I haven’t been riding in about a month which really sucks because I am gaining back weight. The trainer is almost setup though – have to make space in the basement – so I hope to be back on the bike soon.
In the mean time I have been thinking about diet and about ever since Halloween I have been eating insane amounts of crap. Somehow the last three months of the year are filled with lots of sugar and carbs. At any rate I probably should think about what I eat.
I know people, who shall remain nameless, that like to tell you how bad carbs are and that they make you fat. I even had a Dr tell me that if I wasn’t cycling he would recommend few carbs for weight loss. However, I have a buddy who is a nutritionist. We talked about diets like South Beach and Atkins a long time ago. His opinion, they will kill you. The human body wasn’t designed to eat just protien and fat and in fact we are built for carbs. Apparently, Protien rich low carb diets were tried in the 1970s but the trials ended because people became depressed and irritable. So I am listening to NPR this morning and Richard Wurtman, MD and Judith Wurtman PhD from MIT on the show. Here is a link to their research center. They have been looking at the link between seratonin and mood. Seratonin or the lack of can make you mad, irratible, depressed etc. It is produced by the brain when you eat carbs. The carbs make your body release insulin which in turn produces tryptophan. Tryptophan results in seratonin production in the brain. Thus, many carbohydrate rich foods are called comfort foods because they do in fact put you in a better mood.
I am not a Dr nor do I know much about the human brain, but if you diet it would be worth looking at the science that comes from REAL Doctors, not the ones paid to put thier picture on the book, and make sure that the choices you are making are healthy.
As for me I will be getting my butt back on the bike.