Carb Conundrum - Good Carbs

Good Carbs

It is a good thing for all of us that the blind following of many low carb diet has come to an end. Faced with more and more research, many of those diets have lost much of their following. The best thing to come out of the low carb phenomenon is the fact that it sparked a lot of interest in the good and bad aspects of the diets. We are a country that is very overweight and it is taking its toll on much of the population, so it is important that we really think in the long term when it comes how to turn this situation around. Now we are getting closer as the experts are now emphasizing the type of carb that you eat, not just carbs in general.

The value of good carbs

It should come as no surprise that our problem with obesity cannot solely be blamed on carbs. The problem is not that we are eating too many carbs, but that many of the carbs that we do consume are not good carbs, but bad ones. For years the proponents of many of the low carb diets paid no attention to good carbs and only advocated a diet that was low ion all types of cars. But, there is a big difference between what are called good carbs, or complex carbs, and those that are bad, or simple. Obviously it is the bad ones that can be held responsible for much of the weight that we pack on as a nation. The bad carbs have little or no nutritional value and are full of empty calories. Essentially, they quickly turn into sugar in the body and are stored.

Good carbs, on the other hand, contain many of the the essential nutrients that are body needs for proper functioning. First of all we need good carbs as they are a main source of energy for the body, and the more you are moving around and exercising, the more carbs you should be consuming. They are also a great source of fiber which we all know is needed by the digestive system for optimum health. Carbs are not the enemy - bad carbs are!