Carbohydrate-Guide

Identifying Good Carbohydrates and Good Fats will help you lose weight and live a healthier life.

What is a Carbohydrate?

Carbohydrates come almost exclusively from plant sources, including grains, vegetables, and fruits. In highly processed forms, carbohydrates become white flour, white sugar, corn flour, and syrups, which are used to make the breads, pastas, cookies, and sweets we love so much.

We often hear people talk about simple carbs and complex carbs, but do you really understand the difference between them as well as which ones to avoid?

Complex carbohydrates are referred to as polysaccharides (long chains of sugar molecules bonded together) and are found in foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes (peas and beans), and grains (bread, pasta and rice).

Some complex carbohydrates are also referred to as dietary starches. These are mostly from the grain family (including cereals, breads, pasta, oats, wheat, rice and corn), but are also found in some vegetables like potatoes and legumes. The complex carbohydrates from the fruit and vegetable kingdom were the ones that made up the majority of carbohydrates consumed by our ancestors. And since on a genetic level we are the same, we would be best served to consume the majority of our carbs from the same categorythe fruits and vegetables.

Simple carbohydrates are just that, the simplest form carbohydrates come in. These are found as either single sugar molecules referred to as monosaccharides, (i.e. glucose, fructose or galactose) naturally occurring sugars found in most fruits, honey and milk, or double sugar molecules referred to as disaccharides (i.e. sucrose, maltose and lactose).

The majority of disaccharides come from man-made processed sugars and should be avoided at all costs. Now that you know what carbohydrates are, lets take a look at how they work.
Carbohydrates comprise less than 1% of the total body mass of an average 150-pound person. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the National Research Council has never established an RDA (Recommended Daily Amount) for carbohydrates.

The reason for this is because biochemically your body can operate just fine without them. Having said this, we should never be without an ample amount of vegetables (and some fruits) in order to ensure the body has a sufficient supply of phytonutrient antioxidant protection.

As you will learn, the wrong kind or too much of the right kind of carbohydrates will hinder even the best-laid health plans.

In order for all carbohydrates to end up as energy utilized by every cell in your body, they must first be broken down or converted into the simplest sugar glucose. In order to accomplish this task through digestion your body uses the aid of digestive enzymes to cleave (or split) the sugar molecules into single sugars before they can be absorbed through the small intestine and transported to your cells to supply energy.

A little known fact is that every organ with the exception of your brain and every muscle in your body can operate at peak efficiency on by-products of fat metabolism called ketones.

It is important to understand that your body can use only a set amount of glucose to generate immediate fuel. When it can t use sugars from dietary carbs immediately, the body stores them for future use in the form of long chains of glucose molecules called glycogen.

The body s glycogen containers are found in two areas: the liver and the muscles. The glycogen stored in the muscles is used as energy for the body but is virtually unavailable to the brain. Only the glycogen stored in the liver is accessible through the bloodstream as a backup source of brain food.

Why is this information important, you ask? Because carbs also happen to be the brain s primary source of high-octane fuel (although glucose can also be manufactured from both fat and protein).

The brain loves carbs so much, in fact, that it uses at least two-thirds of the circulating sugars in the bloodstream while we are at rest to run its millions of biochemical activities. In order to ensure a continuous supply of high-octane brain and body fuel, your body must continually convert dietary carbohydrates and liver glycogen into available glucose.

As mentioned earlier, your body can only use a set amount of glucose to generate immediate fuel. All in all, the body of a non-diabetic human only requires approximately 5 grams (1tsp) of blood sugar to run its intricate biochemistry. Aside from this fact, we have a limited capacity to store carbohydrate energy as glycogen.

Whether you are lean or clinically obese, you only have the ability to store 300 to 400 grams of carbohydrate as muscle glycogen and another 60 to 90 grams as liver glycogen the equivalent of about two cups of pasta or a couple of candy bars. Liver glycogen is so limited, that it can easily be used up within ten to twelve hours of normal activity. But during strenuous athletic activity it can be depleted as much as 3 to 4 times that of regular activity.

What is a Good Carbohydrate?

Carbohydrates come almost exclusively from plant sources, including grains, vegetables, and fruits. In highly processed forms, carbohydrates become white flour, white sugar, corn flour, and syrups, which are used to make the breads, pastas, cookies, and sweets we love so much.

Good carbohydrates are called complex carbohydrates and they are referred to as polysaccharides (long chains of sugar molecules bonded together) and are found in foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes (peas and beans), and grains (bread, pasta and rice).

Some complex carbohydrates are also referred to as dietary starches. These are mostly from the grain family (including cereals, breads, pasta, oats, wheat, rice and corn), but are also found in some vegetables like potatoes and legumes. The complex carbohydrates from the fruit and vegetable kingdom were the ones that made up the majority of carbohydrates consumed by our ancestors. And since— on a genetic level—we are the same, we would be best served to consume the majority of our carbs from the same category—the fruits and vegetables.

What is a Bad Carbohydrate?

Bad carbohydrates are also called simple carbohydrates, they are the simplest form carbohydrates come in. These are found as either single sugar molecules referred to as monosaccharides, (i.e. glucose, fructose or galactose) naturally occurring sugars found in most fruits, honey and milk, or double sugar molecules referred to as disaccharides (i.e. sucrose, maltose and lactose).

Their processed sugars enter the bloodstream quickly. This quick conversion makes blood sugar and insulin rise and fall quickly-definitely not so good.

What is a Fat?

Fat is an important part of a healthy diet. There’s more and more evidence that many fats are good for us and actually reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. They also help our sugar and insulin metabolism and therefore contribute to our goals of long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. And because good fats make foods taste better, they help us enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

What is a Good Fat?

“Good” fats include monounsaturated fats, found in olive and canola oils, peanuts and other nuts, peanut butter, and avocados. Monounsaturated fats lower total and “bad” LDL cholesterol-which accumulates in and clogs artery walls­while maintaining levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, which carries cholesterol from artery walls and delivers it to the liver for disposal.

What is a Bad Fat?

“Bad fats” include saturated fats - the heart-clogging kind found in butter, fatty red meats, and full-fat dairy products.

“Very bad fats” are the manmade trans fats. Trans fats, which are created when hydrogen gas reacts with oil, are found in many packaged foods, including margarine, cookies, cakes, cake icings, doughnuts, and potato chips. Trans fats are worse than saturated fats; they are bad for our blood vessels, nervous systems, and waistlines.