. See ya