Good carbs vs. bad carbs

Today we are going over a somewhat controversial subject:  carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are the fuel for our organs, including the brain.  They are the preferred fuel for the muscles.  When we do not eat enough carbohydrates, our body will turn to protein to produce the glucose it needs for fuel.  When that happens, ketones are the byproduct and we could be thrown into ketosis.  Ketosis is not dangerous in short spurts; however, over time it damages the kidneys.  However, there are such things as "good" carbohydrates and "bad" carbohydrates.  A healthy active adult diet is one that consists of 45%-65% total daily calories from carbohydrates, 20%-35% total daily calories from fats, and 10%-35% total daily calories from protein.

 

The carbohydrates that are good for you are the ones that also provide fiber.  These will be your fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. A male age 50 and under needs 38g of fiber per day for optimal health.  Look for unprocessed or minimally processed foods with only natural sugars.

 

The carbohydrates that are bad for you, the ones that merely make you fat, are refined grains, sugars, and starches.  These are quick glucose for the system in a pinch; however, they spike you blood glucose levels and could put you at risk for developing type 2 diabete.  If you are eating at least 3 servings of fruit a day and 5-7 servings of vegetables, your glycogen levels are topped off and you should have a great energy supply.

 

How do you check for carbohydrates?  Once again, read the labels.  The nutritional label will have certain headings you want to check.  Look for "Total Carbohydrates".  That will give you the total number of grams in the product.  Under "Total Carbohydrates" you will see "fiber" (the total grams of dietary fiber), "Sugar" (total grams from all sugars--read the ingredients to see what is natural and what is not), and "Other" (all other digestible carbs).  You may also see "Sugar Alcohols".  These may or may not cause gastric problems for your system.  When you check these headings, you want to know how much of the carb in the product is from sugar.  Only about 6%-10% of your total daily calories should come from sugars, so you want that number to be low.  You also want to make sure the sugars are natural, like lactose or fructose, and not something like high fructose corn syrup, which has no nutritional value.