Well, spring is almost here, and it’s that time of year when we trade in bulky winter clothing for lighter, more form fitting attire.

Now, don’t panic if you’re just getting started; you can still make real progress in losing that body fat. This is going to be a two-part series.

First we’re going to learn how to achieve “carb control” to lose body fat, then in my next column we’ll explore the proper way to set up an exercise program.

Now, back to carbs. The word carbohydrate is synonymous with the word sugar. Sugar is actually a carbohydrate that is soluble in water. There are three different types of carbs. The first is what we call monosaccharides. This means “one sugar,” and is the simplest form of carbohydrate. An example of a monosaccharide might be glucose or fructose from fruit or honey. The second type of sugar is a disaccharide. This means “two sugars.” A disaccharide is composed of two monosaccharides joined together, such as sucrolose or lactose from table sugar or milk. The third type of sugar, which is not soluble in water is called a polysaccharide. That means “many sugars.”

These are actually “chains” of monosaccharides.  Examples of polysaccharides could be starch, dextrin and cellulose from rice, bread, potatoes or pasta.  Eating too many carbs makes us fat in two ways. First, if you take in too many carbs, which makes blood sugar rise, you increase insulin production, which then causes blood sugar levels to abruptly fall. This increases appetite, which causes you to eat more, and thus gain more weight. The second way consuming too many carbs make us fat is that if blood sugar levels are high, you won’t dip into your fat stores. Remember, your body has two fuel takes. A fat fueltank and a sugar fuel tank.