Carbs – Should I be eating them? Are they forbidden? Which carbs should I choose?
If you’ve been reading at all about carbohydrates, chances are, you’re confused. Should you eat them? Which ones are best to consume? Does it matter when you eat them? How many should you eat? And more.
To back up a bit, carbohydrates are our bodies primary source of energy. They are naturally found in vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, whole grains, and nuts/seeds. In these foods, carbohydrates provide vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and a host of protective phytochemicals.
Does fiber really matter? Yes, yes, and yes. Dietary fiber is healthful in many ways.
Benefits of Dietary Fiber:
Body weight – aids in healthy weight loss &/or maintenance
Lowers risk of type 2 diabetes
Lowers risk of heart disease
Increases beneficial gut bacteria, including the protective short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)
Reduces risk of certain cancers, particularly colorectal and breast cancer
Increases longevity
Improves GI motility
Healthy detox
Lead to stronger bones
Aim to eat various types of plant foods to capture various types of fibers. For example, some fibers are more helpful in lowering cancer risk and improving bowel motility while others lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Prebiotics, the fuel for our beneficial probiotics, are all plant fibers. The greater the variety of fibers you consume, the more diverse your microbiome, the healthier you are. Keep in mind the 10:1 rule – for every 10 grams of carbohydrates listed on a label, be sure that there is at least one (if not more) grams of fiber. On a daily basis, for most of us, aim for 30-45 grams of fiber. Eat fiber throughout the day, a dinner that contains 30 grams of fiber will be a very bulky dinner. Drink sufficient water and fluids to accommodate a high fiber diet.
Need ideas to boost up your fiber?
Use whole fruits in place of juices
Add vegetables to lunch and dinner, perhaps breakfast too
Add extra vegetables to salads, soups or stews
Add beans to salads, soups, and grain dishes
Stir ½-1 cup sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or winter squash into soups or stews
Try a less common ‘grain’ – amaranth, teff, quinoa
Sprinkle flax seed, chia seeds, Zen basil seeds, &/or hemp hearts on soups, oatmeal, smoothies, stir-fries, and salads
When is the best time to consume carbs in the day? A somewhat loaded question, but it’s generally safe to say, post-exercise is a good time to consume carbohydrate-rich foods. The carbs will replenish your glycogen stores and help your muscles recover. Exercising later in the day? You may need to consume some carbs prior to your workout to provide glycogen for your muscles and glucose for your brain. Want to capitalize on your metabolic burn? You may find eating carbs earlier in the day is more helpful for those seeking to lose weight or improve blood sugar levels. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy necessary to digest and absorb nutrients. Research suggests that the TEF is greater earlier in the day, so you’re naturally burning more calories earlier in the day rather than in the evening. It seems that insulin sensitivity is reduced later in the day, which means it takes more insulin to move the carbs into your muscle cells and hence, increased potential for storing more as body fat. Furthermore, eating late in the day can lead to circadian disruption that results in higher free cortisol and reduced resting energy expenditure AKA reduced metabolism.
Processed/refined carbohydrates:
What about cookies, pastries, white bread, sodas, candies, alcohol, and such? They too provide carbs, but without the beneficial nutrients noted above. Americans LOVE sugar – the average sugar consumption in adults in the United States in 2017-2018 was 17 teaspoons daily! Why is that a problem? Sugar is linked with an increased risk of various health conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, fatty liver, cellular aging, weight gain, and more. Sugar increases inflammation, and that may impact your brain, heart, skin, kidneys, liver, and joints. In one study, those who consumed 17-21% of calories from added sugar compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories from added sugars had a 38% greater risk of dying from heart disease. Want to age quickly? Drinking 20 ounces of a sugar-containing soft drink daily equated to 4.6 additional years of aging. Yikes!
Bottom Line:
Include vegetables, fruit, nuts/seeds, beans/legumes, & whole grains
Limit processed/refined flours/sugars
Opt for healthy carbs; those that are slowly digested, control blood sugar levels, & lead to satiation
Focus on consuming your carbs earlier in the day rather than at the end of the day
What carbs you include is as important as what you exclude; arguably, more important
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