To Carb or Not to Carb?

That is the question facing dieters everywhere. The answer is so simple and yet so complex. It seems as if every week there is a new diet telling you what you should or shouldn’t eat and if carbs should or shouldn’t be included, some being more ridiculous than others: the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, the Chinese fried rice and hotdog diet….ok, the last one is not real, but you get the point. The popularity of low-carb diets such as Adkins and South Beach sent Americans into a carbohydrate panic attack in which all breads and pastas were avoided like the plague. These diets led many people to believe that ALL carbs were “bad” and were the source of unsightly flab and the cause of the obesity epidemic. Not only is this a dangerous oversimplification, it simply is not true!

Carbohydrates are an essential part of a healthy diet and are necessary for your organs and Central Nervous System to function properly. The body also uses carbs as its main energy source for physical activity by breaking them down into blood sugars, mainly glucose, and giving the body immediate fuel for anaerobic exercise and sustained energy for aerobic exercise. A lack of carbs will cause a breakdown of protein instead (gluconeogenesis or muscle wasting) and will cause incomplete combustion of fats. This will cause the metabolism to slow down and keep more fat on the body because of the loss of lean muscle and the inability to completely burn off fat. An acute lack of carbohydrates will produce such physical symptoms as tunnel vision, dizziness, nausea, weakness, abnormal EEG, and irritability. Put plain and simple: you NEED carbs!

Now that I have gotten all of you to welcome back the carbohydrate with open arms, let me tell you a little more about the different kinds of carbs and which are the most helpful in your quest to lose weight. Carbohydrates, found in a wide array of foods, are generally grouped into two main categories:

• Simple carbohydrates – are simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose from fruits and some vegetables, lactose from milk, and sucrose from cane sugar.

• Complex carbohydrates – are chains of simple sugars (three or more linked sugars) and consist mainly of the starch and fiber that makes up plant foods. Foods made up of complex carbs include grains and grain products (such as pasta and bread), beans, potatoes, corn, and other vegetables.

As a general guide for physically active people, approximately 50%-60% of daily calories should be from carbohydrates, and of that about 40% should be from complex carbs while the other 20% should be from simple carbs. Does this mean that complex carbs are better for you? Not necessarily. For example, white bread and french fries are classified as complex carbs, however, the body converts the starch in these foods almost as fast as it processes glucose (a simple sugar), causing a sharp spike in blood sugar. And while fruit and milk are classified as simple carbs, the nutritional value in these foods greatly outweighs the amount of sugar they contain. Also, even though fructose (fruit sugar) is a simple carbohydrate, it has a very minimal effect on blood sugar.

Are you still with me? Let me give you a few simple rules you can follow to help decrease your numbers on the scale and increase your energy:

• Choose simple carbs such as fruit, low-fat milk, and yogurt that offer a host of much needed vitamins and minerals.

•Stay away from simple carbs such as cake, cookies, and soda that offer no nutritional value and are considered “empty calories.”

• Choose complex carbs that are whole wheat, whole grain, or in the vegetable family. These foods are packed with nutrients and digest slower than white bread or white rice, helping your blood sugar to stay level. When looking for these foods, you want the first ingredient listed to be wheat or for the product to say 100% whole wheat.

• Stay away from complex carbs such as white bread, white rice, potatoes (with the exception of sweet potatoes), and french fries. These foods process very quickly, causing a spike in blood sugar, which then causes you to feel hungry again much sooner than you should.

• Say hello to fiber! Although fiber isn’t broken down into glucose for energy, it has many benefits. As it passes through the body, it binds to fatty substances in the intestines and carries them out as waste, which lowers your LDL, or “bad” cholesterol. It is also good for pushing food through the intestinal tract, helping to promote regularity and prevent constipation. Another added benefit of fiber is that it helps you to feel full longer, as it helps regulate the body’s use of sugars. Aim for 15-20 grams per day!

It is my hope that you now have a better understanding of what carbohydrates are and how they promote good health by supplying the body with a host of nutrients and much needed energy. Without them, getting through daily activities, much less work-outs, would be a struggle, if not impossible. So let’s all apologize to the carb for shunning him like a leaper, and embrace the carb once more!

For the love of carbs,
Jennifer