Do you hear the term “carbohydrate” and immediately think of something that’s bad for you and that you should avoid as much as possible? You don’t need to think of carbohydrates as the enemy. All carbohydrates are not created equal.

Carbohydrates occur in two different forms – either simple or complex. Simple carbohydrates are sugars like glucose or fructose. These are the sorts of carbohydrates that you shouldn’t eat too much of.

Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are carbohydrates that are good for you. We all need to ensure that we eat plenty of complex carbohydrates so that our bodies can produce energy to drive our metabolisms.

Foods containing complex carbohydrates include starchy foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, and wholemeal and wholegrain breads. Vegetables and fruits also contain complex carbohydrates, as do pulses such as beans, peas and lentils.

So why should we eat a lot of complex carbohydrates and not too much of the simple sugars? Simple sugars have no real nutritional value; they just provide a short energy boost.  When you eat, your body releases insulin to deal with the sugars you’ve ingested. Simple sugars are quickly cleared from your bloodstream by the insulin, meaning that they only provide energy for a short time. If you eat a lot of simple sugars throughout the day, your blood glucose and insulin levels will go through a continual series of peaks and troughs.

Complex carbohydrates are digested much more slowly. This means that they will provide an energy source for a much longer period. Your blood glucose and insulin levels will stay at more even levels throughout the day, with the result that you’ll have enough energy to sustain you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.