Don't blame bagels for an expanding waistline. The real weight gain culprit is calories, not carbs.
Recently,
as a friend took a large bite out of a raisin bagel she muttered that
bagels were really terrible food, and she shouldn't be eating them.
I assumed she meant they were terrible because they contained
ingredients that were never intended to be part of a bagel like
chocolate chips or cranberries-but no. Bagels are wicked because they
are a carbohydrate, and carbohydrates, such as white flour, white
sugar, white rice and white potatoes, according to her, were fat-making
machines. "The bagel," she insisted, would turn into sugar in her body
and then immediately into fat. "It will be on my hips by tomorrow," she
predicted.
It will be on her hips if by eating that bagel, she was eating too many calories for the day.
The
body turns all extra calories into fat, but bagels are not the villain.
Anything that contributes extra calories, be it cottage cheese,
Brussels sprouts or tofu, will be stored as fat.
Still, are
carbohydrates particularly prone to being turned into fat? No.
Carbohydrates, such as rice, potatoes, corn flakes, or noodles are
digested into a sugar called glucose. The body then alters glucose into
a chemical form of energy. When the body needs energy for its metabolic
work, it uses these chemicals. This is why intravenous solutions
contain glucose. If people are unable to eat because of sickness or
surgery, their bodies will have glucose to call upon for energy needs.
Glucose can also be stored in muscles as glycogen. Since glycogen is an
immediate source of energy for the muscles, endurance athletes
carbo-load before competitive events to store as much glycogen in their
muscles as possible. It is said that "hitting the wall" occurs when the
muscles run out of glycogen.
So I told my friend, keep on
eating those bagels. As long as your body is using up the energy you
are feeding it, they will never end up on your hips.
Judith
Wurtman PhD is a Research Scientist at MIT, the founder and director of
Harvard University's TRIAD Weight Management Center and a co-founder of
Back Bay Scientific. Dr. Wurtman received her Ph.D. in cell biology
from MIT, took additional training as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in
nutrition/obesity. She is currently co-director of ADARA Weight
Management Services. http://www.adaracenter.com
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