Good Carbs and Bad Carbs Explained

With the raising popularity of low carb diets, people have been scared away from most carbs, which is quite unfortunate given how it's the primary source for your body to look into for energy. Let's settle this question once and for all, so you can enjoy your carbs - the good ones.

Carbohydrates are made up of glucose, fuctose, and galactose, which are chains of molecules.

Simple carbs contain smaller chains of sugar that are two molecules long. Your digestive system will break down these molecules easily and quickly, making absorption quick. Now the issue with this is that it will raise your blood sugar levels. Your body will deal with this by producing insulin which will rid the body of the excess sugar, turning it into fat. These are the infamous bad carbs, as all the do is taste good, and add fat. The nutritional value is close to nil. Not to mention the whole array of diseases you are attracting by having high insulin levels in your blood. The exception to this rule would be fruits. While their sugar content is simple sugars, they actually have nutritional value, and their fiber content will slow down the digestion process, lowering the blood sugar spike. Fruit juices are slightly less potent than actual fruits in that regard for their lower fiber content, but could be an acceptable alternative depending on your insulin sensitivity.

Complex carbs are simply a longer chain of molecules. Your body will digest these much slower, as it takes more time to break down the molecules. Vegetables, legumes and whole grains fall in this category. Taking more time to break down the molecules is a good thing, as it does not give rise to that insulin spike as a reaction to the elevated blood sugar levels. These are where most of your carb intake should come from.

Voila! A simple explanation of these seemingly complex concepts.