Carbs: the good , the bad, and the fattening
The other day I was sitting around with some friends and one of them said he had been loosing weight by watching his carbs. Another said you know there are no good carbs or bad carbs they are all carbs. To which another friend protested and said there is a difference. The conversation got me to thinking how could I have responded because there are good carbs and bad carbs. There are so many fad diets that say don’t eat carbs at all, others that say you need carbs to be healthy. How is someone to know what to eat and what not to eat. After thinking about the conversation I realized that the difference between a good carb and a bad carb is by the company it keeps.
Good carbs are fresh, have lots of fiber and other nutrients, and are not processed. Some examples of good carbs are fresh vegetables, whole grains, fresh fruits, and beans. When I say whole grains I don’t mean whole grain products. Boxes and packages that say whole grain may not be all whole grain yes they used some whole grain but usually it is only about 5%-20% whole grain, the rest is the bad carbs we are wanting to avoid. In fact you may get more nutrition from the box and not the food product in it. So to get your whole grains buy the whole grain and cook it and eat it. (Check out this link for some ideas on how to use whole grains.) Notice that foods that have good carbs are all fresh and not processed. There is a wise saying “eat food not food products.” This advice will help you avoid the bad carbs. Fresh whole foods have fiber, vitamins and minerals so your body can pick and choose what it needs and the fiber can then take what it doesn’t need out of the body.
Bad carbs come alone stripped of all vitamins, nutrients and flavor. Some examples of bad carbs are white flour, white bread, white sugar, white rice, etc. Do you notice a trend they all start with white. Bad carbs are processed to the point of not having any nutrition. To get white bread the factory starts with whole wheat strips the bran, hull, and germ this is where all the nutrition is. Then the naked wheat is ground up and either bleached or brominated (which is a different kind of bleach) that then kills all the left over nutrients in the grain. Basically you are left with concentrated carbs that your body will turn into sugar to use it as instant energy, which if you aren’t using it will then turn it into fat and store it for later. Causing that weight gain that we all hate. As those bad carbs build up in your body it can lead to an increase of cholesterol in the blood. Too much cholesterol in the blood causes problems like heart disease, and stroke. If you need to bring down your blood cholesterol Kolonic Kaps has been very effective in reducing blood cholesterol. If you have a few extra pounds or will have to eat those bad carbs try Extra-B-Gone 30 minutes before you eat. So again to be healthy: “eat foods not food products.”