Foods high in carbs

Bread, cake, cookies

kommodevaran wrote: »

Do you know what foods are high in carb? Which ones do you like? Eat those.

You could also regard protein and fat as minimums, and just eat whatever, after you've hit those two.

This. One benefit of logging for a while is learning what foods have fat, which ones have protein, which ones have carbs, which ones are combinations. Similarly, getting a sense of how many calories foods will have.

I grew up thinking of meals as usually a combination of protein, vegetables (and/or fruit), and starchy carbs (or fruit, again), with fat used for accent and cooking. To break this down further, meat is mostly protein, depending on the meat will have some fat, eggs are fat and protein, dairy is all three, depending on the level of fat, beans/lentils are carbs and protein. In addition to fat you get with these foods, fat is often used with cooking (butter or olive oil) or in a sauce or dressing or other foods used often in small amounts for taste (cheese, nuts/seeds, avocado, olives). Vegetables means non starchy veg (you know, leafy greens, broccoli, brussels sprouts, zucchini, asparagus, etc.), which are more carbs than anything else but low cal so not high in anything. Fruit is mostly carbs (and somewhat higher cal). Then finally your starchy carbs are potatoes, rice, bread or any grains, including corn or pasta, stuff like that. So a meal with a mix would be something like pasta with shrimp and veg, cooked in olive oil with some pinenuts on it or a stir fry with rice, lots of veg, some tofu, cooked in coconut oil with cashews, or an omelet with vegetables, some bacon (or not), and a piece of fruit on the side (I often sub fruit for starchy carbs). Or just something like roasted chicken (skin on, bones in), roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts, potato and veg cooked in a bit of olive oil. All of those meals could easily come in at MFP's recommended carb level if you wanted, it just depends on portion sizes.

When cutting cals I'd usually reduce the amount of fat added and the portions of starchy carbs and sometimes don't bother with starchy carbs at a meal. But some find they add satisfaction or satiety, so will want to have more of them.

Something like soda is all carbs (sugar), but obviously there are more nutrient dense sources, and carbs get a weirdly bad rap from some. Many other popular "junk" foods -- because they are highly palatable and not especially nutritious but high cal (like brownies, donuts, ice cream, cake, cookies) get called "carbs" but are generally half fat, which is why they are so high cal in a small package vs. something more purely carb like potatoes (a plain roasted potato is basically carbs + water, whereas something like a french fry or chip will be fat + carb and without as much water left, and so much higher cal for the same volume).

Maybe more than you want to know, but I think it helps to have a broader understanding.