Why do we need Carbohydrates and which ones are ‘good’ for us?

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Why do we need Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are an ideal source of energy for our bodies because they are converted into Glucose far more easily than protein or fat.

Glucose is used in a number of ways – It is sent to the liver, the muscles store it as glycogen and it is used as fuel or sent to the fat tissue where it is used to help store fat.

It is incredibly important for energy, exercise, and brainpower.

Finding the Balance

Getting too much glucose can upset the balance of the blood sugar level, resulting in fluctuations in energy and mood. It is important to make sure we eat balanced meals containing protein and fat as well.

Types of Carbohydrate

These are the 3 types, some of which our bodies need more than others, but all play a part in the optimum health of our bodies.

  • Simple (aka sugar)
  • Complex (aka starch)
  • Non-Starch Polysaccharides (aka fiber!)

Simple Carbohydrates 

Simple Carbohydrates have a very basic structure and usually contain one or two units of sugar (glucose, fructose, and galactose).

This is fast-release energy.

The energy can’t be released without specific vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin B is particularly important as the body can not use carbohydrates without them.

Healthy Simple Carbohydrates

Healthy natural food contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and high levels of fiber that give the body what it needs to function well. Examples of healthy simple carbohydrates include  –

  • Fruit
  • Honey
  • Date nectar
  • Fruit syrup
  • Molasses
  • Agave nectar
  • Maple syrup

These are healthy but are still simple and therefore should be used in moderation.

High Sugar Fruits

Be mindful of high sugar fruits because these can boost insulin too.

Higher sugar fruits include –

  • Dates
  • Grapes
  • Bananas
  • Mangoes
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Plums

‘Unhealthy’ Simple Carbohydrates

Unhealthy Simple Carbohydrates:

  • Contain excessive sugar
  • Processes low-quality fats
  • Have a high energy density
  • Contain no vitamins or minerals
  • and adversely affect Insulin response and encourage fat storage

‘Unhealthy’ Simple Carbohydrates can be helpful if an insulin spike is required. Otherwise, you may want to be very mindful about the amount you eat because they encourage the body to store fat.

Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates are often described as starch. They consist of many units of glucose all joined together in long, complicated branched chains. Once eaten these chains break down into glucose. The glucose is then absorbed into the bloodstream and either stored or metabolised correctly.

Refined and Unrefined Complex Carbohydrates

Refined Carbohydrates

These are mainly ‘white’ processed products such as:

  • White Bread
  • White pasta
  • Cakes
  • Biscuits
  • Pastries
  • White rice
  • Rice cakes

They also have similar qualities to the ‘unhealthy simple carbohydrates

  • contain excessive sugar (over 15g per 100g)
  • processed low-quality fats
  • have high-energy-density
  • have no vitamins or minerals
  • adversely affect Insulin response and encourage fat storage

Again, these can be helpful if an insulin spike is required but otherwise these items are of little benefit to the body.

Unrefined Carbohydrates contain:

  • Fructose and glucose in varying amounts
  • Antioxidants and Phytochemicals
  • High levels of dietary Fiber
  • Vitamins and minerals
  • Traces of amino acids

Examples include :

  • wholemeal or whole-grain products
  • whole-grain rice
  • vegetables
  • pulses
  • quinoa

Unrefined Carbohydrates and Fibre are the ones that we really want to use to make up 40% of our recommended intake.

Non-Starch Polysaccharides – Fibre

Fiber is an essential part of a healthy balanced diet and it is found in:

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Grains
  • Beans

It doesn’t provide much energy but is vital for a healthy body because it aids the transportation of foods through the digestive system. There are two types of fiber.

Insoluble Fiber:

  • Unrefined wheat
  • Bran
  • Rye
  • Rice and most other grains
  • Fruit and vegetable skins

Benefits of insoluble fibre include:

  • Helps reduce the risk of haemorrhoids (piles)
  • Acts as food for our gut microbes, promoting the growth of good bacteria
  • It can help reduce the incidence of diverticulitis (inflammation in the intestines)
  • It can keep us feeling fuller for longer

Soluble Fiber:

  • Beans
  • barely
  • broccoli
  • prunes
  • apples
  • citrus fruits
  • oats

Benefits of soluble fibre include

  • Helps to stabilise blood sugar levels as it slows down the digestion of foods, including carbohydrates. This helps prevent spikes in blood sugar levels
  • Acts as food for our gut microbes, promoting the growth of good bacteria
  • Weight management. Because it slows down the digestion of food, it can leave us feeling fuller for longer

Conclusion

If it has been processed or refined it is likely that it will affect Insulin response and encourage fat storage.

Keep close to the ground

Food produced by the earth rather than by man will contain vital ingredients to contribute to a healthy body and mind.

Intuitive Eating

Listen to your body and try to check in to see how you really feel after you have eaten

Our eating habits and history differ dramatically and therefore so do our bodies and our goals.

Be intuitive, really listen to your body.

 

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An Introduction to Nutrition

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What does the word diet mean to you?

Often we relate the word ‘diet’, to reducing the number of calories we should have, or cutting out sweet items but ‘diet’ is actually the word to describe our daily nutritional habits.

In short, our ‘diet’ should provide the energy needed to maintain body functions and carry out the activities of daily life.

General Nutrition Advice

This is the general advice for a healthy balanced diet and life.

  • Eat a balanced diet (30% calories from fat, 30% calories from protein, 40% calories from carbohydrate (vegetables are carbohydrates)
  • Drink 2-4 liters of water a day
  • Try to avoid pure carbohydrate meals as it spikes your blood-sugar/ insulin levels, increases fat. storage and fluctuates energy levels. (although this can be helpful for sports nutrition)
  • Eat close to the ground – natural
  • Avoid processed foods made by man
  • Eat 1-2 g of protein per kg of body weight
  • Organic where possible
  • Eat healthy fats
  • Take multivitamins
  • Get active
  • Reduce toxins
  • Practice relaxation
  • Sleep

These are guidelines, and it’s good to monitor if you are trying to get your nutrition back on track, but we don’t need to become obsessed with breaking down percentages, weighing food, and counting calories!

Use your common sense and listen to your body. Keeping close to the ground and as natural as possible is one of the best rules to have.

What should our diet be made up of?

MACRONUTRIENTS –

  • Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram)
  • Proteins (4 calories per gram)
  • Fat (9 calories per gram)

MICRONUTRIENTS –

  • Vitamins
  • Minerals

WATER

A balanced diet

Our food works together to perform different functions and therefore it is important to have a balanced diet.

The recommended Guidelines are as follows –

  • 40% Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram)
  • 30% Proteins (4 calories per gram)
  • 30% Fat (9 calories per gram)

40% Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram)

That’s right vegetables are carbohydrates! So are fruit, rice, grains, and potatoes. It is not just processed foods like cereal, bread, and pasta.

40% of our calories want to come from carbohydrates. Preferably from natural carbohydrates already containing vitamins and minerals to help transport the nutrients within the body to the right places.

If you want to find out more about Carbohydrates and how it works within the body please feel free to read my blog on Carbohydrates!

30% Proteins (4 calories per gram)

30% of our calories want to come from protein.

The guidelines are to have 1-2 grams of protein per kg of your body weight. So if you weigh 80kg you want to take in 80 – 160g of protein per day.

Remember plants and dairy also contain some protein.

If you want to find out more about Protein and how it works within the body please feel free to read my blog on Protein.

30% Fat (9 calories per gram)

30% of our calories want to come from natural fats.

As fats have a higher calorie value per gram this means they are a great source of energy.

It also means that 30% of your calories from fat, will be a much smaller portion size than your 30% calories from protein.

Again if you want to find out more about Fat and how it works within the body please feel free to read my blog on Fat.

So What’s In My Cupboard?

Carbohydrates

Brown Basmati Rice
Mung Beans
Oats
Raisins
Date Nectar
Honey
Dark Chocolate
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Butternut squash
Parsnips
Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
Beans
Mushrooms
Lemons and Limes
Frozen Berry’s

Protein

Responsibly sourced fish/meat

(Tablehurst farm – http://tablehurst.farm/

Organic Cheese (Rarely)

Eggs – from my mother’s chickens

Nuts

Seeds

Tofu

Halloumi

Fats

Nuts

Tahini

Coconut oil

Omega 3 seeds

Organic cream

Coconut chips

Butter

Nut butter

Houmous

Olive oil

Avocado

Avocado oil

Coconut cream

Drinks

Water

Fresh Coffee

Herbal Tea

 

Condiments

Brags amino acids (soy sauce)
Coconut amino acids
Avocado oil – cold only
Olive oil – cold only
Coconut oil – for cooking
Herb salt
Cayenne pepper
Cinnamon
Ginger
Basil
Fennel
Cardamom
Turmeric
Any herbs and spices that you like!

Supplements

Multivitamins
Omega 3
Breakfast Shake
Dim
Magnesium
Acidophilus

It’s OK to get some supplemental help, just make sure you know where it has come from and that it is good quality, you do get what you pay for. We work with a Naturopath to make sure we are getting what we need.

Intuitive Eating

Our eating habits and history differ dramatically and therefore so do our bodies and our goals!

This is my shopping list, which works well for me at the moment and this will change.

I have given it to you to get some ideas and some understanding but the idea is to really feel what works well for your body!

It is not what you think you should have. But really tapping into how your body feels when you eat so you can give it what it needs to perform the best it can.

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How do carbohydrates/sugar and insulin affect our weight?

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If you are very new to Nutrition you may wish to read ‘An Introduction to Nutrition’ first.

 Carbohydrates and  the effect of Insulin

Have you ever heard people say ‘Fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does!’

Well, it is true to an extent but it’s not only excessive sugars that make you fat, but other carbohydrates can also as well.

Eating certain types of Carbohydrates in isolation can cause us to store fat around our middles.

Weight gain can be caused by many factors and can often be difficult to determine but beyond calorie intake, there are several other factors to consider including the effects of Insulin.

The Science Bit

High GI Carbohydrates make our blood sugar spike which pushes the fat into the cells. If this happens repeatedly the cells become insulin resistant. When this happens cells no longer respond to insulin and the pancreases increase production so that insulin levels become higher than normal.

This increases the likelihood of further weight gain.

What do we mean by GI (Glycaemic Index)?

All foods have a GI. This is the rate at which the food turns into Glucose. Some foods are fast release and some slow release.

Glucose has a GI of 100 and is used when energy needs to be used quickly.

Blood sugar management is imperative if the fat-storing effects of insulin are to be controlled.

It is commonly accepted that sugars and syrups are detrimental to health and exacerbate weight problems, however, a review of the Glycemic index shows that show clearly that some other sources of carbohydrates upset blood glucose as well.

  • low GI (less than 55/100) – soy products, beans, fruit, milk, pasta, grainy bread, porridge, and lentils.
  • medium GI (55 to 70/100) – orange juice, honey, basmati rice, and wholemeal bread.
  • high GI (greater than 70/100) – potatoes, white bread and short-grain rice, sugar and sugary foods, sugary soft drinks

Other useful resources may include  – www.diabetes.org.uk

Foods to monitor/avoid include

bread, bagels, crumpets, baguettes, rolls, pizza, pastries, croissants, buns, pasta, breakfast cereals and cereal bars, chips, crisps, yams, biscuits, sweets, etc

Personally, I would reduce or cut out highly processed carbohydrates, that do not contain natural vitamins and minerals.

Everything can be eaten, but it’s all about finding balance and giving the body what it needs to be satisfied – vitamins and minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water.

Fructose and Fruit

Please take note that fructose has a low GI, it has slow-release sugar and therefore will not spike insulin levels like high GI foods. However, care should still be taken with eating fruit. It should be eaten as part of a healthy balanced diet as some fruits can be a lot higher in sugar than others.

When to eat Fruit

I would also recommend eating fresh fruit on its own, or at least 15 minutes before any other foods. Fruit likes to digest faster than any other food and if eaten with other foods or as a dessert, it can cause stomach ache and bloat. Dried or cooked fruit digests better with other foods than fresh fruit. Everyone is different so listen to your body.

Higher Sugar Fruits

Be careful with higher sugar fruits as these can still boost insulin too much.

High sugar fruits include dates, grapes, bananas, mangoes, apples, pears, and plums.

Low GI foods

We can naturally lower the GI of food to an extent by mixing it with fat, fiber, or protein as this will act as a sponge and releases the sugars into the system slowly. Another reason to eat a balanced diet.

It is also important to note that the way of cooking foods will also change their GI.

For example, the GI of a roasted potato (white or sweet) will be much higher than that of a steamed or boiled potato.

Eat as much as you like

There are many sources of non-starchy carbohydrates that can be eaten freely and these will provide vitamins minerals and fiber which allows the body to absorb what it needs.

The following list provides some good guidance for good carbohydrate options-

  • Green leafy vegetables eg spinach, dark lettuce, kale, collard
  • Brassicas eg cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, swede, turnip, brussels sprouts, onions leeks, peppers, celery, mushrooms, peas, courgette, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, olives
  • Fruits eg: avocado, grapefruit, melons, cantaloupe, papaya, peaches, apricots, lemons, limes, and berry’s of all varieties

Carbohydrates are ‘Good’

We do need carbohydrates so please do not cut it out altogether.

(you can see why in my blog on carbohydrates) -www.bemoore.co.uk/carbohydates/

A GI spike can also be very helpful at times, for example before or after exercise.

Be mindful and listen to your body

Give your body the energy, minerals, and vitamins it needs to look, feel and perform to the best it can!

If your body is not working well, the last thing it will want to do is burn fat.

 

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