When you sprint for the bus…when you chase your kids around the yard…or when you run for your life from that rather protective mother bear you startled in the forest…you use carbohydrate to fuel your activity. Also known as “carbs”, carbohydrate serves as a quick form of energy for the body.
It works just like lighting a match. When you strike a match, you get instant heat energy in the form of fire. When you exhert a certain level of effort on your muscles (strike the match), you receive instant heat energy (calories) from the carbohydrate stored in your muscles and liver. How do they get stored there? I’m glad you asked…
When you eat food containing carbohydrates, your body breaks the carbs down into glucose or blood sugar, which your body then stores in the muscles and liver as glycogen.
While carbohydrate comes from many different sources, they can all be broken down into two groups: simple and complex.
Simple vs. Complex Carbohydrates
Due to their “simple” molecular structure, simple carbohydrates typically digest easily and convert quickly into blood glucose. I say typically, because there are other factors such as fiber content and whether the sugar is natural or refined that affect how quickly they become blood glucose.
Examples of simple carbs include…
- Candy
- Chocolate
- Bubble Gum
- Honey
- Jam
- Fruit juice (fructose)
- Fruit (fructose)
- Milk (lactose)
As you can see, some sources of simple carbs are healthier than others. Next you have…
Complex Carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates, called so because of their complex molecular structure, come in two varietie: starchy and fibrous.
Sources of starchy carbohydrate include…
- Potatoes
- Cereals
- Whole wheat pasta
- Whole wheat rice
- Whole wheat bread
- Corn
- Peas
Fibrous complex carbohydrates include…
- Legumes
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce (except iceberg)
- Green Beans
- Zucchini
Making Good Carbohydrate Choices
Making the right carb choices can make a tremendous difference in the way you look, the way you feel and how well your body functions. When deciding which foods to eat, follow these guidelines:
Pick foods that are close to nature. Choosing vegetables, legumes and fruit as your primary carb sources ensures that you follow this guideline.
Choose High-Fiber Foods – Fiber provides many healthy benefits, such as…
- Facilitates elimination. Think of it as a scrub brush for your digestive system. Insoluable fiber, such as that found in whole grains, nuts and vegetables, attracts water and expands the walls of the colon, allowing waste matter to move more easily through your system.
- Decreases appetite. Because fiber absorbs water causing it to “bulk”, you feel fuller longer.
- Inhibits the absorption of cholesterol into the blood stream. The soluble fiber found in oats, beans, barley, citrus fruits and strawberries has been shown to help in lowering cholesterol levels. Insoluble fiber can be found in other whole grain products, cabbage, beets and cauliflower, just to name a few.
- May reduce the risk of heart disease. Some studies show that eating up to 50 grams of fiber per day can lower blood cholesterol 20-30% which translates into a 40-60% decrease in your risk of heart disease. Eating just 10 grams of fiber results in a 14% drop in coronary disease. (http://my.webmd.com/content/article/82/97344.htm)
- Slows down the conversion of carbohydrate to blood glucose. When carbohydrate is broken down into blood glucose, your body releases a hormone called insulin to help store the sugar in the body. The more sugar there is, the more insulin is produced. Over time, high blood sugar and high insulin levels can lead to diabetes. If you can slow down the conversion process, you keep blood sugar levels down and reduce the amount of insulin produced by the body.
In addition to the fibrous vegetables listed above, you want to add in some high-fiber fruit such as…
- Berries (any type but especially blueberries)
- Apples
- Oranges
- Plums
- Kiwi
- Grapefruit
- Cantaloupe
Limit Starchy Carbs – Pound-for-pound, starchy carbohydrates pack a caloric punch. In other words, when compared to their fibrous cousins, they contain more calories for the same amount of food. Take for example, brown rice versus green beans.
One cup of rice has 214 calories with 44g of carbs and 3.5g of fiber compared to one cup of green beans which has 34 calories with 3.75g of fiber. As you can see, the green beans contain more fiber as the rice but have 85% less calories.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who have tried and failed to lose weight in the past is that they feel hungry all of the time. When I asked what they ate, it turns out that they ate mostly starchy or refined carbohydrates. As you can see from the example above, you could eat 7 cups of green beans to 1 cup of rice and consume the same calories. If you’re hungry all the time…eat more high-fiber veggies!
Reduce Refined Carbs – Man-made or refined sugars should make up a very small percentage of your carb intake. Yes, they taste good, but when you eat too much of them, the consequences can be extremely serious. A short list of maladies brought on by excessive consumption of refined sugar includes…
- Diabetes
- Insulin resistance
- Heart disease
- High cholesterol
- Dramatic mood swings
- Autoimmune disease (arthritis, asthma, multiplesclerosis)
- Headaches
- Depression
- Lethargy
- High blood pressure
How Much of Your Diet Should Come From Carbohydrate
Aside from religion, nothing else provokes heated debate like asking “How many carbs should I eat?” On one side you have the low-carb zealots who believe carbs are the source of all that is evil, and on the other, you have the high-carb believers who preach salvation through carbohydrates.
From my own personal experience, when you get between thirty and forty percent of your calories carbs and those carbs come mainly from veggies, fruit and a limited amount of processed, you can…
- Lose weight without feeling hungry, deprived, or suffering unbearable cravings.
- Manage your moods and emotions.
- Control blood sugar and insulin levels, which prevents or helps to control diabetes and promotes faster weight loss.
The best way to know for sure though is to test different levels for yourself. Vary the amounts of carbs you eat for two weeks at a time and gauge your reaction. Keep a journal and record of how you feel mentally, how much physical energy you seem to have, as well as how your body looks. Are you losing weight or gaining? Over time, you’ll come to know what’s right for you.
I know counting calories can be tedious, but this tool will make the job much easier. Fitday.com is a free calorie calculator that allows you to enter the food you eat and shows you how many total calories you’ve eaten as well as what percentage of them came from carbs, from protein and from fat.
The one downside this program is it only keeps a running total of your calories. It doesn’t allow you to track your calories on a meal-to-meal basis. So I recommend that you keep a written log of what you ate, then enter each meal separately into the Fitday.com program, get the nutritional information for that meal and record it into your log.
