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..... I have found that the nutritional mainstream often promotes contradictory information. One author may believe a low carb diet is the best approach to improving health, while another touts a diet based primarily on carbohydrates. We need to understand that both approaches may be true for some of the people some of the time, but the nutritional journey is really about educating yourself on what works for your personal needs and scrutinizing the common ground that all of these books share. While their view on what per ... ..... When we consume our carbohydrates from whole, natural food sources such as whole grains, beans, legumes, fresh vegetables and fruit we find ourselves eating fewer calories overall. Not only do we feel much more satisfied, we also get the benefit of all the essential nutrients needed to aid the body in metabolizing them including valuable fibre. Dietary fibre helps to stabilize blood sugars, lower cholesterol, prevent hemorrhoids, colon cancer, constipation and support optimal health in many other ways.
centage of the diet we derive from carbohydrate sources can greatly differ, they usually all agree that the carbohydrates we eat should come from healthy, whole food sources. This common factor alone will do much to improve your overall health and well being.
..... What exactly is a carbohydrate? Carbohydrates are basically sugars that our body uses for fuel. They are sorted into two groups. Simple
..... A limited amount of carbohydrate is converted to glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles. After these storehouses are full, excess carbohydrate is then converted and stored as fat which is another fuel we can tap into when needed. The problem here is that fat is harder to access than the carbohydrates for fuel. This is a fail-safe mechanism that was quite useful in the hunter-gatherer days when carbs were scarce during
carbohydrates like sugar, honey, milk sugars and fruit juices are chemically made up of only one or two sugar molecules and are digested quite quickly. Complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, the fibre family are made up of 3 or more sugar molecules and take longer to digest.
..... Carbohydrates in their natural form such as fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains are extremely beneficial to the body. They are our chief source of fuel and supply us with beneficial nutrients that help our body stay balanced and fight disease. We need them in our diet but not always in the amounts or form our modern diets supply. These good carbs can essentially turn into bad guys when we start to process and refine all the goodness out of them.
..... Processed or refined carbohydrates such as white flour, white rice, pasta, boxed cereals, sugar and other manufactured goodies have been stripped of many essential nutrients and are often high calorie empty foods. They may supply a short burst of energy but that is about all. It is too easy to overeat these foods. They are plentiful in our supermarkets and tend to make up a good portion of our diets. Over time, a dependence on processed foods may create deficiencies of essential nutrients and contribute to many common disorders including diabetes, obesity, malnutrition, depression, heart disease and much more.		 ... long winter months – but quite redundant in this day and age of steady supply. We rarely need to tap the fat stores unless we are intentionally working at it.
..... The glycemic index is another way to classify foods. The glycemic index measures the rate of how fast a food will enter the bloodstream. We’ve all heard of a sugar “high”. This is a prime example of a high glycemic food. There is very little lag time between eating a high glycemic food and when it enters the blood stream. You get an immediate rush of energy that triggers insulin to be released which helps to bring the blood sugar down quickly. Insulin also aids in storing excess carbohydrate as fat. It is very efficient! High glycemic foods are bad news for diabetics who are trying to keep from riding a roller coaster of highs and lows with their blood sugars. Many carbohydrate foods fall into the high glycemic range while barley, steel cut oats, dried beans, apples, and many more ride in the more desirable low to moderate range.
..... As always, healthy eating is about making better choices. It starts with an awareness, and with practice becomes a lifestyle. However, practice does not necessarily always mean perfection! Every now and then a sugar glazed sour dough is good for the soul!
Good Health to You!
..... Be well, be happy and Good health to You!