I’m interested in knowing something that I can’t find the answer to anywhere else. I know that carbs are basically converted into at least two usable products by the body (maybe more I don’t know of?): muscle and liver glycogen. What I don’t know is what types of carbs exactly are converted into each. Is the answer as clear cut as simple carbs convert to liver glycogen and complex cabrs convert to muscle glycogen? Or is the answer much more involved than that? What are the best sources of muscle glycogen converting carbs (I’m assuming it’s the usual recommendation of whole grain oats, pasta, etc.)? My problem here, and the real reason for my asking this question, is finding a source of carbs that’s both useful and easy to consume on the go while gaining weight on a bulking diet (muscular weight, that is). Sometimes trying to consume 500g worth of carbs a day from the usual oatmeal, wheat bread, wheat pasta, and vegetables is hard to do. I’m aware that carbs from fruit sources are mostly useless as muscle glycogen. Anybody have any suggestions for carb sources that are portable,easy to consume (i.e. not quite so filling as the sources listed above) and also usable as muscle glycogen? Or do I need to just suck it up and keep shoveling all this stuff down my throat? Any help is greatly appreciated.
The types of sugar you are talking about are basically table sugar, maltose and dextose. Unfortuately, the problem here is that these simple sugars are so simple that the body can not convert them to glycogen fast enough and you end up converting a large percentage to fat. To get around this and take advantage of the body’s post exercise status, most T-people take Surge during and after exercise. The rest of the time they consume complex low GI carbs. Best of Luck.
All carbs are made up mostly of glucose, fructose, and galactose (the monosaccharides). Table sugar, for example (a disaccharide) is made up of a glucose molecule joined to a fructose molecule. Lactose is glucose + galactose. Complex carbs, like oatmeal and pasta, are long chains of glucose. Anyway, by the time carbs reach the bloodstream, they are broken down into the monosaccharides. At this time, they are either used for fuel or stored as glycogen or fat. Glycogen (I think) is converted to fat if it is not used in about a day. So glycogen is pretty much a temporary storage form of the monosaccharides. Fructose cannot be converted to muscle glycogen. Glucose can. Galactose, I don’t think so. So, with table sugar, half of it can be stored in the muscle, while the other half is useless as muscle glycogen. Hope this helps.