Not all carbs are bad. Why we must eat the right ones

You have always heard that carbohydrates shouldn’t be a part of your diet. May be you have tried several diet plans, and each time it was the same thing. But when carbohydrates are removed from the diet, you feel low on energy and general lethargy pay a visit, accompanied with several other health issues.

You need to build a healthy relationship with your carbs. Unlike popular belief that lesser the carbohydrates in diet, the better it is, the truth is that carbohydrates are essential nutrients for your body’s growth and functioning.

So, there is a way you can love carbs, but that does not mean you can grab a pizza tonight for dinner!

Before talking about how to love carbs, you need to make a clear distinction between good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates. The reason why certain diets encourage eliminating or significantly reducing carbohydrates from your diet is because in the absence of carbs, fat reserves are used as a source of energy and hence help in fat loss or weight loss.

But what these diets failed to inform you is that by doing so, the body is deprived of the primary source of energy. So when you use up the energy you have in the body, you do not feel satisfied, and end up having an urge to eat more. And this leads to increased calorie intake, which eventually leads to weight gain.

It’s a vicious cycle! So, what can you do? You should consider new ways to love carbs! And how will you do that, you may wonder? This is how:

1) Replace refined carbohydrates with complex carbohydrates. The latter has more fibre, takes longer to digest and hence provides a sustained source of energy for a longer duration. You will also feel satiated faster with lesser quantity and will not get that urge to snack unhealthily between meals. Complex carbs also help to keep the blood sugar in check.

2) When you are eating refined carbs, be aware that in that case, the outer shell is removed which speeds up the process of converting starch into sugar, which in turn is quickly stored as fat. The increased intake of refined carbs the world over has led to increase in obesity, weight gain and diabetes.

3) Complex carbohydrates are rich in fibre. And why is that important? Fibre helps to lower cholesterol and maintains healthy glucose levels, hence keeping a check on diabetes. It also adds density to food; you need fewer calories to feel fuller and also helps in eliminating waste products from the body.

Up to 25-30 gram per day is the recommended guideline for fibre intake. A diet poor in fibre has been one of the main reasons behind the rise of colon cancer cases.

So the solution is not to eliminate carbs completely but to substitute refined carbs with complex carbs. Here are some examples of complex carbs that you can fall in love with.

• Bran
• Wheat germ
• Maize
• Buckwheat
• Cornmeal
• Oatmeal
• Whole Grain Bread
• Whole Grain Pasta
• Brown Rice
• Barley
• Wild Rice
• Fruits, vegetable and legumes like apricots, oranges, plums, pears, grapefruits and prunes
• Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, turnip greens, eggplant, potatoes, yams, corn, carrots, onions, all types of lettuce, celery, cucumbers, cabbage, artichokes and asparagus are all examples of these.

Specific examples of complex carbs in legumes include lentils, kidney beans, black beans, peas, garbanzo beans, soybeans and pinto beans.

Confused still? Speak to your health coach, who will work with you to build a balanced diet which will help you switch from refined to complex carbs. More soon!

Also read: 70 health tweaks to get independence from sickness forever