Eating Right for Peak Energy and Weight Management There is much myth, misunderstanding, in the general public as to the value of carbohydrates in our diets. While the debate continues over what percentage of our meals should consist of carbohydrates, there seems to be consensus on the types of carbohydrates we should be consuming. Carbohydrate foods are sugars and starches. Starches are converted by the body into sugar. The more complex the starch, the more time it takes the body to convert it into sugar (glucose).

Eating Right for Peak Energy & Weight Management

There is much misunderstanding in the general public as to the value of carbohydrates in our diets. While the debate continues over what percentage of our meals should consist of carbohydrates, there seems to be consensus on the types of carbohydrates we should be consuming. Carbohydrate foods are sugars and starches. Starches are converted by the body into sugar. The more complex the starch, the more time it takes the body to convert it into sugar (glucose).

A moderate-to-large quantity of fat in a meal significantly slows stomach emptying time.1 A high-fiber meal similarly delays stomach emptying time. In effect, this turns the meal into a "timed-release food capsule" The food is digested over two to four hours, slowly trickling sugar into the bloodstream, thereby avoiding insulin-induced hypoglycemia. In contrast, the typical high-sugar/carbohydrate, low-protein, low-fat, low-fiber meal like sugar-loaded breakfast cereals, pancakes, toast, or snack foods may be digested and absorbed within 20-45 minutes, bringing about a brain-and-body-dysfunction which produces a rapid blood sugar rise followed by an insulin-induced blood sugar crash. It is specifically this sensing of low blood sugar by the brain that results in the typical roller coaster carbohydrate cravings that plague so many overweight people.

Most sugars and carbohydrates are refined. Our modern food processing separates most of the sugar or starch of a plant from the rest of the plant's fiber and most of its vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Over-cooking usually removes any of the rest of the nutrients. We are left with carbohydrates that are not complex enough to allow the body time to slowly process the sugar to be used for energy. The sugar immediately enters the bloodstream setting up the body for poor health conditions manifested in many ways, including ADD symptoms and the "highs & lows" of hypoglycemia with resultant carbohydrate cravings. The following carbohydrate chart is by no means complete, but gives a sampling of both complex and refined carbohydrates.