'Good & Bad Carbs'

One thing that we all seem to eat more of over the Christmas period (apart from that Christmas lunch) is puddings, cakes, sweets, chocolates, & fizzy drinks. In a later post we will go into why & how these can be 'bad' for our mouths, but for now lets look at  the types of Carbs &some healthier alternatives.

Carbohydrates, often referred to as “carbs,” are your body's primary energy source, and they're a crucial part of any healthy diet. Carbs should never be avoided, but it is important to understand that not all carbs are alike.

Carbohydrates can be either simple (nicknamed "bad") or complex (nicknamed "good") based on their chemical make-up and what your body does with them.

GOOD

Complex carbohydrates, like whole grains and legumes (seeds,peas, or beans etc) contain longer chains of sugar molecules. These usually take more time for the body to break down and use. This, in turn, provides you with a more even amount of energy, hence GOOD.

BAD

Simple carbohydrates are composed of simple-to-digest, basic sugars with little real value for your body. The higher in sugar and lower in fibre, the worse the carbohydrate is for you —  hence BAD, remember those leading indicators when trying to figure out if a carbohydrate is good or bad.

The Middle ground

Fruits and vegetables are actually simple carbohydrates — still composed of basic sugars, although they are drastically different from other foods in the category, like biscuits and cakes. The fibre in fruits and vegetables changes the way that the body processes their sugars and slows down their digestion, making them a bit more like complex carbohydrates.

In general terms the sugars you need to limit for a healthier diet are;

Fizzy drinks
Sweets & Chocolates
Artificial syrups
Sugar
White rice, white bread, and white pasta
Potatoes (which are technically a complex carb, but act more like simple carbs in the body)
Pastries and desserts

The carbs that are better;

Have brown rice instead of white rice, have whole-wheat pasta instead of plain white pasta etc

IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!