Carb Conundrum

Carbs

If you're thinking about going on a diet, you might be tempted to go on a low carb diet since you've heard of all the success that others have had with it. In fact, you might even think that all carbs are bad. But they're not. In fact, some low carb diets will teach you that there are good carbs and bad.

Good Carbs

Most low carb diets that emphasize eating healthy good carbswill have you cut back your carb intake to 20-40 grams of carbs a day for the first two weeks, then eventually, they'll introduce you to the good carbs, also known as complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly by your body. Since it takes them longer to break down, you feel full longer, and your blood sugar doesn't go up and down like a roller coaster. This prevents bursts of energy followed by lulls. Complex carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice, oats, nuts and whole wheat pastas. Potatoes are also complex carbohydrates, but you really should try to limit those.

Bad Carbs

The more strict low carb diets ban all carbs, good or bad. But the truth is, the carbs that cause us to gain weight are those made with refined sugars and refined flour. It's sort of like stating the obvious, but to lose weight, you want to avoid most desserts, like cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, bars, candy, cheesecakes, juices, sodas, etc. In addition, you want to avoid white breads, regular pastas and white rice.

Getting Started

Instead of going cold turkey, why not ease yourself into a low carb lifestyle by making changes to the carbs you eat now? Instead of having white breads, have whole wheat or whole grain breads. Make whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. Eat brown rice instead of white rice. Cut out refined sugars as much as possible and replace them with fruits, and finally, do what your mom told you to do and eat your vegetables!