http://www.carbconundrum.com/carbs/n27.html Avoiding bad carbs may seem hard at first, especially if you're a sugar addict. But avoiding bad carbs isn't as hard to do as you might think. en-us Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:10:25 EST Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:10:25 EST Weblog Editor 2.0 Once you know what bad carbs are, you might be interested in avoiding bad carbs altogether. But if you've learned that bad carbs are the foods you eat every day, this might be a little overwhelming. It's not as bad as you might think though. The Good Instead of the Bad To become a pro at avoiding bad carbs, you need to know what good carbs are and how you can substitute good carbs for bad. Believe it or not, it can be done, and you really won't notice much of a difference, other than you might find yourself eating less, and what's bad about that? As we've said on other pages of this site, bad carbs are anything made with white flour or refined (table) sugar. However, there are good carbs you can have to replace these bad ones and the taste difference is barely noticeable. For instance, if you normally eat frosted corn flakes for breakfast, try switching to Raisin Bran. If you normally eat a bagel, switch from a regular bagel to a whole wheat bagel. Here are more substitutions you can make: Instead of white breads and regular crackers, choose whole wheat or whole grain breads and crackers. Instead of regular pasta, switch to whole wheat pasta. Instead of white rice, try brown or long grain rice. Admittedly, avoiding bad carbs isn't so easy when it comes to cake, cookies, pie, brownies, etc. But these things shouldn't be a part of your daily diet anyway. To reduce your craving for these things, eat fresh fruit instead. Sure, it's not as decadent or indulgent as a rich dessert, but if you're trying to lose weight and be healthy, it's the best thing you can do. In fact, build them into your daily diet. Have a banana with breakfast, an apple for a mid-morning snack, some baby carrots and a salad with your lunch, and grapes as an afternoon snack. Doing this along with healthy choices for your main meals will keep you from getting so hungry throughout the day, and it's a great method of avoiding bad carbs. In the past, you might have thought you wouldn't want to try whole wheat pasta or brown rice or whole grain breads. Since these things are healthy, they probably don't taste good, right? Wrong! Just try them! You'll be pleasantly surprised, and avoiding bad carbs will be easy. Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:10:25 EST