Good Carb, Bad Carb?

Think of your body as a car. Carbs are the gas. But not all carbohydrates are super premium. When nutrition experts advise us to get at least half of our calories from carbohydrates, they don't mean cotton candy. Whole grains, starchy vegetables, beans, soy foods, green vegetables and fruits — foods served as nature grew them - are the carbohydrates that pack the highest nutritional octane. They're rich in compounds that support good health, including fiber, nutrients and phytochemicals. A dietary pattern based on these foods lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and many major cancers. Highly processed carbohydrates, which are stripped of their nutritious germ and fiber, are another story. Unhealthful diets often contain too many carbohydrates processed into concentrated forms (corn syrup, white flour) that provide calories and little else. The bottom line: When you fill up with carbohydrates, only nature reliably pumps out high octane.

Here's a quick carbohydrate primer: · Refined starches, such as the white flour used for white bread and most crackers, are complex carbohydrates that have been stripped of their fiber and nutritious germ. · Whole grains, fruits and vegetables provide complex (and some simple) carbohydrates, along with fiber, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and health-protective phytochemicals.

· Cotton candy is pink sugar.

What Is a Carbohydrate? It all starts with the sun.
Plants use solar power to combine carbon dioxide with water to create carbohydrates (carbo means carbon; hydrate means water); this is photosynthesis. The basic unit is glucose, a single molecule, which is referred to as a simple carbohydrate. Glucose is a form of sugar. Plants then use their chemical skills to make different kinds of carbohydrates from the single glucose molecule: · Other sugars. For instance, a small change to glucose turns it into fructose, the main sugar in fruits. · Complex carbohydrates, also known as starches. Plants form long chains of glucose molecules.

Fiber. These are even more complicated forms of carbohydrates, used to build various plant structures. Like starch, they contain energy, but our bodies lack the digestive enzymes to break them down. Nevertheless, fiber is essential to health.

Aren't Carbohydrates Fattening? It's a dominant nutrition myth of our time.

Excess calories will promote weight gain, and many of us consume excess calories in the form of refined carbohydrates. But there's little evidence that carbohydrates themselves promote weight gain —or that restricting them will help in long-term weight management. The truth is almost the opposite. The high-protein/low-carbohydrate crowd contends that dietary carbohydrates cause "insulin resistance" and weight gain. The reality is that insulin resistance, an all-too-common condition in which the body becomes less sensitive to its insulin signals and thus produces excess insulin, results from taking too many calories and being too sedentary - a direct result of having too much body fat. The problem is excess calories, regardless of the source. The kernel of truth in the anti-carbohydrate movement is that many people consume too many calories from carbohydrates, particularly refined starches and sweets. Both foods are easy to overeat because they contain no fiber or water. As a result, a small package provides a lot of calories. So yes —cutting back on these refined carbohydrates often helps control calories, but don't switch to meat, as some folks would have you do.

Switch to whole grains, vegetables and fruits (rich in fiber and water). They're healthier — and more filling, making it easier to control calories.