Good Carbs, Bad Carbs - How Do I Choose?

Carbohydrate Food Selection

This is rather a controversial topic. The popular diet plans in the market have contributed confusion among the consumers when it comes to including carbohydrates (carbs) in the diet. The consumers are often faced with a challenge in their selection of carbohydrate foods where they either don't know what to consume and what to avoid or are perplexed with whether or not to consume carbohydrate foods at all.

Carbohydrates have been providing energy to the human body since the beginning of the evolution. In other words, our human bodies have adapted to consume carbohydrate foods for millions of years. Therefore, an avoidance of carbohydrate from our diet would not be ideal. However, a precaution needs to be taken for the selection of good carbs over the bad carbs.

Good Carbs

The sources of good carbs are whole grains like rice, wheat, oat, barley, whole grain cereals, whole grain breads, fruits, vegetables, etc. The good carb foods are generally low in sugar, fat and salt - the three main enemies of good health. The good carb foods like fruits contain a complex form of sugar that is not so readily absorbed in the human body and thereby keeps your blood sugar levels low. The good carb foods are also in general high in fiber. Therefore, replacing the carbohydrate portion of your daily diet with these good carbs would be a step towards better health.

Bad Carbs

They are mainly derived from processed foods and sweet snacks and desserts, such as, candies, cookies, chips, doughnuts, brownies, Danish, etc. Their sugar content is very high. Some of these foods may also be high in fat, salt and overall calories. These bad foods, in addition to being high in calories, are burned quickly by the body and make you hungry again. Unfortunately, the foods available in the western world are abundant in bad carbs. It has also to do somewhat with the western culture. For example, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners would not be complete without pies and cakes, the spirit of the month of Christmas is incomplete if homemade cookies are missing, and taking candies out of Halloween and Ester is like taking a fish out of water. So over the time, people in the western world have gotten accustomed to consuming foods high in these sugary foods. A big part of this trend is contributed by the processed food industry.

How To Choose Between Good and Bad Carbs?

Now the question is how to avoid eating bad carbs? There is a very simple answer - DON'T BUY THEM. Read the list of bad carb foods listed above and then go through your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets and look for the matches. Un-list all these and other similar bad carb foods from your grocery-shopping list when you go to the supermarket next time. Also, add the good carb foods listed above and others similar in your grocery-shopping list. Develop a mindset of avoiding bad carb foods, and the foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt.