Carbohydrates – good or bad? – core fitness

In an era of technology where everyone can search on the internet and find information in a few seconds, we are still scarcely informed when it comes to a healthy diet and make healthy choices. One of the most debated topics in nutrition nowadays is whether or not we eat carbohydrates? Are they good? In this article, we will delete the differences between good and bad carbohydrates and facilitate the healthy choice process.

What are carbohydrates?

The human body feeds with three macro-nutrient energy: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Chemically speaking, carbohydrates, or simply carbohydrates, they are those small molecules made up only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

They can be classified in three important classes:

1. Sugar: those carbohydrates formed by short chain sugar molecules such as glucose, fructose, galactose and sucrose.

2. Summer: Long chains of glucose molecules, which in the end are divided into glucose in the digestive system.

3. Fiber: carbohydrates that are not digested by the body

Providing body energy is the main role of carbohydrates. It does so by providing 4 calories for each gram of carbohydrates, with the exception of fiber – they do not contain calories.

Simple carbohydrates vs complexes

There is a huge dispute over the entire topic “carbohydrates”. We usually hear different classifications such as good carbohydrates, bad carbohydrates, starch carbohydrates, sugar carbohydrates. But what do those classifications really mean? The truth is that we cannot classify them in a simple category for the simple reason that everyone has different effects on the health of our body.

Let’s take a look at the sugar category, for example. The sugars added in commercial drinks have negative effects on our health, but at the same time the sugars and nutrients that we naturally find in fruit and vegetables have the exact opposite effect.

It would be more reasonable to divide them into:

• Simple carbohydrates: foods that had passed through the refining process and lost its nutrients: added sugar drinks, pastries, white pasta, white rice, white bread etc.

• Complex carbohydrates: foods that have the fiber found naturally there, they have not been transformed: fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes.

What is the difference between complex and simple carbohydrates? The complex ones are rich in nutrients such as antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals that are lacking in simple ones. Also known as “empty” calories, which means that it has very little nutritional value. Why is it called that? The answer is quite easy. Imagine carbohydrates like a gift card. Most of the nutrients are found in the winding card. Remove it and the gift remains, in these cases: energy.

For a better understanding of refined/unrefined foods, below is a comparison of the nutritional content of a cup (120 grams) of wholemeal flour and a cup of refined wheat flour.

Source of the table: nutrition of the authority

If we look at the table, we can see that the contents of some nutrients are richer than those found in refined flour. The same principles also apply to fruit and vegetables.

To facilitate the choice between simple and complex carbohydrates, we can look at the table below and compare the effects that everyone has on our body:

What to choose?

When it comes to food choices, nothing is never easy. The easiest way to choose the right type of carbohydrates is to look for foods that are found in all their shape and as much as possible.

Beautiful carbohydrates

• Vegetables: all. It is better to eat a variety of vegetables every day.

• Whole fruits: apples, bananas, strawberries, etc.

• Legumes: lentils, beans, peas, etc.

• Noci: almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia dice, peanuts, etc.

• Seeds: chia seeds, pumpkin seeds.

• Whole grains: choose cereals that are truly whole, such as pure oats, quinoa, full rice, etc.

• Tubers: potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.

Bad carbohydrates

• Sweet drinks: soft drinks, sweetened tea, sports drinks, fruit juices, etc.

• Desserts and desserts: donuts, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, candies, etc.

• White bread: this includes “White Wheat” bread.

• White pasta: they are made with refined wheat flour.

Keep in mind

Not all carbohydrates are the same.

Complex carbohydrates are much more nutritional than simple ones and have health benefits.

Choose the foods that are in all their shape and avoid the transformed ones.

This article was written by Oana Mocian – Dietietet Diett