Carbohydrates – carbs- are one of the three macronutrients. For your information, the other two are fat and protein. They’re designed to provide the body with energy, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, essential fats, fibre, and water.
A lot of people treat them very unfairly though, mainly because they don’t know what they are and because of all the low-carb diets brainwashing.
There are bad and unhealthy refined carbs: white bread, white pasta, white rice, refined sugar, soft drinks, sugary cereals, crackers, pizza, and so on. They are what I call ’empty foods’, you get nothing nutritious from them; they fill you in for a couple of hours and suck the energy out of you. They actually do more damage to your body and your mood than you think. You want to avoid them as much as possible, really.
On the other hand, there are the healthy unrefined carbs which are the good ones; they are naturally found in whole foods essential for your body as they supply amazing amounts of energy, nutrients, etc. It is true that some wholesome foods are higher in carbs than others, but they won’t make you put on weight, that’s just silly! Be aware that not getting enough of the right kind of carbs can have damaging effects on your brain activity and put your body under a lot of pressure.
The following are super-duper healthy, whether they are low or high-carb.
High-carb fruits: Bananas, apples, pears and grapes with at least 20 grams of carbs per serving. Dates and raisins have even more; in general dried fruits are high in carbs.
Low-carb fruits: Rhubarb, watermelon, lemon, peaches, melon, blackberries, apricots, grapefruit.
High-carb vegetables: Squash, beetroot, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas.
Low-carbs vegetables: Spinach, courgette, aubergine, mushrooms, asparagus, bell pepper, broccoli, avocado, cauliflower, green beans, lettuce, garlic, kale, cucumber, tomato, Brussels sprouts, celery, radish, cabbage, onions, artichoke.
Legumes: Beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.
Nuts: Almonds, cashew, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc.
Seeds: Chia seeds, pumpkin seeds
Tubers: Sweet potatoes, potatoes
Whole grains : oats, quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat pasta, bulgur.
Dairy : Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt
Meat : Skinless chicken and turkey breast
There you go, I hope you now have a better idea of what the good carbs and the bad carbs are. Get plenty of the good ones, you’ll feel great!