Why you need carbohydrates and where to find them
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients your body need to function. Are they as important as proteins and fat?
Through numerous diets, carbs have gotten a bad reputation as some kind of a bad guy causing weight-gain and bad health. Is it really so? The three macronutrients carbohydrates, proteins and fats create the foundation of what we need to function properly. All three serve their own roles. There are a number of reasons why you need carbohydrates and they are all an equally important part of your diet as the holy proteins.
What are carbohydrates?
You need carbohydrates as they are a crucial part of a healthy diet. It makes one of the three macronutrients and is undeservedly marked as bad in the weight-loss world. Carbohydrates can be separated into three main categories:
- Sugar
- Starch
- Fiber
As you can see, carbohydrates aren’t just carbohydrates. What separates the three, and where can you find them?
Sugar is often added to foods and drinks to give a sweeter taste attracting more people. It is amongst the top list of sinners regarding obesity and poor health. Eating too much sugar is related to overweight and lifestyle diseases. Candy, snacks and unhealthy food is the main source of sugar, yet it is also found naturally in for example fruits and honey.
Starch is found in foods from the plant world. Starch releases energy slowly and steady and can be found in foods like bread, potatoes and pasta. The slow carbs give a more evenly regulated blood sugar and won’t cause the same sudden rise (and drop!) as sugar.
Fiber is necessary for a range of processes. They can largely be found in vegan foods including fruits, wholegrain and vegetables. The reason why you need carbohydrates from fiber is because your metabolism depends on it to function properly. The good gut bacteria also need to have a good supply of fiber.
Why you need carbohydrates to function properly
Put aside the conviction that carbohydrates aren’t good for you. As for everything else, moderation is the answer. Too much of anything at all isn’t good for you. The same goes for carbohydrates. The intake must be at a healthy level. Guidelines from the health directorate are meant as advice for healthy living. They say this about carbohydrates:
- One third of your energy should come from starchy foods. Potatoes and bread are good sources for healthy carbohydrates.
- One third of your energy should come from foods rich in fiber. This means fruits and vegetables, which have healthy carbohydrates and other nutrients treating your body well.
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy
Carbohydrates need to be converted to glucose before getting absorbed in you blood. Together with insulin they feed your cells, being used as energy. That’s a reason why you need carbohydrates. Nevertheless, too much of them isn’t good for you either. If you eat more than you spend, the extra will be converted to fat for storage in case of “leaner times”.
You find more calories in fat than you do in carbohydrates. For each gram carbohydrate you will find 4 calories, compared to 9 calories per gram fat. In addition, starchy foods often-time also serves as a source of fiber, meaning it is a useful part of a balanced and healthy diet.
Don’t skip carbohydrates
If you leave carbohydrates out of your diet, your body will have to find other sources of energy. That means it will make use of fat and proteins to fuel you. Several diets are based on an absolute minimum of carbohydrates for just that reason: forcing the body to burn fat instead. A typical consequence is an increase in fat intake, which again is likely to increase the amount of saturated fat in your diet. Eating too much saturated fat is linked to an increase in cholesterol levels, which may lead to heart and cardiovascular disease.
In lack of glucose the body must use stored fat to a larger degree. This process causes a build-up of ketones in your blood, resulting in ketosis. This state might cause headache, dehydration, dizziness and irritabiliby.
If you are looking for weight-loss, carbohydrates aren’t the only thing you should be focusing on. Any impbalance between calorie intake vs. output is the cause of positive or negative effect on your weight. A diet free of carbohydrates often means an increase in calories due to the fact that carbohydrates holds less calories than fat. There is a reason why you need carbohydrates. Don’t skip them completely. Instead, limit the amount to the recommendations from the healt directorate.