What are good carbs?

lemurcat12

pzarnosky wrote: »

"Complex carbs" are supposed to be those that cause a smaller blood glucose spike (GI Index).

No, this is where you are misunderstanding. The original distinction between simple and complex was about molecular structure and had nothing to do with GI at all.

GI doesn't matter anyway if you don't eat foods alone (and even if you do it's GL that matters). And GL mostly matters for people with IR, which is not most of us. A better focus for most (and how I personally approach it) is nutrient density. Based on that measure, I think high GI fruits can be great, sweet potatoes and potatoes are perfectly fine foods to include in a diet for most people, and pasta can be a useful food -- as I mentioned, I use a moderate amount of pasta as a base for a sauce made of lean meat, olive oil, and lots of vegetables, so a healthy and calorie-appropriate meal. I normally use whole grain at home, but I don't actually think it's a huge difference, as I don't rely on pasta for fiber or micros.

geneticsteacher

You (not you, lemurcat12) are also misunderstanding the digestion of starch. Salivary amylase only begins the digestion of starch - breaking it down into disaccharides, trisaccharides, and alpha-limit dextrins. The rest of the digestion occurs in the small intestine where it is finally broken down into glucose monomers.

It is not BOOM - ingest starch and glucose immediately floods into your bloodstream.

And has resistant starch been mentioned? Depending on preparation methods, some starches are not digested.

LPflaum

I don't know that there is a "good" or "bad" carb. There are nutrient dense and less nutrient dense carbs for sure as well as carbs that are calorie dense and less calorie dense.

The goal is to stay within your macros (on grams) of carbs and still get a proper level of nutrition.

Veggies (think non tuber/non grain) tend to universally be considered "good"

Fruits are also a good source of carbs, some are lower calorie than others (30g of berries will have less sugar and calories than 30g of Banana, but the banana has a lot of vitamins and some healthy fat). They can be high in sugar though, so definitely put those bad boys on a food scale.

When thinking about grains/tubers, most people will suggest wild rice, brown rice, corn, quinoa, barley, sweet potatoes and other "dark" grains before they suggest white pasta, white rice, or white potatoes. Most of this has to do with fiber content, high fiber foods are great because they keep you full. Less processed grains (wild rice, sweet potatoes) also have a lot of vitamins and minerals. The more processed the food, generally the less nutritionally complete it is, but this isn't always the case. You just have to read and compare labels.

Dairy can be a good source of carbs, due largely to the sugar in milk. This is one I watch carefully, mostly because I'm lactose intolerant, but also because I find that dairy products sometimes have a lot of saturated fat and/or added sugar.

I eat "low carb" and generally avoid pastas and breads, rice, cereals etc. I also tend to avoid high sugar foods- including most fruits, and most dairy products. It works for me because I'm lactose intolerant, and sugary foods (even fruit) and most grains/tubers (even sweet potatoes and quinoa) make me feel really unpleasant. Its a personal choice for me. I highly recommend that you experiment with what works for you. If you love pasta and can keep it in your macros, do it! You'll get used to reading labels pretty quickly. My boogeyman is the extra added sugar that I find in the weirdest places (why, yogurt??? why???? WTF Almond Milk?), as those are the foods that personally blow up my macros.

Best of luck!

melissa6771

pzarnosky wrote: »

geneticsteacher wrote: »

pzarnosky wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

mom22dogs wrote: »

Complex carbs are better for you overall than simple carbs.

No, and your categorization is way off.

Simple carbs are sugars (this has to do with the molecular structure) and include fruits and veg.

Complex carbs are starches and include all grains and of course potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Pastries and desserts have both simple and complex carbs and get about half their calories from fat. Calling them "carbs" makes no sense when they are as much "fats."

I don't believe in claiming that foods are "bad" or "good" on their own anyway, but claiming that potatoes are "bad" (and same with pasta and rice) is weird -- they are staples in perfectly healthful diets, and potatoes are for many people quite satiating and contribute micronutrients. Demonizing them makes no sense.

Complex carbs are not starch. Starch is long chains of glucose that begin being digested when they enter your mouth through salivary amylase. Starchy foods, when eaten alone, cause rapid blood sugar spikes because they quickly and easily digested, as well as taken up by the blood.

Non-starchy Fruits and vegetables tend to be a mix of sugars, mainly glucose and fructose, and will cause a lower/slower blood sugar spike.

lemurcat12 is correct. Simple carbs, or simple sugars, are monosaccharides and disaccharides, and fruits contain many of these. They also contain fiber, in the form of cellulose and lignin. Chemically speaking, complex carbs are starches (amylose and amylopectin) and cellulose - all are long chains of glucose. We can digest the starch, but we cannot digest the cellulose. We do not have the enzymes to do so.

Complex carbs in the nutrition world usually indicate foods that have sugar and/or starch + fiber.

Starch is glucose. Glucose is a monosaccharide.

The most readily digested and the only sugar that matters when looking at blood sugar for the human body, is glucose. If a potato is 100% starch and an apple is 50% glucose and 50% fructose when both have roughly the same fiber content, which would you consider to be simple?

"Complex carbs" are supposed to be those that cause a smaller blood glucose spike (GI Index). These carbs are supposed to take longer to digest, which causes glucose to be released slower than those with a high GI rating. With pure glucose being the baseline, food items such as white rice, white bread, white pasta, and potatoes (all starch heavy) have some of (if not the highest) GI ratings. Example: a baked potato (potato only) on average has a GI rating of 85 while an apple has a rating of around 40.

All of that being said, potatoes are awesome. And delicious. The GI index can be lowered for them by adding fats and proteins to your potato.

FYI... White pasta actually has a low GI rating, ranging from 30-60, averaging 45, not much higher than an apple, kept lower by cooking it al dente, not anywhere in the range of bread. People seem to think that anything white is automatically a high GI rating. That is incorrect.