No-Diet Diet Series

Not All Carbs are the Same

There are all kinds of diets out there that promote “No carbs” or “Low carbs”, and there are a lot of misconceptions about carbohydrates. Guests come in our store and are convinced that if they eliminate carbs completely, all their troubles will be over! The true goal should be to eliminate those carbs and foods that feed disease and replace them with foods that contain exactly the carbohydrates your body needs.

Let’s take a closer look at carbohydrates, the macronutrient you’re putting in your body. Which carbs are good, and which are bad?

Good Carbs vs Bad Carbs

Good carbs come from whole natural foods that are nutrient dense. Some good carbs include products like broccoli, cauliflower butternut squash, green apples, and carrots.

Bad carbs come from foods that are refined and man-made. Redhia Gleis gave a good method of recognizing bad carbs. She said, “If it’s popped, puffed, flaked, shredded, or instant, it’s been refined.” The whole grain breads and pastas you have eaten, as well as that high-fiber cereal made from “seven different grains” that are supposedly healthy- they are ALL refined!

Bad carbs are calorie rich, but lacking in micronutrients. This means you can eat tons of calories in bad carbs, but never actually nourish your body. Look at this chart as an example:

103 cal. of Sweet Potatoes 101 Cal. of un-enriched wheat bread

24 grams of carbohydrates 20 grams of carbohydrates

4 grams of dietary fiber 1 gram of dietary fiber

438% of the RDA for Vitamin A 0% og the RDA for Vitamin A

37% of the RDA for Vitamin C 0% of the RDA for Vitamin C

14% of the RDA for calcium 0% of the RDA for calcium

17% of the RDA for iron 1% of the RDA for iron

You can see that in almost the exact same number of carbohydrates, sweet potatoes have MUCH more nutrition than bread made from wheat flour. These manufacturers will claim that their bread, cereals, and other refined foods have high levels of vitamins and minerals. The foods may look good on paper but added synthetic nutrients can’t compare to naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. Refined breads and cereals are sprayed with synthetic vitamins and minerals but sold as nutritious.

National Food manufacturers are very adept at making you crave their products.

They keep adding more processed sugar to their products, which now comes under 400 different names. They have found that the more sugar in a particular food, the more you want! General rule- if you can’t pronounce the name of an ingredient, chances are it is some form of sugar!
Advertisers make their product sound “cool” and lead you to want more in a myriad of ways.
Potato Chips today contain almost twice the amount of Salt they did in 1970. Again, the saltier, the more you crave it.
Food manufacturers put added processed fats in foods to enhance flavor and extend the shelf life of foods. Eat good fats such as Avocado, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and quality nuts and seeds.

Fill your body with good carbs and crowd out the need for the carbs that fuel disease. Your body will thank you for it!

Have a great day- make the most of it!

Bobby Bland

Photo Credit: Ela Haney from Pexels