Chapter 4 – Are Carbs Really That Bad?
Although the low carb diet is extremely great, does it mean that carbs are bad for you?
Not necessarily. When we eat carbohydrates though, our bodies digest them to form glucose. Although it circulates throughout the body, which provides us with energy, we tend to eat in excess.
There is also a difference between good carbs and bad carbs. Good carbs will give you energy without being stored as fat, which can be found in fruits and vegetables. Bad carbs are usually processed ingredients that your body is not programmed to recognize and therefore is storing it as fat.
You may sometimes notice that after you eat chips or chocolate you have a crash where you don’t want to do anything; that is what happens when you eat bad carbs. Your body uses the energy it can get from the small amount of natural carbs in chocolate, for instance, but then has to work double to process the other chemical carbs that are found in it. This creates a loss of energy as the processed ingredients are processed and transformed to fat, usually. This up and down is extremely bad for your heart as it doesn’t give it a normal flow of energy. The heart is overworked on a constant basis, and in turn so is your body. This can create other problems as the body stops focusing on keeping the body healthy and instead focuses on processing the large amount of carbs that is given to it daily. This in turn creates health problem such as diabetes, hyperglycemia, or even heart problems. Keep in mind though that good carbs taken daily in a portioned amount is essential and good for the body. Large amounts of carbohydrates is what causes problems to the body in the long-term.
Complex Carbs vs. Simple Carbs- How to Tell the Difference
Okay, I understand, but what is the difference between good carbs and bad carbs? They can be differentiated between two classes: complex carbs vs. simple carbs. Think of it this way, the more complex the carb the better it is for you. I know we all like to live a simple life and not overthink things, but with carbs it’s completely different. It has to be complex in order for you to put it in your mouth.
All simple carbs are usually made of one or two sugar molecules. These are the “get energy quick” foods that are rapidly digested but that puts the body in a very hard position as it processes all the un-natural ingredients through the body. These simple carbs are usually anything with sugar; sugar (brown and table), corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses, jams, soft drinks, candy, chocolate, etc.
Now in saying that, you also need to be aware of the glycemic level in your foods. Knowing the glycemic index of your food is important as it can help balance your blood sugar, lose weight, or stop craving food all the time.
What is the Glycemic Index?
The glycemic index was developed back in 1981 as a way to classify varying carbohydrates. It's a way to measure the power of the carbohydrate in a food with regard to its ability to raise blood glucose levels after ingestion.
The glycemic index (GI) is a way to measure carbohydrates on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion and raise blood sugar levels have the highest GI ratings.
Carbohydrates that break down more slowly over time have lower GI ratings.
The way GI ratings were determined is to ingest 50 grams of a particular carbohydrate while in a fasted state and recording blood sugar levels.
The GI classification is broken down as follows:
The glycemic index is important because of the impact on insulin levels that various carbohydrates have.
Insulin is a hormone that is released by the pancreas. The amount of insulin released is affected by blood sugar levels. The higher your blood sugar, the more insulin that is released into the bloodstream.
You want to avoid high insulin levels because high insulin levels can inhibit fat utilization (fat burning), and promote fat storage. Carbohydrates with a high GI rating also elevate free fatty acids in the blood, which promotes increased body fat.
Your body prefers low glycemic carbohydrates. Low glycemic carbohydrates do not trigger as great of an insulin release as high glycemic carbohydrates. This helps to prevent fat storage, as well as protect against diabetes.
Because low glycemic carbs are released into your bloodstream slowly, they provide you with sustained energy, as opposed to those sugar rushes and crashes that most everyone is familiar with.
In contrast, high glycemic carbohydrates convert more easily into glucose, enter the bloodstream more quickly, and cause spikes in your insulin level. This promotes the storage of more fat and makes you feel lethargic (the sugar rush and crash cycle mentioned above).
Over time, eating too many high glycemic carbohydrates can cause a number of health problems, such as insulin resistance, hyperinsulinism, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.
Interestingly enough, the glycemic index also caused us to rethink how we looked at certain foods. For example, the simple sugar fructose, while thought of as a simple carb, actually acted more like a complex carbohydrate in the body.
As mentioned above, starch contains long chains of glucose molecules. This is a prime characteristic of complex carbohydrates. However, how starchy foods affected the body and insulin levels was more complex than this.
Amylose, a type of starch, does not absorb as much water, and its tight molecule formations make enzyme function more difficult, causing slower digestion. This would cause a lower Glycemic Index number in foods containing amylose, such as kidney beans.
However, amylopectin, another starch, absorbs more water than amylose, causing a molecular structure that enables a higher G.I. in foods traditionally thought to be complex in nature. A great example is white rice, with it's G.I. number of 98, similar to that of plain old table sugar.
It's also a double whammy because besides the insulin spike, the calories of starchy carbs add up very quickly. It is extremely easy to take in too many calories when consuming starchy carbs.
One serving of white rice (3/4 of a cup - cooked) is about 150 calories and 35 grams of carbohydrate! How often, when eating rice, have you ever had just one serving? If you're like most people, I'd say very rarely, if ever.
Another problem has been the processing of carbohydrates. Stay away from all processed carbs. Eat whole wheat or whole grain bread as opposed to white bread. This is also true of pasta and rice.
Our bodies were not designed to live off of all the processed foods that are available today. The consumption of processed foods is probably the number one reason that we have wide spread obesity and obesity related health problems today.
Other foods that you should stay away from are foods whose labels scream "low fat", "no fat" or "reduced fat". These products are one of the huge reasons people in the United States have been getting fatter and fatter over the years.
How is that possible, when they've removed or reduced the fat content, you ask? Well, as you know by now, it's not necessarily the fat content of your diet that is responsible for the excess body fat you may be carrying around.
First, people have been led to believe (falsely, I might add) that eliminating fat from their diet will keep them from putting fat on their body and this simply isn't true. But because of this, many people took it as a license to eat as much as they wanted of low and no fat foods.
Unfortunately, the amount of fat in your diet is not usually the problem when it comes to the excess fat on your body. As we've previously discussed, total calories and carbohydrate intake have a lot to do with it.
And what do you think they used to replace the fat in those products? That's right, carbs, more specifically, sugar. Lots of sugar. Sugar that sends your insulin levels surging and plummeting.
These products didn't have any satiety. In other words, you were quickly ready to eat more. So now, not only are your insulin levels out of whack, you are probably eating more calories each day than you were before gorging yourself on low fat and no fat foods.
A great trick to find simple carbs in an ingredient list is the show and tell practice; if you can’t say or explain it, you shouldn’t be eating it.
Complex carbs on the other hand are great for you! They are the dietary starch of the carb world. They are made of several sugar molecules put together like a bracelet. If you look closely at the nutrition table of the foods you pick up, you will find complex carbs are high in fibre, which satisfies your hunger and is healthy for you.
You can find complex carbs in whole plant foods such as green vegetables, whole grains and foods that have it, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and pumpkin, and any type of bean, lentil, and peas. When you eat complex carbs, you will find yourself having more energy throughout the day instead of one sugar spike within the hour. It’s extremely healthy for you heart, sugar level, and altogether body health. Now that we have an overview of Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Index, next we will be covering what are the best foods to eat.