Food consists of three types of nutrients: protein, fat and carbohydrates. All of them are essential ingredients to fuel your body.
People are becoming more conscious about their diet, and they find every bit of information useful given on the internet and try to implement that advice in their real life.
What is given on the internet may not be relevant to your health because you may not be the apt audience for that particular information.
A lot of people have recently started worrying about the intake of carbohydrates. They have begun to restrict the intake of carbohydrates, also known as carbs, because they can increase the risk of weight gain and diabetes – in fact, it has become a fad.
Each gram of carbs provides as same 4 calories as each gram of protein, but fat provides 9 calories per gram.
What happens to your body when you eat carbs?
When you eat food consisting of carbohydrates, it breaks down into sugar in your digestive system and then enters into the blood, which causes a spike in blood glucose level.
Then the pancreas triggers beta cells to release insulin hormone that moves the glucose to cells for storage. Some of your glucose levels will be consumed by your body immediately to supply it with energy, and the rest will be stored in the liver in the form of glycogen.
Your body constantly needs energy, and when the blood glucose level drops, it signals the liver to release stored sugar.
Though carbohydrates have become notorious for impairing your health, the less-than-required intake can also affect your health.
What are the types of carbohydrates?
There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex, which are further subcategorised as sugar and starch.
Sugars are simple carbohydrates that have either one molecule or two of simple sugar. Your body quickly digests them, and hence you feel hungrier sooner. Because of the quickest absorption of these carbs, your blood glucose level rises sharply, and then it falls.
These simple sugars are found in fructose, fruit juice, processed sugar, sweets, and the like.
Starches are considered complex carbohydrates because they are made with a lot of simple sugar molecules.
Corns, rice, bread, cereals, potatoes, and pasta are some of the food items rich in starch.
You can say them so-called complex carbohydrates because they have very little or almost no fibre, a type of carbohydrate commonly known for slowing down digestion. Your body can easily break down starch into sugar but cannot fibre. It just passes through your digestive tract and comes out when you have a bowel. This particular fibre is known as insoluble fibre.
A diet rich in insoluble fibre can help relieve constipation, provided the lack of fibre in the diet accounts for it. Another type of fibre is soluble, which plays a role in making you feel fuller as this dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance.
Oats, peas, beans, barley are rich in soluble fibre.
Food rich in fibre will help you feel fuller because they slow down digestion. Since you do not feel hungrier easily, you do not keep taking in calories, and this helps manage your weight.
Both types of fibre – soluble and insoluble – are good for maintaining your weight and blood sugar level.
You can decide to take food items off your menu high in simple carbs and starch, and you may have done so, but note that your body needs the energy to supply to each organ.
Whatever you eat is converted into energy in the end and you will need insulin hormone to convert blood glucose into glycogen. This is why skipping on carbohydrates is not suggested even if you have to manage your weight and blood sugar level. Instead of emphasising simple carbs, focus on food high in fibre.
Take notice of the glycemic index
Dividing your food based on the type of carbohydrates will not be enough for you to manage weight and diabetes. Instead, you should take note of the glycemic index.
The higher the glycemic index, the higher the risk of obesity and diabetes.
All food items have been divided into low, moderate and high glycemic index.
- Food rated with a low-glycemic index has a range between zero and 55.
- It is medium when the range is between 56 and 69.
- It is high when the range is between 70 and 100.
| Low-glycemic index food | Medium-glycemic index food | High-glycemic index food |
| Oats | Breakfast cereals | All sweets |
| Barley | Instant oatmeal | Rice |
| Green leafy vegetables like spinach | Sweet corns | Bread |
| Milk | Fruits like banana, sapodilla, mango, etc. | Processed sugar |
| Sweet potatoes | Cakes, pastries, cookies | |
| Non-starchy vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms | Potatoes | |
| Citrus fruits | Carbonated drinks and other sweetened beverages |
Here is a list of food items along with their glycemic index range. This can help you better manage your carbohydrate intake.
Should carbohydrates be blamed for causing obesity?
For a large number of people maintaining health is just having a toned body like celebrities, and for that, they rigorously restrict their calorie intake.
Well, the fact is that your body needs nutrients to supply energy to organs, so they function properly, and you can get it only from food that provides three main sources of nutrients: fat, starch and carbs.
Each one has a different role in keeping your body fit. If you skip one for another, your body will be fragile. Carbs are not solely responsible for causing obesity. First, there are multiple factors, one of which is the genes you cannot control.
Further, it depends on how many calories you are consuming. If you keep consuming food throughout the day and live a sedentary lifestyle, you will naturally become obese. Avoid processed carbs because they just consist of empty calories, not vitamins and minerals.
Try to have all vegetables, fruits, salad and dairy products (low-fat if overweight or diabetes-prone). They have both simple and complex carbs, but they will not increase the risk of obesity and diabetes as you get essential vitamins and minerals and fibre too.
Eating a balanced diet can keep certain medical conditions at bay, and hence you can avoid taking out guaranteed loans for unemployed from direct lenders for your recurring medical expenses.
A Low-carb diet is not as safe as it seems
While you have been following a low-carb diet in the hope that you would manage your weight and blood sugar, you will be asking for other deadly diseases like cardiovascular problems.
A study has revealed that you can see a significant improvement in your weight by following a low-carb diet only when you pursue it for a shorter period.
The same study has revealed that prolonged use of a low-carb diet can increase the risk of osteoporosis, kidney ailments, coronary artery disease, increased cancer risk and premature death.
This is because a low-carb diet is replaced with protein and fat. Although they are a rich source of energy, the higher consumption of meat and dairy products can increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.
You ignorantly replace vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients while emphasising a low-carb diet, and thus, it increases the risk of other diseases.
Take message home
No matter which type of carbohydrate a particular food item has, a rule of thumb says that your body needs everything.
This is because you never know what other essential ingredients in that particular food you may have that you cannot get from the others.
For instance, the properties of milk cannot be replaced by the properties of curd, although they both are dairy products.
Both too much and too little carbohydrates are harmful to your health but what matters most is the type of food you consume to get them.
Although you can get carbs from fruit juice and sweetened beverages, they are not healthier than those you get from vegetables, whole fruits, plant oils, legumes, and lentils. You need to maintain the balance between protein, fat and carbohydrates.
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