Carbohydrates and your health

 Intro:

Carbohydrates are found in many foods, and most diets recommend that you eat some each day. However, not all carbohydrates are the same. Some provide your body with essential nutrients, while others have little nutritional value and should be avoided as much as possible if you’re trying to maintain good health. Here’s how to tell the difference between healthy carbs and unhealthy ones so you can make the right choices when it comes to your diet.

 

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load

The glycemic index, or GI, is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates are digested by our bodies. Carbohydrates with a higher glycemic index produce blood sugar spikes more quickly than low-glycemic foods do. Glycemic load (GL) takes into account both how high a food ranks on the GI as well as how much you eat at once. For example, carrots have a high GI ranking but actually have a very low GL. Bananas, on the other hand, have a lower GI but tend to be eaten in larger quantities so their GL is higher.

 

Blood Glucose Levels

Most people with diabetes, even those who are not overweight, can reduce their risk of complications by keeping blood glucose levels in a target range. There is no correct target but ranges from 80 to 130 mg/dl before meals and less than 180 mg/dl at two hours after a meal are common targets. Some people aim for an A1C level below 7%, but for many people with diabetes, especially those who are overweight or obese, more aggressive treatment may be appropriate. Even maintaining A1C levels of less than 6% may be beneficial. The average A1C level for children with type 1 diabetes is 8%. This low level makes controlling blood glucose relatively easy and has been shown to prevent long-term complications.

 

The Glycemic Response Curve

Understanding what happens when you eat a carb is all about understanding how that carb is digested. Carbs are first broken down into monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, galactose, etc., via enzymes in our saliva and stomach. That signal can be distorted by other components of your diet, however. As Dr.

 

Insulin Release

Carbohydrates can cause your blood sugar to spike, which leads to an insulin release in your body. And since insulin is a storage hormone, when you eat carbohydrates, you’re basically telling your body that it should store whatever food energy isn’t burned for immediate use in case it’s needed later. This doesn’t sound so bad until you realize that many of us keep eating even after we aren’t hungry—and as a result, we put on excess weight. The solution? Eat at regular intervals throughout the day instead of binging or starving yourself. And try to avoid simple carbs whenever possible—they tend to be easier for our bodies to digest than complex carbs, which take longer for our bodies to break down into usable nutrients.

 

What Are Good Carbs?

Healthy carbohydrates are any carbohydrates that come from whole, nutrient-dense foods like fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Unlike processed junk foods (which can be high in unhealthy carbs), these sources of carbohydrates provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other disease-fighting phytochemicals. Healthy carbs also won’t spike blood sugar levels or lead to cravings—and they are much more filling than unhealthy carbs that can leave you hungry again in an hour. The key is to choose complex carbohydrates that have a low glycemic index (GI). GI measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar after eating it; slow-burning carbs have a lower GI than quick-burning carb sources like white bread.

 

Bad Carbs to Avoid

Some carbohydrates are known as bad carbs because they raise blood sugar quickly. These kinds of carbs include potatoes, corn, yams, white rice, enriched flour products, such as pastries and cookies, refined grains (like white bread), pretzels,, and popcorn. In general, choose whole-grain versions of these food items whenever possible. Another source of bad carbs is sugary drinks. Sugary soft drinks are often sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or other sugars that can add hundreds of calories to your daily diet. If you want to limit your consumption of bad carbs but still drink soda every now and then (or more than occasionally), try switching to diet soda instead—it has zero calories!

Carbohydrates and your health