Carbs are the devil. No carbs after lunch. Carbs make me bloated. Carbs are responsible for the Cowboys losing 10 games last year. Cutting carbs is the end all, be all of dieting. We have all heard the benefits or success stories of low carb diets but are they really the way to go? Is cutting carbs out an effective weight loss tool? Before we look into it further, let’s discuss what a carb really is and what function it serves in the body. Carbohydrates are your body's primary source for energy. They are comprised of sugars (simple carbs) and starches (complex carbs). Your body must break down carbs in order to turn them into glucose, commonly referred to as blood sugar, which we use for energy. The reason too many of the wrong kind of carbs aren't good for you is that your body can convert them into body fat to use (or not use) later. The key words being “WRONG KIND” of carb. Now cutting out carbs completely and starving yourself is sure to net a nice weight loss but the long term effects can be very harmful. Instead of going super low carb lets look at going for better carbs. This will help keep your energy levels up and also help you obtain all the vital nutrients your body needs daily.
So which ones are the “good” carbs and which ones are the “bad”? To determine this we can turn to Glycemic Index or GI. The Glycemic Index is a numerical scale used to indicate how fast and how high a particular food can raise our blood glucose (blood sugar) level. A food with a low GI will typically prompt a moderate rise in blood glucose, while a food with a high GI may cause our blood glucose level to increase above the optimal level. As we learned a few weeks ago from our hormone blog, this can be responsible for unwanted fat storage. If we could fill our diet with more of the low glycemic carbs we are more likely to lose weight, increase energy levels and overall well-being versus just cutting out carbs in general. The GI ranks its levels like this:
| High Glycemic Index | 70-100 |
| Moderate Glycemic Index | 50-69 |
| Low Glycemic Index | <50 |
We want to find foods that fit into that sub 50 rating in order to keep blood sugar levels down and insulin (one of the hormones responsible for fat storage) regulated. Foods with a low glycemic index generally contain more nutrients and help stave off numerous diseases so this will have many good effects on the body, not just weight loss. Choosing the right carbs can be easy if we know what the GI rating is, so here is a list of common foods and their GI.
| FOOD | GI |
BREADS
| Bagel | 72 |
| Kaiser roll | 73 |
| White bread | 70 |
| Whole wheat bread | 69 |
| Sourdough bread | 52 |
| Whole grain pumpernickel | 46 |
CEREALS
| Corn flakes | 83 |
| Rice Krispies | 82 |
| Grapenuts flakes | 80 |
| Total | 76 |
| Cheerios | 74 |
| Grapenuts | 67 |
| Oatmeal | 61 |
| Special K | 54 |
| All Bran | 42 |
GRAINS
| Instant rice | 87 |
| White rice | 56 |
| Brown rice | 55 |
| Bulgar | 48 |
| Converted rice | 47 |
| Barley | 25 |
SNACKS
| Rice cakes | 82 |
| Jelly beans | 80 |
| Soda crackers | 74 |
| Corn chips | 72 |
| Chocolate bar | 68 |
| Rye crisp bread | 63 |
| Power bar | 57 |
| Popcorn | 55 |
| Popcorn Potato chips | 54 |
| Peanuts | 14 |
PASTA
| Spaghetti | 41 |
| Whole wheat spaghetti | 37 |
BEANS
| Baked beans | 48 |
| Chickpeas | 33 |
| Cooked beans | 29 |
| Lentils | 29 |
| Soy beans | 18 |
VEGETABLES
| Baked potato | 85 |
| Beats | 64 |
| New potato | 62 |
| Sweet corn | 55 |
| Sweet Potato | 54 |
| Carrots | 49 |
| Green peas | 48 |
FRUIT
| Watermelon | 72 |
| Pineapple | 66 |
| Raisins | 64 |
| Mango | 55 |
| Orange Juice | 52 |
| Canned peaches | 47 |
| Orange | 43 |
| Unsweetened apple juice | 41 |
| Apple | 36 |
| Pear | 36 |
| Peach | 28 |
| Grapefruit | 25 |
MILK AND YOGURT
| Chocolate milk | 34 |
| Low fat fruit yogurt | 33 |
| Skim milk | 32 |
| Whole milk | 27 |
SUGARS
| Glucose | 100 |
| Sucrose | 65 |
| Honey | 58 |
| Fructose | 43 |
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