It seems as everyone
in the world is afraid of something connected with food to the point that it
becomes a debate of what will make you fat and what won’t. Before I begin with
the explanation of macronutrients let me make one thing 100% clear. Nutrients don’t
make you fat, excess calories and a sedentary lifestyle make you fat.
With that said, let
me start with a brief explanation of our generation bad boys, the
carbohydrates. They gained this reputation with the emergence of low-carb diets
such as the Atkins and south beach diet.
Carbohydrates are
organic compounds made out of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and they provide 4
calories of energy per gram. In chemistry as in nutrition we divide them into two
separate groups: Simple and complex carbohydrates. Mono and disaccharides are
simple while polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates. Monosaccharides are the
simplest carbohydrates and are the building blocks of di and polysaccharides.
Mono and disaccharides
are commonly known as sugars, with glucose being the best representative of
mono and sucrose (table sugar) representing disaccharides. Polysaccharides are
made out of long chains of sugars like starches or long and branched chains
such as fiber.
The main role of
monosaccharyes is that they are the main fuel for our bodies, as well as the
main fuel for our daily functions. If there are too many of them in the blood
they get stored in the form of glycogen (polysaccharide) in our muscles and
liver. In plants they are converted to starch. Apart from their role as
storage, polysaccharides also give structural support in the form of cellulose
in plants and chitin in arthropods.
A green banana has
80% starch and 7% sugars, while a ripe, spotted banana has 5% starch and 90%
sugar.
The main role of
fiber in our bodies is to add bulk to our food and to help with our bowel
movements (it helps us to go to the bathroom).
Our digestion
processes all carbohydrates in the same way, with fiber being the only
exception. All the carbohydrates are broken down and converted into single
sugar molecules - glucose, that can cross into the bloodstream. Simple
carbohydrates enter the bloodstream very fast, while complex carbohydrates need
to be broken down first, before they can freely enter our bloodstream. Fiber,
like I’ve said before, helps with digestion and it adds bulk to our food. It
increases our satiety, which is just a fancy way of saying that it keeps us
fuller for longer periods of time.
A diet of a healthy individual should have
anywhere from 30 – 70% of carbohydrates, but a question arises. What are the
best carbohydrates?
The best sources of carbohydrates are
definitely not white bread, white rice sugared sodas, and
other highly processed/refined foods, that have been linked with weight
gain, obesity and even type 2 diabetes. This is because they have a large
portion of sugars, are easily digestible and have no fiber, so we tend to eat
more of them. On top of that, they spike our insulin, which can lead to type 2
diabetes. Refined foods, such as pastry and sweets tend to have monosodium glutamate (MSG), flavors, preservatives, hydrogenated oil,
fillers and artificial sweeteners in them, giving them a longer shelf life.
Unfortunately, foods like that tend to have next to no vitamins, minerals or
other health promoting nutrients. But the worst kind of carbohydrate must be
high fructose corn syrup, to which I will dedicate a whole post somewhere in
the future.
The best forms of carbohydrates are vegetables,
fruits, beans and whole grain foods. They have a lot of minerals, vitamins,
fiber and phytonutrients that promote good health.
Whole grains have all of the parts of the grain
seed, while the grains in refined foods have been stripped of their bran (their
protective coating which contains fiber, minerals and most of the
phytonutrients).
Until next time, stay strong and be kind.
Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/t311hw
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