I really need carb advice, please? Quinoa, barley or rice?

themhipbones

I’m trying to cut out carbs as much as possible (definitely breads, pastas, rice etc).

So I decided that I would substitute rice with quinoa or barley.

But, having done a bit of research it turns out that, per 100g,
Quinoa is 64 g carb and 14 g protein
Barley is 73 g carb and 12 g protein, and
Basmati rice is 22.3 g carb and 2.1 g protein

If those numbers are true, surely quinoa and barley are a bad idea? Would it not make more sense for me to be eating basmati rice or just cut it out completely and just eat meat and veg?

jayrudq

If you are interested in cutting carbs, you really want to be looking at the Glycemic Index of those foods: how quickly they are processed by your body. I am fairly sure the index is the inverse of the list you have. Quinoa being the lowest and Basmatic being the highest.

moorednorham

Each one's fiber content will play a factor in how much of an insulin spike each one causes, given the same serving amount of each. Also, since insulin is the culprit behind carb-based weight gain, investing in a glucose meter would not be a bad idea. Eat some and then test your blood periodically to see what happens. I did it with steel cut oats and found that they gave me the barest spike in insulin, so I feel fine eating them on occasion. Everything else I steer away from, but know nothing about the grains you're looking into.


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

kristen6022

This is a quandary...I'd say the grams of protein in the barley and the quinoa would make it better choice than the rice (Glycemic Index). I'm Gluten-Free (Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease sufferer), so I eat both rice and quinoa (barley is a no no, which is sad because I miss beer). I don't really think about the grams of carbs in them, I eat them because a full lifetime without those things would make me sad.

yarwell

they're all carbs, I suspect that rice analysis is wet (cooked) rather than dry like the others.

ETA - Google Nutrition puts the carb content of basmati rice at 80g/100g

ze_hombre

One things to point out that might also be a factor for you is net carbs are different that total carbs. Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber carbs. Fiber is subtracted because its not digested by the body.