This is a bit of a gray area, says Bethan Crouse, a performance nutritionist at Loughborough University. She wouldn’t advise the athletes she works with to completely cut out carbohydrates — foods such as bread, grains, potatoes and sweets. “However,” she says, “reducing carbohydrate intake can be beneficial for weight loss, if we can moderate total energy intake.”
Weight loss comes down to energy balance: consuming fewer calories than we burn. There are many ways to achieve this: exercising more, eating less, or choosing foods that are lower in calories. Cutting back on some carbohydrates can be one way to create this deficit, she says. Not because carbs are uniquely “fattening”, but because other macronutrients such as fiber, protein and fat tend to be more filling. “If we spend more of our calorie budget on these foods, we feel fuller for longer,” Crouse says.
This is especially the case when it comes to refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and sweets, which are digested quickly. They can be useful as a pre-workout snack, but they’re less helpful as a staple carb source. Instead, Crouse recommends higher-fiber varieties at mealtimes, such as brown rice and wholemeal bread, which release energy more slowly.
Photo: CNN via AP
“You’ll feel much better for eating a balanced, high-protein meal with vegetables and some healthy fats,” she says. “It’s a much better investment of your ‘calorie cash.’”
Crouse recommends consuming more carbohydrates on days when you’re working out: “It reduces the risk of illness and injury, and supports exercise adaptation.” On rest days or less active days, cutting back on carbs can help to reduce your overall energy intake, as long as you still include protein for muscle repair, plus plenty of fruit and vegetables for vitamins, fiber and antioxidants.
Many people noticed the flood of pro-China propaganda across a number of venues in recent weeks that looks like a coordinated assault on US Taiwan policy. It does look like an effort intended to influence the US before the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) over the weekend. Jennifer Kavanagh’s piece in the New York Times in September appears to be the opening strike of the current campaign. She followed up last week in the Lowy Interpreter, blaming the US for causing the PRC to escalate in the Philippines and Taiwan, saying that as
Taiwan can often feel woefully behind on global trends, from fashion to food, and influences can sometimes feel like the last on the metaphorical bandwagon. In the West, suddenly every burger is being smashed and honey has become “hot” and we’re all drinking orange wine. But it took a good while for a smash burger in Taipei to come across my radar. For the uninitiated, a smash burger is, well, a normal burger patty but smashed flat. Originally, I didn’t understand. Surely the best part of a burger is the thick patty with all the juiciness of the beef, the
This year’s Miss Universe in Thailand has been marred by ugly drama, with allegations of an insult to a beauty queen’s intellect, a walkout by pageant contestants and a tearful tantrum by the host. More than 120 women from across the world have gathered in Thailand, vying to be crowned Miss Universe in a contest considered one of the “big four” of global beauty pageants. But the runup has been dominated by the off-stage antics of the coiffed contestants and their Thai hosts, escalating into a feminist firestorm drawing the attention of Mexico’s president. On Tuesday, Mexican delegate Fatima Bosch staged a
Would you eat lab-grown chocolate? I requested a sample from California Cultured, a Sacramento-based company. Its chocolate, not yet commercially available, is made with techniques that have previously been used to synthesize other bioactive products like certain plant-derived pharmaceuticals for commercial sale. A few days later, it arrives. The morsel, barely bigger than a coffee bean, is supposed to be the flavor equivalent of a 70 percent to 80 percent dark chocolate. I tear open its sealed packet and a chocolatey aroma escapes — so far, so good. I pop it in my mouth. Slightly waxy and distinctly bitter, it boasts those bright,
RSS