Carb Common Sense
Carbohydrates have been the mainstay of diets around the world for thousands of years and play a role
in a healthy diet. For those who are pre-diabetic or diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may be happy to learn
that they can eat carbs, too. However, it’s the type of carbohydrate (and how much) that matters.
What is a carbohydrate?
Every bite of food we eat is made up of three different macronutrients – fat, protein and carbohydrate –
and most foods are some combination of the three. Here’s how some common foods break down into
their macronutrient parts:
Carbohydrate
Protein
Fat
Water
Chickpeas
23%
7%
3%
66%
Avocados
9%
2%
15%
73%
Carrots, raw
10%
1%
0.2%
88%
Apple, raw
14%
0.3%
0.2%
86%
Whole Wheat Bread
43%
13%
4%
39%
Oatmeal, cooked
12%
3%
2%
83%
Chocolate Chip Cookie
58%
6%
29%
6%
We use the name “carbs” to refer to foods whose primary macronutrient is carbohydrates. Carbs include
all fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes and grain foods. Every food in the chart above is “a carb.” People
who eat a no-carb or very low-carb diet cut out great swaths of the plant kingdom with solidly established
health benefits, since all plant foods – fruits and vegetables included – contain some carbohydrates.
Glucose is in fact the preferred energy source for your brain, and by depriving your body of carbs (which
break down into glucose inside your body) you are depriving your most important organ of its primary
energy source.
And yet we know that a diet of nothing but chocolate chip cookies would not be a healthy choice. So
where do we draw the line in choosing carbs? It may help you to think of carbohydrate choices on a
continuum, starting with the healthiest choices and progressing to less healthy choices.
Make more of your carb choices from the beginning of this list than from the end, and
you’ll be eating well.
Fruits & Vegetables
You can’t go wrong with fruits, vegetables, and legumes (beans). Because they
deliver lots of vitamins, minerals and fiber for relatively few calories, these foods
are all-stars. As Dr. David Katz, Director of the Yale University Prevention Research
Center says, “You find me one person who can legitimately blame their obesity or
diabetes on apples or carrots, and I will give up my day job and become a hula dancer.”
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Whole Grains
Running neck-in-neck with
fruits and vegetables are intact
whole grains. Like fruits and
veggies, intact whole grains are
powerhouses of nutrition, also
loaded in vitamins, minerals and
fiber. They’re a more concentrated
form of carbohydrate, largely
because they have less water, so keep portions moderate. Best
choice of all? Eat your intact whole grains with lots of vegetables.
Sometimes intact whole grains are very lightly processed – oats
are steamed/flattened for rolled oats, or grains are crushed, mixed
with water and extruded to make whole grain pasta. These are also
good choices. Most people don’t know pasta has a low glycemic
index; flour and water made into pasta digests much more slowly
than the same flour and water made into bread. That makes pasta
a healthier choice for controlling blood sugar swings.
bran→
endosperm→
germ→
Grains count as “whole” whenever all of their
original bran, germ, and endosperm are still
present – even if the grains have been made
into breads, crackers and cereals. Look for
whole grain foods that are made without extra
ingredients – just good whole grains, without
added sugar.
Like whole grain pasta, refined pasta has a low
glycemic index. It’s missing some of the nutrients found in whole
grain pasta, however, so if you eat it, make sure to add lots of
vegetables, beans, fish and other healthy “partners.”
When whole grains aren’t available and white bread is the only
choice, pay special attention to what you’re eating with your bread,
choosing vegetables and lean proteins. Tip: true sourdough breads
are less likely to spike blood sugar than yeast breads.
Enjoy
There are many complex ways to rate the quality of carbohydrates
(see right) but counting, scoring and rating foods can take the
enjoyment out of eating, which is meant to be one of life’s major
pleasures. If you simply use common sense to favor the most
intact, whole carbohydrate choices, there’s no need to eat by the
numbers.
Three Carb Quality Measures
(get out your calculator!)
Nutrition experts have proposed several
different systems to rate the quality of
carbohydrates. Here are three you might
encounter:
Glycemic Index. The glycemic index (GI)
rates foods according to their impact on
blood sugar. While GI can be an important
and useful measure for those who fully
understand the science behind it, be aware
that by GI alone, a piece of chocolate cake
with chocolate frosting (GI of 38) may
inadvertently look like a healthier choice
than a serving of quinoa (GI of 55). Also,
note that GI changes drastically when foods
are eaten in combination with each other
(for example, bread with sandwich fixings
vs. plain bread).
10:1 Ratio. Carbohydrates with at least
1 gram of fiber for every 10 grams of
carbohydrate are often healthy choices. By
this yardstick, however, very sugary refinedgrain cookies and cereals with added fiber
may appear “healthy,” and intact grains
like brown rice, wild rice, and quinoa don’t
make the cut.
2g fiber per 100 calories. A third measure
suggests looking for carbohydrates with
at least 2g of fiber per each 100 calories.
With this system, lower-fiber choices like
brown rice qualify because they’re also low
in calories, although a small number of very
sugary cereals with added fiber could also
qualify.
While all of these systems can be useful, it
shouldn’t be necessary to use a calculator
while you eat, if you stick with whole foods
in their minimally-processed form and use
the common sense carb scale above.
This information may be reproduced for educational purposes. Please credit Oldways and the Oldways Nutrition Exchange.
www.oldwayspt.org