Carbohydrates - INTERVIEW with ANDREW BERRY - Nutrition & Exercise Expert

Hey Everybody,

Meet Andrew Berry! Andrew is my personal trainer and co-worker. He has a degree in Nutrition & Food Science and Dietetics. He has been a personal trainer for over five years and has competed in two bodybuilding competitions!

Andrew has studied Endocrinology and diabetes in school but also out of his own personal interest. His experience in bodybuilding has taught him a lot about manipulating insulin levels (even as a non-diabetic) and controlling carbohydrates. He's taught me a lot about diabetes and nutrition and has helped me gain muscle, lose bodyfat and maintain better control over my blood sugars.

For starters, he and I are talking about carbohydrates:

What Really Happens When You Eat Carbohydrates?

Have you ever wondered how the carbs you eat really make their way into your bloodstream and increase your blood sugar? Or why different kinds of foods with carbs can affect your blood sugar so differently?


Ginger: Hey, Andrew! All right, so most of us here understand that carbs majorly impact our blood sugars when we eat, but there’s a lot more to it than that, right?

ANDREW
Yes, definitely. You already know it usually takes about ten to fifteen minutes to feel better when you eat carbs to treat a low blood sugar, but your body starts digesting the carbs you eat long before that.

In fact, you start digesting carbs the minute the food hits your lips! Saliva contains an enzyme called “amylase” that is responsible for breaking down the carbs we eat. From there, the food goes into your stomach where you actually stop digesting carbs while other enzymes start digesting other macronutrients (fats and proteins).

Ginger: So…does that mean they’re all digested separately?

ANDREW
Actually, no. As the fats, carbs and proteins are all mixed up together (this semi-fluid mass is called “chyme”), it makes its way into your small intestine and that’s where most of the carbohydrates are digested.

Ginger: Okay, so then the carbs are broken down most quickly right? And then they get into our blood stream?

ANDREW
Exactly. The carbs are broken down into several different types of simple sugars known as maltose, lactose and sucrose. Meanwhile, other enzymes are released to help break down all of these simple sugars and that is how glucose is formed! The glucose units are then absorbed by the way of your small intestines and into your bloodstream!

(Andrew is the one in the middle!)

Ginger: So maltose, lactose and sucrose raise our blood sugars?

ANDREW
Well, glucose is the type of sugar that is responsible for increasing your blood sugar levels. So, even though all carbs are broken down into glucose units, you may have noticed that different kinds of carbs seem to affect you a little differently.

Ginger: Yeah, when I eat a sweet potato I definitely don’t get the same spike afterwards the way I do when I eat ice cream!

ANDREW
Yeah, that’s because there are two kinds of carbs: “Complex” and “Simple.”