Pasta, breads, french fries, soda, burgers...basically everything delicious is loaded with carbohydrates or carbs.
It takes a lot of might to be able to discipline yourself and stay away from carbs, especially if you are like me who absolutely loves pasta and bread. But, in the name of health and losing weight, it must be done. However, every once in a while, I still indulge and treat myself to a cheat day because I cannot bear the thought of completely going cold turkey and giving up carbs forever. I just don’t think it’s do-able for me. I completely admire those who can, though!
So, every time I indulge and eat carbs, I would always end up feeling guilty and workout twice or thrice as hard at the gym, as if punishing myself for eating carbs. I end up regretting what I ate, therefore taking the pleasure away from the eating experience. Thankfully, I discovered a new innovation that I believe will help not just me, but everyone who still cannot give up their best food buddy, carbs.
I’m talking about carb blockers. Today, we are going to explore all things carb blocker. What is a carb blocker? How does a carb blocker work? What does a carb blocker do to the body? What is the best carb blocker in the market right now? If you want to know the answers to these questions, keep on reading.
What Is a Carb Blocker?
As you know, we consume complex carbohydrates. This kind of carbohydrate cannot be absorbed by the body unless it is transformed into simple sugars with the digestive enzyme called amylase.
Carb blockers are basically amylase inhibitors. This means that when you take carb blockers, they block the enzyme alpha-amylase produced in your saliva from attaching to starches and breaking it down into simple carbs the body absorbs. Through this, the food you eat will quickly move out of the body and prevents it from absorbing any calories.
The difference of carb blockers from the majority of weight supplements is that the others focus on improving your metabolism to effectively digest calories, whereas the ide of carb blockers is to be able to eat large amounts of carbs without having to count them as calories at all.
How Does a Carb Blocker Work?
Carbohydrates have two main groups: simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are found in processed foods like candy, soda, milk, and fruits. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are found in foods that have nutritional value, higher in fiber, and therefore, digests slower in the body. Examples of foods with complex carbohydrates are grains, quinoa, broccoli, and beans.
Now, when you eat food with complex carbohydrates, say pasta, your body begins to produce the digestive enzyme alpha-amylase through your salivary glands. This process is the beginning of converting complex carbs into simple carbs.
What does it mean when complex carbs are transformed into simple carbs? This means that the food will now enter your stomach. This is where carb blockers come on.
Complex carbs are made of simple carbs linked together. For complex carbs to be absorbed, it should be broken down by your body’s enzymes. After you take carb blockers, they can help stop the digestive enzymes from breaking complex carbs into simple carbs. Hence, complex carbs will go straight into the large intestine without becoming simple carbs. If this occurs, complex carbs do not become calories.
It is important to know that carb blockers only work for complex carbs and not simple carbs. So, you still cannot eat your sweet, sugary snacks. It can only prevent a portion of the carbs you eat from being digested. At best, they only block 50-65% of carb-digesting enzymes.
What Do Carb Blockers Do to the Body?
Helps with Weight Loss
Carb blockers are usually sold as weight loss aids. However, their effectiveness may be limited and there are no concrete and consistent results yet. That’s why it is important to know that it can only block a percentage of your carb consumption and not all of it. You should also remember that for carb blockers to work more effectively, your diet should contain a higher portion of complex carbs.
Decreases Appetite
Carb blockers also affect the hormones involved in hunger and fullness because they also help in slowing down stomach emptying after a meal.
Controls Blood Sugar
Because carb blockers prevent or slow down the digestion of complex carbs, they also lower the spike in blood sugar levels that normally happens when carbs are absorbed into the bloodstream. But again, this is only true for a certain percentage of the carbs.
Provides Beneficial Resistant Starch
Carb blockers also increase the amount of resistant starch in the large intestine because they decrease the amount of carbs absorbed in the small intestine. This, in turn, increases the starch that runs through the gut. Resistant starches are any starches in food that cannot be digested by the enzymes in the small intestine.
When resistant starches pass into the large intestine, gut bacteria ferment them and release gasses and beneficial short-chain fatty acids.
When carb blockers prevent the digestion of complex carbs in the small intestine, these carbs function like resistant starches.
Many studies have associated resistant starch with decreased body fat, healthier gut bacteria and improved blood sugar controlÂ
What Is the Best Carb Blocker in the Market?
The best carb blocker that works perfectly for me is Nutra Botanics’ Carb Block. It contains a blend of high-quality herbs that act effectively to prevent the production of amylase. This product has helped in reducing my appetite and regulate my blood sugar level as I also suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome.
So, if you want to enjoy these benefits, come and try Carb Block for yourself!