Nutrition is something we talk about a lot here at O2 MAX.  The most common thing we see is lack of water and vegetables. Water helps everything in your body process, and in the heat it helps keep you cool. Vegetables contain lots vitamins of which are essential to our bodies functioning and they contain good carbs.

We often talk about eating protein and carbs. Lots of people say “carbs, aren’t they bad for me?”. Then I get into good carbs vs. bad carbs. Not all carbs are created equal. Most carbs that are easy for us to eat like white bread, cookies and candy are what I consider bad carbs. Good carbs are whole grains, sweet potatoes, vegetables (which are pretty light on carbs).  Eating a variety of carbs helps keep things interesting for your taste buds and your menu. Kashi is a great brand that makes many products that I really love. They have a great site that talks about all the Good carbs you can eat as well as a great campaign they have going, get off your rump!

Carbs are basically sugar, but depending on how they are made are broken up differently in your body. The slower the breakdown the better. The more simple the sugar, like white bread and candy the quicker your body will break it down and then increase your blood sugar level. It’s like when you give a kid a can a soda and they are running around like crazy, then they crash. Same thing for us when we eat bad carbs that are broken down quickly.  One way to look at carbs is to check the glycemic index.  this is a good way to tell how slowly it will be broken down in your body. You want to chose a food with a lower glycemic index most of the time.

 So, dont be afraid of those carbs!