Most of us living in North America eat more food than we really need to keep us in good health. We eat too many carbohydrates and many of us also include too much protein and fat in our diets with the result that, like most Americans, we gain weight. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are the primary nutrients, together with water, minerals and vitamins, that keep us alive.
Carbohydrates supply energy
Carbohydrates, also called carbs, are the sugars and starches in breads and grains, potatoes and other vegetables, and in fruits and beans, and those foods are the major contributors of carbs as a source of energy needed by the body’s cells. After eating carbohydrate foods, the digestion process breaks them down and the glucose content is passed through the walls of the intestines into the bloodstream and there circulates to reach the cells that require glucose.
How can we determine which foods can be considered as low carb foods?
Not all carbohydrates are the same in their immediate impact and speed of entry into the bloodstream, and it is the rate at which they are reduced to the sugar in the form of glucose that helps define whether they are considered as low carb foods or otherwise. Carbs can also be classified as refined or unrefined, with white breads, pastas and white flours being especially considered as refined carbs while foods such as whole grained breads, fruits, beans and most vegetables are classified as unrefined.
To indicate the relative rate of entry of carbs into the bloodstream, a scale has been devised called the Glycemic Index, also referred to as the GI for short. The GI ranks individual carbohydrate food items with an index number that compares them to glucose that has the assigned value of 100. The other food sources are ranked in the relation of their speed of conversion to glucose and for convenience are categorized as follows:
- high carb foods have GI values higher than 70
- medium carb foods have a GI value of 56 to 70
- low carb foods have GI values of 55 and lower
As can be seen, the low carb foods provide sugar at a slower rate of entry into the blood stream and this allows the body to more easily maintain a balanced amount of sugars in the blood. The high carb foods on the other hand, tend to cause spikes, blood sugars elevated to higher levels, not a preferred condition and certainly potentially harmful for people with diabetes or prediabetes.
A great deal more can be said on the topic of carbohydrates. We should distinguish between low carb foods and low carb diets. Low carbohydrate diets restrict the proportion of any types of carbohydrates in relation to the proportions of proteins and fats, whereas low carbohydrate foods can best be described as those that have lower Glycemic Index values.
Many well-known diet approaches using low quantities of carbohydrates have been described in such best selling books such as The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet. Taking opposite views to those popular books, there are many advocates of a medium dietary intake, represented by about 50 percent carbs, 25 percent proteins, 25% fats with no more than 10 percent of fat being saturated fats.
On my companion website, Diabetes Menu Guide, you might wish to read a related article on low carbs, to do so, just click on this link Low Carbohydrate Approach in Meal Planning. And check out these link for more on the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.
The amount of carbohydrate in a meal or in a food item will not usually comprise the entire calorie amount of any food. To adjust the measurements for this, the Glycemic Index has been modified to produce a companion set of numerical values called the Glycemic Load. The Glycemic Load takes into account that particular amount of carbohydrate in an entire food item, giving a set of values.
High glycemic index carb foods include:
White and non-whole wheat breads, pastas, many breakfast cereals, potatoes, baked goods.
Low glycemic index carb foods include:
Fruits, many vegetables, whole wheat breads, legumes (beans and peas)
When consumed in reasonable amounts, some low glycemic load carb foods are:
Breads - whole grain pumpernickel bread, Soy and flaxseed bread, other whole grain breads.
Breakfast cereals – cooked oatmeal, All-bran, Bran Buds.
Fruits ans berries – grapefruit, strawberries, cherries, watermelon, apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, and others
Vegetables – cabbage, spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and most others.
Dairy and soy foods – soy milk, low fat milk, low fat yogurt
Nuts and seeds – flax seed, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, hazel nuts – Nuts should be raw or dry-roasted.
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