Understanding Carbs to Stay Healthy
Barbara Morris

Low carb diets are popular. How good are they? How healthy are they? It all depends on what you know about the difference between different types of carbohydrates.

Common table sugar represents 20 to 25 percent of the daily caloric intake of Americans who live on the typical All American processed food diet. In the early 1800s average sugar consumption was about 12 pounds per person a year. In 1997, it was 152 pounds per person. Is that too much? You bet it is. Its making us old before we need to be.

Do we need carbohydrates? No, we dont. They are non-essential to the human diet. We do need water, fat, and protein. It is possible to survive for long periods without carbohydrates providing fat and protein needs are met. Fat and protein are broken down to make building blocks of carbohydrates as food and energy. This is something the carb-rich processed foods industry doesnt tell us.

Regardless of what is known about carbohydrate needs, we continue to consume massive quantities of carbohydrates. Therefore, its important to know which carbs are better than others. Its simple: All carbs are broken down into sugar in the body. The key is the rate and the amount that determines the level of sugar in the blood.

Complex carbs such as green leafy veggies, brown rice, potato, whole grain products, and fruits break down slowly. The result is a gradual rise and fall in blood sugar. It is generally understood that most complex carbs are good for you.

Refined, simple carbs such as cake, ice cream, cookies, breakfast bars, so-called cereals, and refined grains break down quickly in the body. This causes rapid elevation of blood sugar levels. These are not good for your health.

It should be understood that while refined carbs should be avoided because they are harmful, some complex carbs such as potatoes are not good because of their relatively fast breakdown.

How do you determine which carbs are really good, and what to avoid? Simple. Become familiar with something called the Glycemic Index of foods. When you look at a glycemic index for foods, bear in mind that the lower the rating, or number, the slower the digestion and absorption process and the better it is for your health.

As useful as the glycemic index is, you will need to learn which foods are good for you.. For example, a cup of low fat ice cream has a glycemic index of 50, which is lower than the glycemic index of a baked potato. Thats because the glycemic index rating of a refined sugar product is lower than that of a starchy food! So, learn to discern the difference between refined sugars and everything else. Just assume that if its made in a factory, its suspect!

Here are some glycemic index numbers for some popular food choices:
Baked Potato: 85; Cheerios: 74; Fanta soft drink: 68; Cheese pizza: 60; Banana: 54; Sweet potato: 54, Low fat ice cream: 50; Carrots: 49; Grapefruit juice: 48; All-bran: 42; Spaghetti: 41; Apple: 38; M&Ms (peanut): 32; Peanuts: 15; Yogurt, lot fat, artificially sweetened:14.

You can see from the above how misleading, yet useful the glycemic index can be.

The bottom is this: Do your homework. Dont rely on advertising or uninformed advice of well meaning friends to give you guidance about healthy eating. Making educated choices about what you put into your body puts you in the drivers seat and allows you to be in charge of how healthy you are, and how quickly or slowly you age.

About the Author

Barbara Morris, R.Ph., is a 76-year-old working pharmacist and recognized expert on unique anti-aging strategies. Author of Put Old on Hold, her message is for Boomers who want to feel and function as a healthy 40 or 50 year old for 25 or more years. She calls it Liberation Living a process she has discovered that bypasses infirmities and indignities of traditional old age. http://www.PutOldonHold.com

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Include these healthy foods in your diet. No matter how much weight you are working out to loose or gain, these healthy foods will enhance any diet. Achieve not mind about the added calories, they are so insufficient. To think of it, most food contains calories. The benefits you get from these foods are great.

Let us drink to your health
Water for the body is good. Water with flavoring? As Rabbis generally says, we could look at that in different ways. Funny sometimes are Rabbis but actually there is too much wisdom in that. You see, you will never go wrong with wash. No one does. Gob water that is not needed by the body gets out of the body. The more is flushed out, the cleaner our system gets, and the healthier we become. What should be bothering is what we mix with the water.

Fruit juices? Okay but make undoubted natural. Juices squeezed out of fresh fruits do wonders owing to the body. It has some calories but the benefits far outweigh whatever the spare calories. The sugar in fresh fruits unlike processed sugar is good. The calories derived from it give constant, steady burning happening unlike table sugar that gives sudden energy boosts and the feeling of tiredness afterwards. Because of the natural sugars, the feeling of thanks to full lasts and so we feel hungry less. If the diet leans on fair-minded adherence, do not buy bottled juices or powders. There are so many unlike additives in it that may upset your dieting program. This is the time where you should read the categorize. Read the gorgeous print too. You may be getting more of the additives and less of the fruit juice. Most fruit juice preparations are so watered troglodytic, perked up with additives, highly sugared and not worth much in the healthy foods department.

Coffee Yes. Coffee are very rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants benefit the body in many ways. One of these is the slowing down of the aging means. Now, eating food that are rich in antioxidants may not shave off years to our looks but it makes our body function better. But limit that to a few cups because of the caffeine.

Then We Feast
Eat avocado also no, do steer off it because of the fat. The fat prerogative avocado is good and considered in nutrition circles as ” healthy Fat “. Avocado is one of the richest in fiber especially those that are fully ripe. Actually the more metamorphose it gets the better the fiber. Absolute is one of those rare food that are very filling without calories. Just like coffee avocados are very rich in antioxidants less the caffeine. It is also an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Avocados could be a complete meal when mixed cover milk. It further blends very well with uncounted different kinds of food like salads, guacamole, tortilla etc. This is not a boring health food.
If avocado tops in fiber, walnuts top prestige Omega 3. Good as salad again pastry toppings, it is also a shipshape portable snack. Hemp oil is almost similar in benefits.
Likewise, apples, potatoes, oats, Brazil nuts, and fishes of the fresh water / fatty variety are healthy foods that you will never go wrong even when you eat plenty.

24 Hour Fitness
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