Carbs have been unfairly given a very bad in today's society. It seems that it is only behind fat in being seen as the cause of the obesity epidemic in the western world. This article will take you behind the scenes and show you how carbs are actually integrated into your body, and will give you an insight into the role they play in ensuring you get enough energy to get you through your day.

Let's get started:

All carbohydrates, whether they are simple carbs, or complex carbs, are broken down into glucose (sugar). This happens regardless of what source of carbohydrates you take.

Once that happens, your body will either use that glucose immediately as energy or it will look to store it. It can store it in either your liver or your muscle tissue. Stored glucose is called glycogen.

Your body can store approximately 90 to 100 grams of glycogen in your liver, and anywhere from 100 to 400 grams in your muscles.

Once these stores are filled, your body has to find other places to keep the excess glucose. That's when your body deposits the extra glucose (that is not needed for energy, and is left over from re-stocking glycogen supplies) into your fat cells as fat. That's why there's a delicate balance of the amount and type of carbs you should eat. Too little and you don't have enough energy, too much and you'll gain fat.

Carbs are actually the most efficient energy source for your body, much more so than fat. That's because they are in a form that can be used immediately. What this all means is that your glycogen supply levels are very sensitive to the amount of carbs you take in and the amount of exercise or physical exertion you put your body through.

Any sort of exercise will burn up muscle glycogen if you fail to replace it. And its not only exercise. Even if you limit your intake of carbs. Any significant carb reduction, for 3 consecutive days, will deplete your glycogen stores.

Remember if your glycogen stores are depleted, then your body does not have access to the most efficient energy source it has. You will start to feel fatigued, and tired.

That's why a low carb diet is a definite no-no, especially if you are in any sort of training or have an active lifestyle.

So what can we take away from all this to help us with fat loss?

To summarize, carbs are only converted to fat if they are not used for energy and if your glycogen stores are full.

To ensure that your carbs are used for energy, and stored as glycogen, rather than fat, you have to manage two things about your carb intake.

How much carbs you take in, and how quickly each of those carbs are processed in your body.

If you take in too much, way beyond what your body needs, then they will be stored as fat.

Also, if you take in carbs that are processed quickly (these are called 'simple carbs'), it's just like eating too much. That's because these carbs are broken down really quickly, almost at once. Then your body has to figure out where to put it all. Of course it runs through the process described above, and once the glycogen stores are full, it stores it as fat.

So it's very important that you pick carb sources that are more slowly processed (called 'complex carbs'). If you take the same amount of simple and complex carbs, you will store a lot more fat by eating simple carbs than complex carbs. And the worst thing about taking in simple carbs is that you get addictions to certain foods

So to help you manage your weight, choose to eat complex carbs. Just by doing that, we know of someone who lost 7 pounds over 2 months (with no other change in their lifestyle). They only did it for health reasons, but you can do it to control your weight.