How to Determine Your
Recommended Carbohydrate Intake

Your recommended carbohydrate intake per day is probably the least understood and most confusing aspect of nutrition. It is made difficult primarily due to the different schools of thought surrounding this subject.

Most nutritionists and dieticians recommend a relatively high amount of carbohydrate per day relative to the intake of protein and fat. Furthermore, they often recommend a daily carbohydrate intake in excess of 200 grams!

Plus, the carbohydrate sources they recommend tend to come from refined, grain-based sources like, bread, pasta, rice and cereals.

On the other hand, there are advocates of low-carbohydrate diets who suggest consuming less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day!

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches and they have been covered elsewhere on this site. There are some interesting facts about the differing schools of thought regarding recommended carbohydrate intake.

Probably the best approach to daily carbohydrate intake for maximum fat burning and weight loss lies somewhere between these two extremes. The best approach suggests a daily carbohydrate intake that fulfills the following criteria:

• 1. Promotes maximum fat burning and weight loss
• 2. Is a long-term, sustainable appraoch to carbohydrate consumption
• 3. Has a satiating (appetite-suppressing) effect

As a broad guideline, you should consume 50-100 grams of carbohydrate per day spread over 5 or 6 small meals. This equates to around 10-20 grams of carbohydrate per meal.

You should also consume the carbohydrate primarily from 'low density' and 'medium density' sources as opposed to 'high density' sources. To get lists of the different sources of carbohydrates, here is the format that most healthy diet plans use. It can provide you with the information to get results fast!

This approach simply recommends consuming more natural sources of carbohydrates, like fruits and vegetables and less grain-based carbohydrate sources without cutting them out altogether of course!

Overall, a daily carbohydrate intake of 1-2 serves of high density carbohydrates, 2-3 serves of medium density carbohydrates and 4-6 serves of low density carbohydrates is definitely the best approach. It helps to keep insulin low, which is the main reason why low carbohydrate diets tend to promote weight loss. However, using this approach of modifying your source of carbohydrates, you can still keep your blood sugar level stable and insulin low without having to cut out carbs!

When you use this approach in combination with other nutritional recommendations like having a more balanced 'macronutrient ratio', which means every meal you consume contains a portion of carbohydrate, protein and fat, you will be amazed at how quickly you can burn fat and achieve your weight loss goals.

Best of all, you will be able to follow this recommended carbohydrate intake easily for the rest of your life, which means you can keep the weight off and will never feel hungry!

If you would like to find out more nutrition, exercise and supplementation strategies to help you achieve your goals fast, get a copy of my e-book, Look Good Feel Great!