By Marie-Evè Caplette
Carbohydrates, often referred to as carbs, are the main source of anxiety I see in my clients. It doesn’t help that the fad diet pendulum has swung back to low-carb diets. However, completely avoiding carbs isn’t necessary. Your body uses carbs for different functions and they can be beneficial to your health.
How your body uses carbs?
Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose in your body and glucose is your body’s preferred source of energy. Your brain, muscles and tissues use glucose for fuel. Your brain needs glucose to function at its full potential. It is recommended to eat a minimum of 130g of carbs per day to provide your body with enough energy. If you eat 3 meals a day using the healthy plate. method to meal plan, and throw in a snack or two that includes fruit, vegetable, or dairy, you will get approximately this amount.
If you don’t eat this minimum of 130g of carbs, your brain won’t stop working, but it will switch to using fat as its source of energy. Fat breaks down into ketones. Ketones are then used by the brain as it’s source of energy. It is the brain’s backup plan for energy when the brain is deprived of carbs.
Where are carbohydrates?
There are 3 main types of carbohydrates :
- Sugar: also referred to as simple carbohydrate. It can be in the form of added sugars, such as white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup… but this category also includes the fructose contained in fruits and the lactose in milk. On the label, all types of sugars, both added and naturally occurring sugars are found under the name “sugars”. Thus, if an unsweetened plain yogurt contains sugar, this sugar is not added sugar from a sweetener. It is a naturally occurring sugar present in milk.
- Starch: Starch is a chain of several glucose molecules. It is also referred to as a complex carbohydrate. The body breaks down starch molecules into glucose, which is the body’s primary fuel source. It is found in grains, legumes and starchy vegetables like peas, corn and potatoes. Starch is not directly shown in the Nutrition Facts table, but is shown as part of the carbohydrates (you can calculate this by taking the total carbohydrate amount and subtracting the amount of both sugars and fibre).
- Dietary fibres: Fibres is the indigestible part of plant foods, and is found in foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains (quinoa, whole wheat, barley, oats, etc.). It stabilizes blood sugar levels (glycemia), makes you feel full longer, helps your digestive system and keeps you regular and nourishes the good bacteria in your gut. It also helps prevent colon cancer.
As mentioned earlier, on the nutrition label, the term “total carbohydrate” includes all three types of carbs. Since fibre is one of the types of carbs, by cutting carbs, you also cut fibre from your diet. And unfortunately, most Canadians only consume an average of 14 g of fibre per day while 25 to 38g per day are recommended, so it is important to try and increase, fibre intake!
So what is the best way to eat carbs?
- Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, and eat whole fruit more often than drinking juice
- Choose whole grain bread, pasta, brown rice, and include grains like quinoa or barley, oats
- Use more chickpeas, lentils and dried beans (great source of fibre!)
- Include nuts and seeds
- Limit processed foods
So rest assured, when you choose good quality carbs and combined with protein and fat using the healthy plate method, you will be able to include carbs in your diet.