Help with food diary

michele2224

I am new and I have a hard time figuring out the foods to eat, I know the basics and looking at all other food diary's of other people does help, but need more help in this matter. I always assumed to stay away from carbs (white) but now I would love more info on the good carbs, any info would be great!

30forApril

this is a great post, I would love some more details on this as well!

*bump*

BrittSwimsJDRF

Good and bad carbs basically differ on the immediate impact it has on your blood glucose level after eating. Bad carbs are the simple sugars that immediately spike your blood glucose, such as white potatoes, white flour, white bread, candy, fruit juice, etc. Good carbs are those that the body has to work harder to get to the sugar, and have more fiber. Foods that are truely 100% whole grain are healthier than those that say "made with whole grain". Quinoa, barley, or brown rice are better than white rice, sweet potato healtheir than white potato, whole wheat bread or pasta is better than white bread or plain pasta, eating the fruit is better than drinking the juice, etc. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, some have more carbs than others. For example, pineapple and watermelon have more sugars than raspberries or strawberries. You could buy a book or probably find a good internet source on google with the glycemix index of fruits and vegetables... the lower the index number, the lower the impact on the blood sugar. The "bad carbs" are those that raise your blood glucose quickly, leading to increased cravings for sugars during the day, weight gain, and eventually when the body becomes insensitive to the rise in blood glucose, diabetes.

All that being said... I think any carbohydrate that comes from a whole grain, fruit, or vegetable is healthier than that from a processed food. It takes a while to get used to, and I'm unaware of any good internet resource that has a list of "good carbs". But what I'm trying to do is replace the ritz crackers with triscuits; use spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti noodles; use quinoa instead of pasta for pasta salads; using brown rice/quinoa instead of white rice, etc. It's still hard for me because it requires more cooking (cooking one thing for me, and cooking something different for the kids, etc), but atleast I'm trying. I have disliked whole wheat bread since childhood, but I'm trying to eat that instead of white bread, etc.

Hope this helps somewhat, sorry for the length!

michele2224

That is very helpful bmaltermatt....thank you for the response, makes sense! I am always curious about quinoa never had it I will have to try it