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Do simple carbohydrates make you fat?

Q. My question is just that people always seem to come to the conclusion that any form of unhealthy food ends up being converted mainly to fat. Whenever I read diets for how to bulk or anything along those lines there seems to be some underlying idea in the background that if you want to keep fat gain to a minimum you should avoid junk food or simple carbohydrates at all costs? I remember I used to read all about how eating simple carbohydrates "signals for your body to start storing fat" and statements all along those kinds of lines, how if you eat fat with simple carbohydrates the insulin just pushes all the fatty acids into fat stores. So are these ideas simply false? I'd like to maintain a well balanced diet of course, but being able to get in a lot of calories at one time through pizza or something along those lines would make things a lot easier every now and again.

A. Well, the short answer is that I don't think eating some "junk food" now and again, or eating simple carbohydrates along with fat, will make much of a difference to your body composition at all.

First off, it's important to make it clear that the distinction between simple and complex carbohydrates isn't a particularly useful one in terms of their effect on insulin levels.

Traditionally, carbohydrates have been classified as either simple or complex. Glucose and fructose from fruits and some vegetables, lactose from milk, and sucrose from cane or beet sugar are a few examples of simple carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates are chains of sugars and consist primarily of starches. Foods rich in complex carbohydrate include grains and grain-based products (such as bread and pasta), beans, and potatoes.

As far as weight gain and muscles growth goes, there's very little research that's looked at the effect of different types of carbohydrate. However, in diets designed for weight loss, the source of the carbohydrate calories doesn't seem to...

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