Low Carb Crib - What Are Good Carbs

What Are Good Carbs?

We all consume varying amounts of carbohydrates in our daily diets. Carb conscious diets are as popular as ever, with people becoming carnivores and eating mounds of meat a day in an effort to lose weight and get that perfect figure. Others, meanwhile, eat a carb rich diet, lacking in protein and loaded with refined sugars and sodium.

How to Get the Right Balance of Good Carbs, Protein and Fat in Your Diet

With the popularity of diets such as the Atkins diet, there has recently been much debate about how healthy these extreme diets are. Research seems to suggest that high protein, low carbs diets do not provide the body with the balance it needs and can be detrimental to our health in the long term.

Carbs are the body's primary source of energy and should make up 40 percent of your daily calorie intake. Protein should make up 30 percent, and the remaining 30 percent of our daily calorie intake should come from 'good' fats. If we do not balance these elements we may be depriving our body of what it needs to function properly.

How to Choose the Right Carbs

What are good carbs? There are good carbs and bad carbs. As you might have gathered, we should be incorprating good carbs into our daily diets over the bad ones.

Good carbohydrates are pure, whole foods that have not been processed. They take longer for the body to break down and turn into energy and thus give us sustainable energy as well as an abundance of nutrients. Bad carbohydrates are high in sugar and low in nutrients, they get more of an instant sugar boost which is soon replaced by flagging energy levels.

Good Carb Foods

As carbohydrates should make up 40 percent of our daily diet, it is important to eat the good carbs instead of the bad, unhealthy ones.

Fruit and vegetables: Low in calories and packed with nutrients. Studies have shown that eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day can lower your risk of contracting heart disease and some cancers.
Whole grains: Starchy carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy. These foods include: brown rice, whole-grain bread and cereals.
Potatoes: Potatoes are a high-starch carbohydrate which the body metabolizes rapidly.

Keep a Balance

If we try to follow a balanced diet and take regular exercise, we will feel and look better. Good luck!