Carbohydrates are essential for health. They are a vital source of the energy that fuels the body’s metabolism.
Plants are the major dietary source of carbohydrates. The only important carbohydrates that originate from animal sources are lactose in milk and the modest amount of glycogen in meat, poultry, and liver.
Dietary carbohydrates come in three varieties: simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, and fiber.
Despite many important differences, simple and complex carbohydrates all have the same energy value – four calories per gram. Carbohydrates are less calorie dens than alcohol (seven calories per gram) or fat (nine calories per gram). Because fiber is indigestible it has no caloric value, but it certainly has lots of health value.
Carbohydrates in foods
Simple sugars: The least desirable are the simple sugars. They are absorbed quickly and they are empty calories, lacking other nutrients. Sugars are everywhere – sugar-coated cereals, candy, soda (the average soft drink contains ten teaspoons of added sugar). All these foods are full of simple sugars, high in calories, and low in nutrients.
You should limit your consumption of simple sugars to less than 10 percent of your total caloric intake. “Natural” or “brown” sugar is no better than ordinary white table sugar.
Complex carbohydrates: Because complex carbohydrates must be broken down into simple sugars before they are absorbed, they raise the blood sugar slowly. That alone makes them much better nutritionally than simple sugars, and when they are present in unrefined foods, they are accompanied by vitamins, minerals, and other valuable nutrients. Unfortunately, complex carbohydrates have gotten a bad reputation in today’s world, especially in countries that have plenty of “everything”, such as America. Since starchy foods are plentiful and abundant, beans, noodles, whole grain breads, and legumes are staples in the developing world but are often scorned in affluent societies.
From a health viewpoint, we have it backward. Starchy foods are actually less fattening than foods high in sugar or fat, and they are much more nutritious. If you succeed in reducing your consumption of simple sugars to 10 percent of your day’s calories, make up the difference by increasing your complex carbohydrates to 45 to 55 percent.
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