Postpartum Weight Loss - Whole Food Carbohydrates Opposed to Processed Carbohydrates

If you've recently had a child, and you are at the point of wondering how you are going to lose the extra body fat you gained from pregnancy, the path to conquer postpartum weight loss will inevitably lead you to take a closer look at calories and carbohydrates.

There is a mass of conflicting information floating around when it comes to carbohydrates. After decades of training myself and others in the benefits of correct eating habits and exercise, here is a tip I believe newly made mothers confronting postpartum weight loss could benefit from knowing about carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates have been vilified. Eating correctly for postpartum weight loss will include carbohydrates. The main distinction to make when it comes to carbohydrates is not whether they are complex carbohydrates or simple sugars, but if they have been processed.

Whole Food Carbohydrates Are Not the Enemy of Postpartum Weight Loss

Generally, carbohydrates found in natural plant foods are low in calories and take longer for the body to digest and absorb. When you eat a whole grain, bean, vegetable, or fruit, your body has to work hard to break down the plant and remove the individual sugars from the fiber and the complex chain within which the sugars are held.

Once inside your bloodstream, these sugars will be used as energy or stored. This long and involved digestive process causes sugar to drip into your bloodstream at a slow rate. It can take hours to fully digest a meal of grains, beans vegetables, or fruit. This is what gives you a steady stream of energy between meals.

The body's method of digesting whole food carbohydrates will help you accomplish your post partum weight loss goals and beyond.

Processed Carbohydrates - The Enemy of Postpartum Weight Loss

When a food is processed it is stripped of its fiber and water, making it more concentrated in calories. In fact, it actually alters the structure of carbohydrate molecules. When you process a large volume of fruit, grain or vegetable, none of the calories have been lost. They've just been packed into a smaller volume of food.

The processing of food allows the calories or sugars to be rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream, flooding the blood with sugar. It will either be burned for energy or stored for maintenance. Usually your body uses a combination of both sugar and fat to burn for fuel. When your body is overwhelmed by sugars from processed carbohydrates, you burn the sugar first and store the fat.

So, when confronting postpartum weight loss and burning the stored body fat after delivery, it is important to distinguish the type of carbohydrate that will keep you from you're goals.



About the Author

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Copyright 2008 John Franco. John Franco has been directly involved in the Health and Fitness Industry for close to thirty years. Learn how to eat to permanently strip fat, increase energy and maintain good health, visit http://www.fatfreemommy.com.