Women – and men – who are trying to lose weight have a love-hate relationship with carbohydrates. They would try their best to avoid eating carbs and fall into such despair when they get to eat any food item that contains carbs. After all, eating carbohydrates prevents them from attaining the model-size figure that many people want to have these days.

But then again, if you are training to qualify for the Navy SEALs, carbohydrates are your best friend. You need to have carbs in your diet program in order for your body to endure the kind of strain that you force it to go through so that you will be fit enough for this elite military group.

Why Are Carbs Important?

Why do you need to have carbohydrates in your diet program if you are training for the Navy SEALs? As you are probably aware of by now, training to qualify for the SEALs is hard work and involves a lot of physical stress. You will need to build up your muscles as well as your strength.

There are two important roles that carbs fulfill in your training. First of these is that carbs help a lot in developing the muscles of the body. Carbohydrates promote the production and release of insulin into the blood stream. Insulin is vital for bodybuilding; in fact, insulin is the body’s natural anabolic steroids.

Aside from that, carbs also help the muscles absorb amino acids faster, thus promoting muscular growth. In addition, carbs make it easier for the body to absorb protein, which is another nutrient essential in bodybuilding.

The second role that carbohydrates play in bodybuilding is that it serves as fuel for the body. You will need a lot of energy when you go through the various workouts that you are required to do as part of your SEALs training. Carbs help the body produce glycogen, the fuel necessary for body building. Also, carbs keep the insulin and the blood sugar in the body at constant levels, thus reducing fatigue.

How to Use Carbs in Your Diet Program

To make your bodybuilding efforts for your Navy SEALs training more effective, you need to consume carbohydrates properly. There are a number of ways to do this, which include:

1. Making your meals 50% carbs. Your meals need to be 50% made of carbs – 400 grams of it, to be precise. This will provide you with enough energy to last you throughout your daily workout.

2. Eating complex carbs. Complex carbs like potatoes, whole grain cereals and brown rice burn more slowly. Thus, it keeps your energy up at steady levels through the entire day, no matter how strenuous your workout is.

3. Eating small amounts of carbs during workout intervals. Eating small amounts of carbohydrates, around 50 grams, will help prevent your body from storing these carbs as fat. It will also keep your energy levels up throughout the workout.

4. Eating carbs right after the workout. If you do not eat carbs and protein right after your workout, your body will enter a catabolic state where your muscles will break down instead of build up. As thus, you need to eat your carbs as soon as you are done with your workout so that you will not waste your efforts in working out.

Carbohydrates may be a model-wannabe’s nightmare, but it is an essential element to the diet program of any person trying to qualify for the Navy SEALs. Make sure you have adequate carbs in your diet if you plan to join the SEALs.

This Article is written by James Kara Murat