Carbohydrates: How many do you need in a day?
This is a crazy topic with lots of info out there and yet seemingly hard to understand. My wife and I use a BodyMeida armband that measures most everything we do in a day, including sleep patterns and total food intake. The food intake is done by us entering our food we've eaten for the day with the nutritional information included. At the end, we can see how many calories we burned, and everything else that came with the food we ate for the day. The BodyMedia then lets us know if we ate too many carbs or not enough, too fats, etc… All this gets a little overwhelming but it is interesting to see the numbers at the end of the day. This, of course, is only as accurate as the info we put into the computer. I got to wondering one day what my carbohydrate consumption should be each day. How would one find that info out and should we care, really?
As I was following the Eat To Live , carbs didn’t matter, as long as I ate green leafy veggies, beans and the like; which tells me there are good carbs and bad carbs. We need to choose whole, unprocessed plant foods that ensure we are getting the best nutrient rich foods possible for our bodies to digest. For example: if you are tempted to eat white bread, a better choice is 7 grain bread, enriched pasta try cracked wheat instead. If you want a chocolate chip cookie, go with strawberries and skip the loaded carbs that will raise your glycemic level. Look for foods high in fibers; they will give you lots of micronutrients; which in turn will keep your glycemic levels from spiking. When buying packaged foods, always check the labels and look for “Whole grains” hopefully no corn syrup or something that ends in “ose,” which is a sugar product. I still follow the Eat To Live program because it works, no guessing.
What are goods carbs? Here’s a list of what I have found to be good carbs: beans, peas, wild rice, fresh fruits, barley, and oatmeal just to name a few. However, carbs that I usually avoid are white flour, cold cereals, fruit juices, sugar, and sweeteners. These high-glycemic carbs do not offer nutrition which will add fat, they suppress the immune system and not good for any of us. My rule of thumb is to avoid anything with “white.” I like what Dr. Fuhrman says, “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead.’ (page 115, Super Immunity)
So, how many carbs do I need each day? Typically we don’t count carbs unless you are doing so as a diabetes-management program. I have researched several math formulas that figure out the daily amount per person, which usually say about ¾ of your calories should come from carbs. This assumes that you are eating nutrient rich plant based foods that are not processed and as intact as nature intended. If that is the case, then don’t bother counting the carbs, just don’t avoid them either. Each healthy raw veggies, dark green leafy salads and beans everyday and you will be doing a great job feeding your body the nutrients it needs and you will lose weight or maintain, whichever, stage you are in. Avoid processed foods, most beneficial nutrients are gone and that is more important to watch than the carbs intake. In fact, most people think that carbs equals fat, not true. Carbs are the building blocks, the fuel our body’s use each day to sustain us. Simply choose something other than white simple carbs and go for the complex carbs found in nature. By making informed choices you will see results and feel great everyday! Your glycemic level won’t go up and down and you will burn a steady stream of calories, which is what we are trying to strive for in our journey on health.
To your health,
Bill
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