The "Good carbs" on this list of carbohydrate foods support a strong, slender, energetic, healthy body. But eating "bad carbs" from the unhealthy carbohydrates food list can greatly increase your overall risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and other degenerative diseases.
Your own nutrition carbohydrate foods list. should include 45% to 65% "good" carbs and 0% "bad" carbs. But how do you know the difference between bad carbs and good carbs grams?
The Good and Bad Carbohydrates Food List
Carbohydrates are one of the most misunderstood food groups. So don't be misled by marketing claims that all carbs are bad, because there are definitely good and bad carbs.
The good nutrition carbohydrates food list consists of foods that are an essential part of a healthy diet. Good nutrition carbohydrates provide your body with vitamins, minerals and the energy fuel you need for physical activity, proper organ function and optimum health.
The best sources for good nutrition carbohydrates are:
- Raw or lightly cooked vegetables – found in the healthy vegetables list,
- Most whole fresh or frozen fruits - choose from the healthy fresh fruits list,
- Beans, legumes, nuts and seeds - make healthy choices from the bean list,
- And high fiber 100% whole grains - choose from the 100% list of whole grains.
Bad carbs are mainly found in:
- pastries,
- sugary sodas,
- white bread, white rice,
- and other low fiber refined foods.
Whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables and other naturally wholesome, unprocessed, healthy carbohydrates do just the opposite. Good carbs have been proven to promote excellent health.
Simple and Complex Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates were once grouped into two main categories – simple and complex.
Simple carbohydrates are made up of single sugars such as table sugar (sucrose), corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose) and fruit sugar (fructose).
But complex carbohydrates include a multiple arrangement of three or more sugars linked together. Complex carbs were thought to be the good guys, while simple carbs were considered bad. But it turns out to be more complicated than that.
Your digestive system tries to treat all carbohydrates as equals. It breaks them down into single sugars, small enough to pass into your bloodstream, and converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar) for your cells to use as energy.
What makes the difference in good and bad carbohydrates is fiber. And the amount of fiber in a carbohydrate food determines whether it's a high glycemic or low glycemic food.
The Extraordinary Benefits of High Fiber Carbs
Since fiber can't be broken up into sugar molecules, it slows down carbohydrate digestion and helps keep blood sugar levels healthy. High fiber food also lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol, carries waste and toxins out of your body and helps you prevent and relieve constipation naturally.
What's most important about carbohydrates is not whether they're simple or complex, but whether or not they're low or high fiber food and whether they're high or low glycemic foods.
The bottom line: Instead of eating bad carbs, it's essential to your health that you choose nutritious healthy carbohydrates from the list of carbohydrate foods with good carbs grams.
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Note: The information contained on this website is not intended to be prescriptive. Any attempt to diagnose or treat an illness should come under the direction of a physician who is familiar with nutritional therapy.
