Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates also are known as “Carbs“.Carbohydrates are sugars, starches, and fibers found in fruits, vegetables, grain, and milk products. Carbohydrates — one of the rudimentary food groups — are paramount to a healthy life.
Carbohydrates are found in a wide variety of healthy and unhealthy foods—bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, soft drinks, corn, and cherry pie. They additionally come in a variety of forms. The most mundane(common) and abundant forms are sugars, fibers, and starches.
Healthiest Sources & Unhealthy Sources of Carbohydrate
Foods high in carbohydrates are a paramount part of a salubrious diet. Carbohydrates provide the body with glucose, which is converted to energy used to fortify bodily functions and physical activity. But carbohydrate quality is very important; some types of carbohydrate-rich foods are better than others:
- Healthiest sources of carbohydrates are unprocessed or minimally processed whole grains, delivering vitamins, fruit, vegetables, and beans that delivering vitamins, minerals, fiber, and a host of consequential phytonutrients.
- More insalubrious(Unhealthy) sources of carbohydrates are white bread, pastries, sodas, and other highly processed foods. These items contain facilely digested carbohydrates that contribute to weight gain and promote diabetes and heart disease.
- The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for minimum intake of carbohydrate, as set by the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, is 130 grams per day. This is the caliber which dietitians are edified to instruct people never to go below “in order to maintain the brain function”.
Try Adding Healthy Carbohydrates to Your Diet
- Start whole grains in a day-
Try a hot cereal, like steel cut or old fashioned oats (not instant oatmeal), or a cold cereal that is low in sugar. Choose a cereal that has a minimum of 4 grams of fiber and less than 8 grams of sugar per serving. - Whole grain bread for lunch or snacks-
Ingredient whole wheat, whole rye, or some other whole grain —and better, one that is made with only whole grains, such as a 100 percent whole wheat bread. - Choose fruit instead of juice- Orange has two times fiber and half as much sugar as a 12-ounce glass of an orange juice have.
- Avoid potatoes, and instead, bring on the beans- Potatoes have been found to promote weight gain, choose beans and other legumes for an excellent source of slowly digested carbohydrates.
