Okay, so we have spent the last two weeks discussing two of the three macronutrients your body has to have to even function, and this week we are talking about the third: CARBS!!! Here’s the cavate: when talking about eating healthy carbohydrates, this rarely (aka never) refers to things like Naan bread or French baguettes, and I’m mostly saying this for my benefit.
Carbohydrates are composed of sugar, starch, and fiber. The important delineation we have to make here is between simple and complex carbohydrates. Now simple carbs are just sugar and are most naturally found in milk. However, these simple carbohydrates are often added to our foods and are not healthy for us. Think soda, cookies, cereal, or any sweetener like corn syrup.
One of the biggest mistakes we made as a whole is assuming carbs come from things like breads, pastas, cereals, cookies… pretty much anything from wheat we assume is a carb. Although this is partially correct, real carbohydrates are so much more than that. They are a more complex food. Oats, carrot, prunes, squashes, and beets are all carbohydrates (and healthy versions at that). Many fruits and berries are also considered great source to get your carbohydrates from. Berries, bananas, apples, grapefruit, and oranges are all excellent choices. (If you look back to week 12, you can also get a quick refresher on all the other health benefits you gain from eating lots of fruits!) These complex carbs are often high in fiber and chock full of dense, rich nutrients.
Carbs, like many other foods, have many bad rumors circulating about as to how they are bad for your health, or you need to be on a low-carb diet. But like we discussed last week, sometimes the reason a “trend” starts was misguided. We don’t eat fat because it makes us fat. We don’t eat carbs for the same reason. However, carbs are one of three of the most important nutrients your body needs to survive! Just as too much protein can lead to kidney problems, too many unhealthy carbs can also lead to weight gain. The key here, I say again for the umpteenth time, is moderation and being conscientious of what you are consuming. If you reach the point where you have actually started gaining weight because you ate too many carrots and apples, please call me, I have questions.
So, what do carbs do: they provide us energy!! When you’re not consuming enough carbs, your body will start using your stored proteins as fats for energy, but your body needs both for other uses. As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, when you have muscle, it will burn more calories literally just sitting than anything else. Yes, when losing weight, you will want your body to tap into those reserves, but on a normal basis, let those proteins build muscle and eat those whole carbs! These carbohydrates break down into glucose and move into your bloodstream to provide us energy. Medical News Today also says that “The brain uses 20–25% of a person’s glucose when they are at rest and is reliant on a constant supply.” For obvious reasons, it’s germane our brain gets enough fuel to in turn run every single process in our bodies!
Now maybe you have noticed when you eat a carb heavy meal you may have a burst of energy for a while and then c r a s h. This happens when we consume “empty” carbs meaning there is no real nutritional value to them- your body still releases insulin into your blood to process the glucose, but shortly thereafter any nutrients these foods had has been absorbed into your muscles and cells and that glucose is gone. At this point, your blood, however, is still left with all that insulin and none of the sugar, leading to hypoglycemia. Suddenly you’re feeling sluggish and tired. The easiest way to keep this from happening is to eat more nutrient dense carbohydrates. Donuts, pancakes, practically anything made from white flour (pasta, breads, cereals) will give you that quick energy high and then leave you feeling lackadaisical for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I am fully aware that substitutions for your favorite snack foods never taste the same. But that’s kind of the point isn’t it? When we have been eating one way for some long, we have trained our taste buds to only like that flavor. When we eat nothing but foods that have a lot of chemicals, MSG, and sugars in them it will take a while to retrain your palette to like more natural foods. This is normal, and if you want to live a healthier life then it’s also very important to remember throughout the process.
Let’s take a Sunday morning breakfast for example. If you are used to eating pancakes made from a pre-made mix and topped off with maple syrup (who’s most common ingredient is high fructose corn syrup) and chocolate chips- an alternative may never fully live up to that. But here’s the fun part, once you start eating as close to nature as possible and for long enough, suddenly those things you found so good for such a long time no longer have their same appeal. Switch that pre-made pancake mix for a whole wheat flour made with farm fresh eggs and then top that pancake off with a nut butter and local honey (maybe even throw in some dark chocolate chips for fun) and you may be AMAZED how delicious that can be. And the best part, you won’t have the crash at about 11am you might normally feel on Sundays.
The biggest thing to remember through all of this is that health is a lifestyle. It’s unfortunate but true that eating unhealthily, not exercising and an overall laissez-faire outlook on your health will never let you feel amazing. But that’s why you’re 23 weeks deep into a health marathon- because you care. You do want to live a good, healthy life, you do want to feel vibrant and not allow your body to hold you back! And for that I commend you, it’s not an easy task and it’s something you have to make a dedicated effort to every single day. But in the end, the reward is so worth it. So, eat those carbs, enjoy your life and maybe next time you want to have a little cheat meal maybe chose whole wheat!
Learn More About Healthy Carbs
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