Carbohydrate digestion and information about a low carbohydrate diet

A simple summary of how the body digests carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates or carbs for short have been in the news a great deal over the last few years.

There are a number of "new" diets circulating at the moment, including the Atkins diet, South Beach Diet, Low Carb Diet, High Protein diet and many others.

GoodCarbs™ is compatible with all of these diets!

There are also others which seem sensible but which easily confuse readers and often get misapplied.

Because there are so many different and even conflicting ideas, one can easily get the wrong impression about carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are vital to good health, you just have to know which are good carbs and which are bad carbs.

Some diets are just fads and potentially harmful

Many of these diet programs are based on very little science and long term can be harmful as well as being difficult to follow.

Eat the wrong carbs too often or fail to eat the right carbs and you will not lose weight. Doing the wrong thing leads to lack of energy, more food cravings and greater weight gain!

You have to know what your are doing otherwise it can all backfire!

I thought it would be a good idea to give a few basic facts about carbs and dispel some of the myths that are going around.

Firstly, what are carbs?

The first step is to clear up what the words carbohydrate and carbs mean.

"Carbo" is short for carbon and the word "hydrate" in simple terms means water or similar to water. Without getting too technical, water contains two atoms of hydrogen for every atom of oxygen. A hydrate maintains this 2 to 1 ratio of hydrogen to oxygen. So "carbohydrate" is just something with differing amounts of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Carbohydrates are used up by the body to produce energy. It is the body's main source of energy. This is why if you cut down on carbs too much you will lack energy and start to feel tired quite quickly.

Control Carbs - don't eliminate them

The cleverness comes about in controlling the amount of carbs you take, and the types you take, not in restricting them completely.

Some carbs are good for you, others not so good and even bad.

Simple and Complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are usually split into two categories:

1) simple carbohydrates and 2) complex carbohydrates.

Simple carbohydrates are mainly different types of sugars such as sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and quite a number of others.

Complex carbohydrates are called complex because their microscopic structure is more complicated. Complex carbs are found in things like vegetables, bread, rice, oatmeal, whole grains, peas and beans.

What is glucose?

Both types of carbohydrates are eventually converted by the body into glucose (a simple sugar). Glucose is used for energy by the body and it keeps a short-term supply of glucose in the liver (12 to 24 hours worth). Any excess glucose is either eliminated or converted and stored as fat.

You might be asking what's the difference in carbohydrates if they all end up getting converted by the body into glucose. That's a good question.

The main difference is that the body far more quickly converts simple carbohydrates into glucose than complex carbohydrates. These complex carbohydrates take longer to be digested and hence the body needs more time to convert them into glucose.

"So what", you might say, but what happens is that the body then has to try to utilise this quick burst of energy from simple carbohydrates and "smooth" out this peak. It tries to do this by producing a chemical called insulin. Studies have now shown that these fluctuations in blood sugar more rapidly lead to the body converting this to fat and hence resulting in weight gain.

Facts about insulin

Basically, insulin helps to regulate the blood sugar levels and if these peaks occur too many times over the years, (many thousands of times in fact) then the body's insulin production can be severely damaged and certain types of diabetes can be the result.

Glycemic Index

Because all carbohydrates can be converted into glucose there is a measure called the glycemic index (or glycaemic index). This is a measure of the presence of glucose in the blood. (GI is the commonly used abbreviation for glycemic index).

Each carbohydrate has a different measurement. They are measured on a scale of 0 to 100. Carbohydrates that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes.

Low GI = 55 or less

Medium GI = 56 - 69

High GI = 70 or more

What are Good Carbs and Bad Carbs?

You may also have heard the terms "Good Carbs" and "Bad Carbs" used quite often. Generally, "Good Carbs" refer to complex carbohydrates which also have a low glycemic index rating.

"Bad Carbs" are carbohydrates which have a high glycemic index. These are usually the man-made or refined simple carbohydrates such as table sugar, cakes, biscuits, desserts and surprisingly, a few foods such as potatoes, certain refined breads, refined white rice and refined white pasta.

The Next Step

So what does this all mean? What can you do to keep the right balance of carbohydrates in your diet?

Obviously one has to become better educated in which carbohydrates are "Good" and "Bad". Once you know the basic types to look out for it is quite easy to work out. A bit of homework on your part will soon pay dividends.

Incidentally, we are about to release a new product which makes it easy for people to make sure they are getting the correct amounts of the right carbohydrates. This will be launched within the next few weeks and already its launch is being eagerly anticipated and all preliminary tests and studies have been fantastic.

It is designed to provide the right carbs to dieters, athletes, diabetics and anyone else who is trying to control blood sugar levels and weight. It makes the whole task very simple and extremely convenient. More news will follow on this closer to the time.

For now what you can do is cut down on some of the "Bad Carbs". Here are a few further tips on which are which etc...

Carbohydrate intake should come mainly from complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates add more fiber, vitamins and minerals to the diet than foods high in refined sugars. Foods high in complex carbohydrates are usually lower in calories, saturated fat and cholesterol.

Which foods are sources of "good" carbohydrates?

barley
oats
wholemeal rice
legumes
fruits and vegetables
whole-wheat cereals
wheat bran
cabbage
beets
carrots
brussels sprouts
turnips
cauliflower
apple skin (pectin)
oat bran

Which foods are sources of "bad" carbohydrates?

Sucrose – Table sugar, brown sugar, confectioner's sugar, raw sugar.

Refined white flour, white bread, white pasta, white rice.

All types of refined pastries, cakes, biscuits.

Cola drinks, fruit juices made from concentrates, sugary drinks etc.

Corn syrup.

The following carbs lie in the middle between "Good" carbs and "Bad" carbs and should only be eaten in moderation, especially if you want to lose weight:

potatoes
wholemeal rice
wholemeal bread and crackers
wholemeal pasta

There are many more that can be added to the "Good" and "Bad" lists but these are probably the most common. More details will follow in future articles and email newsletters.