Why Are Carbs Your Best Friend and Your Worst Enemy?

When was the last time you made the mistake of going to the grocery store hungry? I do it a lot and its a major problem for me. Go back to the last time you made this epic mistake. You

run in for a couple essentials, you're starving and lose all self control. You might even open a package of pretzels, chips, or cookies while you’re shopping. You quickly buy everything that looks good and completely forget why you even came to the store. Finally, realizing the situation is escalating and very much out of control, you head to the check out. The lines are long, but that's cool, you still have half of whatever your shopping snack was to occupy you. You continue to munch and at the same time, begin to scan the magazines on the rack in front of you. As you look from cover to cover, you start to feel self conscious. You might put the bag of 2 remaining cookies or chips down and wipe your mouth for fear of crumbs. You no longer feel hungry, instead you feel 100 lbs overweight.

Then you wrestle with questions like; Why does everyone appear to have it under control, but me? How come every person on these magazine covers look perfect? Do they ever go to the grocery store hungry? What am I missing? These are thoughts I’ve had and wrestled with while simply standing in line at the grocery store. I compare myself to all the “perfect” women on all these great magazines. I leave dwelling on how their perfection magnifies my imperfections. I am then left with thoughts that haunt me on the way home and then spill over in the the next few hours, days, weeks..etc.

If you have ever felt this way, for even one minute, then I want to share with you some very basic information. However, understanding it changes everything.

Did you know we are all born with different body types? Yes, we all have different genetics and different environments that effect those genetics. But it can be explained even simpler than that.

There are 3 basic body types. Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph.

Each of us are born somewhere in the spectrum of these body types. Yes, I say spectrum because, according to research, rarely is anybody 100% one body type. A quick breakdown looks like this; Ectomorphs tend to be thin. They have a very difficult time putting on weight, fat or muscle. They seem to be able to eat anything they want, but their body shape barely fluctuates. This would be most of the females you see displayed in ads, magazines, on tv…etc. Mesomorphs can stay fairly lean yet still put on muscle without too much of a struggle. They can’t eat as many carbs as an ectomorph and get away with it, however they probably don’t need to be on a low carb diet, either. Examples of this are most male in all the same ads, magazines..etc. Finally, the Endomorph tends to be more curvy. They can put on muscle no problem. Getting extremely lean however, is going to present a big challenge. Low carb diets are better for this body type. Yet, they will do better with more protein in their diet as compared to an ectomorph.

This is a very watered down version of a ton of information about your body, but. if you want to go deeper with this, check out Dr. Steve Cabral. He has a very clear and detailed podcast called Self Improvement Through Owning Your Ayurvedic Body Type. Its pretty short, so plug it in and listen the next time your in the car! He will give you a good reason to understand what body type you are and what sort of things you should do for workouts and also what you should eat!

One thing is clear, no two people are exactly the same. As an ectomorph it would be almost absurd to make your goal the butt of an endomorph. As an endomorph wishing you had the calves of a mesomorph probably isn’t realistic either. So, make sure you have the right strategy set up, to get the body you want.

Does this mean next time you’re hungry and in the grocery store its okay to grab a package of mini oreos as your shopping snack? I mean why not? This is your body type right? Well, no, that isn’t the case either. Just because there are several different body types and we’re all wired to look a little different, weigh a little different and be shaped a little different, doesn’t mean we can’t take care of that body to the best of our ability.

No matter what your body type is or what size you tend to naturally be, we can all eat better, move more and make a better version of ourselves, by making the right choices for our bodies. Yes, each body needs something slightly different when it comes to diet and exercise.

Overwhelming? Yes. But there are also health and fitness nerds out there, like myself, who soak up this information and are dying to help you out! If you have questions and are interested in how I can help you, shoot me an email at jackie@coachmantrainingsystems.com.