When exercise is paired with a high-carbohydrate diet, does the combination lead to greater weight loss, compared with a situation in which exercise is coupled with diets which are not so heavily biased toward carbs? That's a question which has intrigued weight-loss scientist for some time. At first glance, one might think that high-carb eating plans would offer no unique advantages, compared with lower levels of carbohydrate consumption. Do Carbs Curb Appetite

After all, it is the total number of ingested calories which is the important factor in weight loss, not the macronutrient composition of those calories, right? Eating 1600 daily calories of carbs plus 400 calories of fat (for a total of 2000 calories) and jogging five miles for one's exercise should have approximately the same effect on weight as consuming 1000 calories of carbs and 1000 calories of fat (also 2000 calories) and covering the five miles, at least in theory.

However, proponents of the carb-exercise connection cite several studies which have shown that diets high in carbohydrate tend to suppress appetite and overall energy intake (1,2,&3). The mechanism underlying this suppression is not known, but one hypothesis is that the higher circulating levels of insulin associated with lofty carbohydrate intakes tend to keep the feelings of hunger under wraps (insulin produces a well-known "anorexic" effect). Of course, such thinking is "anti-Atkins" and "anti-Zone", but it has experimental support. If you would like to read more of this article (Vol.1-6), simply enter carbs, in the "search archives" box, or enter any subject you wish to learn more about.