CARBOHYDRATES - ARE THEY DANGEROUS?

The recipe for losing weight is actually quite simple. You eat less energy than you consume and you lose weight.

Carbohydrates themselves are not dangerous for your weight loss. It's all about the balance in the diet. Carbohydrates contain energy, if you do not consume the energy you will gain weight. If you consume the energy and go on a small deficit, you will lose weight.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates consist of sugars, starch and dietary fiber that are found in, among other things, fruits, vegetables, cereals, white sugar and dairy products. Carbohydrates also, together with protein and fat, are the body's three main sources of energy. These three energy sources are called macronutrients and are necessary for the body to function optimally. Because the body cannot produce these macronutrients on its own, they need to be ingested through the diet. The primary function of carbohydrates is to give the body energy and act as fuel for working muscles and for the central nervous system.

Good and bad carbohydrates

There are both more and less useful carbohydrate sources. One way to determine if a carbohydrate source is good or not is to look at its effect on blood sugar. Glycemic index, abbreviated as GI, is a measure of how much blood sugar is affected when eating a specific food. Every time we eat something, the level of sugar in the blood increases, but if the GI is low, the effect on blood sugar becomes milder, while a high GI gives a rapid and sharp increase in blood sugar. Based on their GI value, foods are sometimes also called fast and slow carbohydrates.

Excessive highs and lows in blood sugar are neither very pleasant nor healthy, but we should all strive to have as even and stable blood sugar as possible. A sharp increase in blood sugar, which often occurs if you eat something with a lot of sugar or other fast carbohydrates (high GI), is followed by a corresponding dip in blood sugar. This is noticeable by getting tired and low on energy and thus happy to reach for something sweet or useless to get the energy back.

Is it helpful to exclude carbohydrates?

There are several different diets that advocate excluding carbohydrates completely from the diet in order to lose weight. However, it is not possible to pull all carbohydrates over a comb, but to be healthy, it is rather a matter of choosing the right sources of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are often associated with low-nutrient foods such as white bread, pasta and rice. These can be advantageously excluded from the diet as they rarely contribute anything other than abdominal fullness and fast energy. However, almost all plant foods contain carbohydrates - such as vegetables, legumes, whole grains and fruits. In these foods, the carbohydrates come in a useful package as they are combined with vitamins, minerals and not least fiber. As the fiber reduces the effect on blood sugar, these foods have a low GI, and in addition, the fiber is an important food for the good intestinal bacteria that, among other things, play an important role in digestion and the immune system.

By excluding all foods that contain carbohydrates, there is a risk of consuming far too little plant food, which means that we lose both important vitamins and nutrients, and that the intestinal flora suffers. Instead, be sure to choose carbohydrate sources with low GI and high nutritional value that are as unprocessed as possible.

How much carbohydrates should you eat?

Most foods contain a mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, although the ratio between these can vary. According to the National Food Administration, about 45-60 percent of our energy intake should come from carbohydrates, 10-20 percent from protein and 25-40 percent from fat. Another simple guideline to follow is Stig Bengmark's 80-10-10 rule which means the following: 80 percent of the diet should come from plants that should preferably be raw (can still be kale or peppers, but be sure to vary) , 10 percent should be protein-rich foods (preferably vegetable), and 10 percent should consist of vegetable fats from, for example, olives, avocados and coconut.

Examples of good and bad sources of carbohydrates:

Eat more of:

Bananas (preferably unripe / green as they contain more fiber and less sugar)

Root vegetables (let these cool before eating as this increases the fiber content and decreases the GI)

Legumes such as chickpeas, lentils and various types of beans

Gluten-free cereals such as buckwheat, oatmeal, quinoa and sorghum

Other fruits and vegetables in great variety

Avoid / minimize:

Pasta

White bread

White rice

Hot root vegetables

Sweets, soft drinks, pastries and other sugary foods

(Source of information: supersynbiotics.se)

The Kickstart Team