Lets talk carbs today. Raise your hand if you have heard that “carbs are bad”, they are played out to be the worst thing in the world and are causing all of your problems.
Did you actually raise your hand? If you did virtual high five!
(https://tech.mn/news/2014/03/03/high-five-for-february-2014/)
I’m here today to help carbs out because they get a bad rep for the wrong reasons. A carb (slang for carbohydrate) is just a molecule of sugar, starches and fibers found in many different foods. Remember back in school learning about different molecules like glucose, fructose, sucrose and all types of “oses” (Dodge Ball reference if you got it) those are all carbohydrates.
Without getting too sciencey there are different types of carbohydrates. Some digest faster than others and some are more complex sugars and digest slower.
Carbs are found in all different types of foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans/legumes.
(https://www.anshthefitnessfreak.com/fitness-blogs/carbohydrates-in-food/)
Typically when people say “carbs are bad” they are referring to carbs found in pasta, bread and other grains. I don’t believe people are talking about the carbs in fruits and vegetables when they say carbs are bad because we know that’s not true.
Okay so let’s get to the grainy carbs such as bread and pastas. Are those carbs “bad” for you? If you have read any of my previous blog posts you can probably guess the answer is it depends.
(https://www.livestrong.com/article/423135-importance-of-carbohydrates/)
No, bread and pastas aren’t inherently “bad” for you. The problem these carbs are extremely processed, they are very easy to over eat and provide little nutritional value. If you have a little pasta once a week and can limit it to a cupped hands worth for females and two cupped hands for males you will be perfectly fine. If you find yourself eating a massive bowl of pasta multiple times a week followed by bread and cake for dessert that’s probably not the best.
If you are looking for some ideas on how to limit your “bad” carbs here are a few great ideas. Instead of pasta use spaghetti squash, or zucchini noodles or any other type of vegetable noodles. Swap rice or potatoes with cauliflower and make riced cauliflower, cauliflower mash and many other things.
