Are carbohydrates good for you?

Carbohydrates and sugar

Carbohydrates provide us with energy. The carbohydrates we eat, such as bread, pasta, potatoes, are broken down during digestion to their simplest form – glucose, which is then absorbed into the blood stream.

Whilst carbohydrates should be included in your diet, it’s important to choose healthier options whenever possible. Opt for wholegrain and wholefoods whenever possible which take longer to digest and enter the blood stream slowly which provides long lasting energy without slumps.

Some carbohydrates, such as sugar, are broken down and absorbed very quickly, causing glucose and insulin spikes and then energy slumps. These are called simple, high GI or fast releasing carbohydrates and you should aim to minimise these in your diet.

If you’re unsure of what foods are healthier carbohydrates, look at the labels. These tell you the amount of total carbohydrates and the amount of sugars – aim for low levels of sugar as much as possible.

Did you know?
You have around 5g (a teaspoon’s worth) of sugar in your blood stream at any time. Anything above this needs to be used in exercise or it will be converted to fat. Consider the humble chocolate digestive – a single one of these biscuits will double the sugar in your blood, and, if it’s not used for energy, this will be converted to fat.

Learning to manage your sugar intake is the most important step towards healthy eating. Sugar has a big role in the development of illness and disease, including:

Weight gain
Insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes
High cholesterol and triglycerides
Chronic inflammation and inflammatory conditions
Hormone dysregulation – affecting insulin, cortisol, sex hormones
Digestive issues – high sugar feeds the ‘bad bacteria’ in our gut
Mental health and mood as blood sugar and hormone fluctuate
Cancer cells thrive in high sugar environments.

If you’re looking to improve your health, cutting down on sugar in your diet is the first and most important step.

One last area to be careful of in your diet is fructose. Whilst this is naturally found in fruits and vegetables, these don’t have a large effect on blood sugar or glucose levels, so are not cause for concern. There is, however, a processed version, called high-fructose corn syrups which are used for sweetening foods and drinks, which is becoming a larger part of many diets. This has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, inflammation and increased cardiovascular disease risk. To limit this in your diet, reduce the amount of sweetened drinks, baked goods and processed foods, or check the labels and ingredients list where it will be listed.