Which Carbohydrates to eat
There are essentially three types of diets these days. There is
the Atkins diet which stresses low to zero carbs. There is the
low fat diet which stresses no fats and there is a vegetarian
diet which stresses low fat and low protein but allows higher
carbohydrates. Today I would like to demystify the need for
carbs. And then in the future we can deal with fats and protein
as well as what diet is best.
Carbohydrates are the main component of grains, rice, fruits and
vegetables. You essentially need carbohydrates for energy and
fibre. When your body is looking for a source of energy it tends
to use the simplest form available. The very simplest form of
energy is glucose and although this is pure table sugar its next
closest form is found in fruits as sucrose. These carbohydrates
are called simple carbs because they are easy for your body to
break down into energy. If your body can not find one of these
sources of sugar for energy it will move down the food chain and
try one of the next most easily available carbs next would be
grain based or what we look at as “white” carbohydrates such as
bread, potatoes, or rice. (Chocolate bars although not an
official food group are closer to sugar than veggies or other
carbs). Your body will use any of the complex carbs as well as
vegetables for fuel before moving to fats or proteins.
Now that we can see where our carbs site in the energy chain it
is a good idea to see what happens when we eat one and what
happens to our energy from them. When you eat a sugar it
immediately increases your blood sugar otherwise known as your
insulin level. When you blood sugar spikes from sugar,
chocolate, or pop you will get a bit of a euphoric feeling from
this extra unneeded energy but because it is quick pickup it is
also a quick drop for energy and thus you will get a sugar crash
30-45 minutes after the initial energy peak, this is very bad
and bad for your body. If on the other hand you only had
potatoes or bread or rice for your carbs you would have no nice
spikes but no crashes either and would feel after a couple days
on a very more even keel, you would feel like you energy is
pretty good all the time but never to low or to high. This is
the key that we are looking for.