If you don’t eat a lot but are still gaining weight then keep reading. Scientists have proven that your problem with losing weight rests with the type of food you select to eat, not the amount.

Why are carbs important?

A bit of reality check – everything you eat has calories, right? Yes! Even carbs. Period. Would that be whole food or drinking juices? Yes!

I’ve seen a lot of bad press about carbs diet on social media. Carbs get a bad reputation nowadays from misinformation but actually they’re a nutritional powerhouse. They are essential to your healthy mindstate and your body. I would say even more, your body has a special defense mechanism against having an inadequate amount of carbs. This mechanism is active on a daily basis .

Carbs are important fuel for your central nervous system (like your brain) and they are fuel for exercising your muscles.

Food supply

Back in 1900 people were eating 500 grams per day of carbs diet. That’s quite a lot but what is interesting is that they’ve been eating a whole grain mainly, like rice  and  bread.

In 1940 refined whole grain food became very popular.  And in mid 1960 nutritionists noticed a decline in whole grain food.  From there, whole grain food has been replaced with highly processed sweetened food.  So consumption of sweetened food increased, in particular food high in fructose corn syrup. 

This also came with development of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you would wonder, is it the carbohydrate or is it the form of the carbohydrates that makes me put on weight?

Carbs  structure

Carbs are made from carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Isn’t that interesting? Only 3 chemical components and yet they play such a critical role in your life.

Carbs exist in food in different forms from simple to more complex. How food is categorised depends on how many glucose or sugars units are contained within those carbs.  That’s why there are categories from simple to complex.

Simple carbs mean simple sugars. There are 3 types of simple sugars:

• glucose 
• galactose
• fructose

Those simple sugars are rarely present in your food. However, if you put any of those 2 simple sugars together you get:

• sucrose – table sugar (glucose + fructose)
• maltose – malt sugar (two glucose)
• lactose – which is milk sugar (glucose and galactose)

Interesting fact you should know about!

For every disaccharide (name for 2 simple sugars put together) you have an  enzyme in your body that breaks those types of sugars into its simple form.

I only eat ‘light’ products 

High fructose corn syrup was created in the 1960s by changing fructose content from 15% in the original corn syrup to 42%.

Later, the fructose concentration was increased to 55%. And that’s the form that you can find in high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks.

When a manufacturer produces food low in fat, diet or light, what they do is they reduce fat calories but increase high fructose corn syrup to 90%.  

Complex carbs

Complex carbs are called polysaccharides. Poly means 20 or more sugar units connected together in different forms like chain or branch.

You may benefit from knowing that in order for your food to be absorbed from your gut into your bloodstream, it has to be broken down to simple sugars. This includes any type of diet including carbs diet. That’s why digestion of complex carbs takes longer.

Interesting fact you should know about!

If complex carbs have a form of chain (like glucose) then your enzymes can only attack it from the ends. Those that have a form of branch chain (like a tree branch) they have more spots for the digestive enzymes to attack. If water is held between complex carbs, then your food has different properties.

Your complex carbs in diet are, for example:

• breads
• cereals 
• fruits 

Food made by nature has a mix of carbs. So you get simple and complex types of carbs in their structure. And that’s the true benefit you can find in a whole food, especially in whole grains as they are 100% whole grains. Eating complex carbs makes you feel full for longer, gives you nutritional benefits and your body thrives on this type of fuel.

White bread vs whole grain bread

The carbohydrate content in a slice of white bread and whole grain bread is the same. But don’t get too excited as there is a catch. They behave differently once you eat them in your carbs diet.

Majority of nutrients that are lost in the refining of that grain are replaced with the exception of fiber and magnesium. Both are not part of the enrichment process.  

Nutrition scientists confirmed that if people would have more magnesium in their diet there would be less of type 2 diabetes. So this is information you will benefit from keeping in your mind. 

If you don’t eat whole grain food you are most likely lacking fibre and magnesium and you may get those symptoms:

fibre

• constipation
• smaller stools
• energy crashes or fatigue
• increased cholesterol 
• Increase blood glucose levels

• hemorrhoids
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• higher weight
• heart disease
• diabetes
• bowel cancer

magnesium

• muscle weakness, cramps, or spasms
• fatigue
• heart palpitations
• nausea and vomiting
• low appetite
• abnormal eye movements
• numbness or tingling in the hands or legs
• headaches
• constipation

Functions of carbs you didn’t know

I want you to think of someone you know that was on a low carbs diet. I bet if you really focus your review of their behaviour you will come to a conclusion that this person was  irritable, fatigued and lethargic. Probably after 7 days. Well, that’s the reason.

Click here to get insight into ‘Wellbeing And 10 Vitamins For Your Long-Term Energy Boost’ .

1. Energy

Carbs’ key function in your diet is to give you energy. Your body loves carbs for the correct function of your nervous system. Crabs have 4 kcal per gram. Absolutely awesome for your weight management and wellbeing.

2. Breaking fat

Fat has 9 kcal. Carbs are needed to burn fat completely. So if you don’t eat carbs your fat breakdown is incomplete. Then you get a waste product of that incomplete breakdown. That waste product of fat metabolism is ketones. They can cause nausea, make you feel sick to your stomach and other issues with your health you would wish to avoid. You will read a bit more about Keto diet later in this blog.

3. Protein sparing 

Crabs bodyguard protein. They protect them so they can build and repair tissue. When you are lacking energy in the form of carbs, your body will use protein as a source of energy. In other words your body will ‘eat’ its own muscles to gain energy. That’s your body plan B by default.

You will end up losing muscles but still having fat. Why is that, you may ask? Because protein can be sent to your liver and turned into carbs if your carbs intake is low. That’s why rethinking balance of carbs in your diet is important.

Hence, your body really must have carbs for optimum functioning and for exercising muscle.

Nutritionists recommend that you look at your diet again. Your simple and complex form of carbs and from whole grain is the way forward. Nowadays, people’s diet is made up of  soft drinks (circa 40%). And those are the not so great diets or light drinks with high fructose corn syrup I talked about earlier.

4. Weight management

If you wonder if it is the sweet drink itself or is it the volume of the sweet drink that makes you put on weight, scientists definitely say it’s the volume. I want you to think about the high in fructose corn syrup added to light, diet and low in fat products you consume.

It’s important that you recognise that simple sugars are going to come from a variety of different sources considering soft drinks.

Those could be sweet drinks, fruit punch, lemonade, flavoured coffee, flavoured alcohol drinks etc. 

To make a good carbs choice in your diet, you may consider natural products like drinking juices from squeezed fruits or using honey to sweeten other drinks. If you put honey in your tea you get a simple sugar drink. 

There’s been a lot of controversy over juice but scientists solve the puzzle for us. 

If you have juice it is a sweet drink because it has simple and complex sugars. If you are buying one then look for 100% juice on the label. 

Concentrate juice is not natural and the sugar levels will make you want to drink it more – there you go, a simple example of your extra calories is right here. 

You can test it yourself. Just pour 1 glass of fresh orange juice and 1 glass of one made from concentrate and check how many glasses you can drink before you’ll feel full. Don’t recommend doing both on the same day but give it a go.

On that note, you may also look at the volume of your glass. Do you recall the small glass of juice your grandma potentially was given you when you were little? You probably have in your kitchen twice as big glass now – yes, this is again your extra volume here.

So the answer is that it’s the volume of the type of sweet drink you chose to consume that contributes to your sugar consumption everyday.

5. Nutrient benefit

If you eat more foods with natural fiber, like vegetables, lagoons, dried beans and peas, you increase fiber in your diet. The same thing comes with whole grain food. This improves not only your nutrient content in the body but also improves your digestive process.

Glycemic index

Let’s look at this popular guidance to understand what it really means and should you follow it.

Carbs are broken down to form simple sugars and then reach our bloodstream at variable speed.

Glycemic index is  a tool that measures how quickly your blood sugar rises after eating a specific type of carbs.

Each food has its reference standard to white bread or pure glucose. 

Studies indicate that if you eat high glycemic index carbs then you have the greatest risk of many chronic diseases because your body will produce a lot of insulin. This means that once you eat specific carbs and it finally gets into your blood, your body spikes insulin. 

A quick reminder that insulin is a hormone and its high level may lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer.

Now, I want you to think if that’s the carbs fault or insulin response fault that puts you at the risk?

Scientists confirmed that many factors influence glycemic index. This includes foods of mixed content of carbs, protein and fat. For example the glycemic index of white bread is high but when you mix it on a hamburger bun with protein or fat it’s going to leave your stomach slowly and will not give you insulin spike.

Top Tips

If you’re following the glycemic index guidance or not, you can always follow this general rule: when you think about food, consider how many hands touched it before it reached out to you. 

The more hands touch it in the processing it then the higher the glycemic index and chances that manufacturer added more simple sugars in the processing of that food.

In the American Journal of Clinical nutrition you can find glycemic index of some processed foods in comparison to the non-processed foods.  

Facts you should know about

Foods with assigned glycemic index are solo products and not the mix of them. For example you can find a glycemic index of a white bread but not white bread with cream cheese. Hence it will be challenging for you to fully follow the guidance as your mix plate of carbs, protein and fat. This mix will change the glycemic index number.

Times when you desire a high glycemic index

There are, indeed, times when you want your glycemic index to be high. In the athletic world, when you need carbs to reach muscles very fast because you have another run to undertake, you’ll eat a high glycemic index food. One of those can be jelly beans.

Major studies show that if your diet is formed in majority with a high glycemic index food on a daily basis (and you don’t use it for athletic reasons) then you’re going to have more issues with chronic illnesses.

Final thoughts

If you’re thinking about starting a Keto Diet then you can be sure that you’ll lose some number on a scale in the first place. I wouldn’t recommend being over excited here and I will tell you why.

Keto diet makes you dump a significant amount of body fluid. When this happens, your weight will show a lower number based on your level of hydration. So you haven’t lost fat. To lose fat you need carbs, as explained earlier. Changing diet short term will give you noticeable benefits but I strongly recommend you don’t continue it long term. Have fun experimenting how you feel on a new food type diet for a week but be mindful that your body has been designed to have input from 3 type fuels and will fight for it to keep it in balance in your body. That fight will show forms of other symptoms , one you will clearly not want to experience.

Glass of red wine is good for your heart – but a ball of red and green grapes is even better.

Red wine is linked with the prevention of heart disease. But you are always better off eating whole foods as its structure and nutrients behave differently during digestion. 

Some awesome resources

Okay, my Rock Star! Did you get some value? I hope you did, because each week I put my heart into making sure you get amazing information from my blog.

While I have your attention, I also need you to know that I have for you fantastic audiobook recommentation that will help you even more on above topic.

Click here to listen to ‘Nutrition Made Clear’ by Roberta H. Anding.