Protien vs. Carbs?
 

Who can help? I don't know what to do with all those diet suggestions/plans out there. Some say all protien, some say mix in some carbs. I am confused. I work out regularly and feel that a balanced diet is best, yet I want to build muscle. Are carbs or protien good? :hmm:

Both are neccesary. So are fats.

Protein is neccesary for building muscle, carbs are neccesary for giving you energy to lift big, run big...to be big :P. If you don't have carbs, your body will feed off of A) your fat, but also B) your muscle. Fats are also neccesary for healthy skin, healthy lungs, healthy..everything. Try to eat a lot of good fats like nuts, olive oil, etc....

you were right on when you said that a balanced diet is best.

Cowman, thanks. I was hoping I was on the right track by doing the whole balanced approach. As they say, too much of a good thing is a waste.

And don't follow the food pyramid

Yes, balance is key...but you should keep in mind that you will burn most to all of your carbs within 30 minutes to a half hour. So, if you eat a bowl of spaghetti (say 300 calories of starch) then you must go out and RUN and burn 300 calories in the next hour, or your body stores it as fat.

Protein is better if you aren't going to run a marathon after your meal because they take more like 3 or 4 hours to burn. Fats take even longer (up to 6). So, if you don't plan to eat another meal for 6 hours, you need to figure your calories out; lets say (random number example) you want to burn 100 calories an hour for 6 hours. You eat 150 calories of carbs, 300 calories of protein, and 200 of fat, and you have smooth blood sugar for 6 hours.

I realize this sounds atkins-y, but it's actually sourced in my eating habits to regulate my own blood sugar, being hypoglycemic... I need to actually think this way, or I crash out after 3 hours when I run out of calories!

The information in the above post is horribly inaccurate...

Carbs are not stored as fat in half hour.

There's a reason why marathon runners/athletes in general eat huge carb meals the night before a big game or race. And it's not because they're trying to fatten up.

that, and i wouldnt recommend running 30 minutes after eating a big bowl of pasta!
yak!

it is inaccurate indeed. You really should never be eating more protien grams than carb grams. At most less than 40% of your diet should be protien, and as was mentioned above, don't forget fats (unsaturated ones from seed, nuts etc. are best). If you are hypoglycemic then you should be eating many small meals throughout the day and staying off the sugar.