Carb Conundrum - Good Carbohydrate

Good Carbohydrate

Many of today's low carbohydrate diets are not low carb diets at all. In fact, they should be called good carbohydrate diets instead. Why? Because they realize that your body needs certain carbohydrates (complex carbohydrates) to function properly. What makes people gain weight is an excess of too many bad carbohydrates (also known as simple carbohydrates).

Do You Know a Good Carbohydrate from a Bad?

A good carbohydrate is a food that is hard for the body to digest. The sugars from a good carbohydrate enter your blood stream slowly and don't cause your body to produce a lot of insulin. Good carbohydrate foods include fruits, non-starchy vegetables, beans, nuts, oats, whole grains and foods made with whole wheat flour. Another good carbohydrate--probably the best, in fact, is fiber. Most Americans only get about 1/3 of the recommended daily allowance of fiber in their diets, which is bad because fiber helps maintain regularity.

Simple carbohydrates are foods made with white flour and refined sugar such as white bread, regular pasta, white rice, and any kind of dessert foods. These cause spikes in your blood sugar levels and cause your body to produce extra insulin, which leads to weight gain.

So you can see why cutting complex carbohydrates out of your diet is a bad idea, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. In addition to providing fiber, they contain important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Plus, carbohydrates are the only nutrients that make it to the brain. Trying to lower your carb intake by eliminating them from your diet means you are eliminating important, essential nutrients and you're not feeding your brain!