HEALTHINFO
www.ualberta.ca/HealthInfo
Carbohydrates A Crash Course
Confused About Carbs? Carbohydrates are an essential part of healthy eating. What matters is the kind of carbohydrates that you tend to eat most of the time. Read on to learn more...
What the heck are carbohydrates? You’ve heard about them on the news, on talk shows, in magazines, and in diet books. There are so many stories out there about “good” and “bad” carbohydrates; how do you know which story to believe? First of all, to give you a background of what carbs actually are, let’s start out with the science. The chemical structure of a carbohydrate looks like a string, on which several sugar molecules are linked together. The most basic carbohydrates are relatively short strings and are known as simple sugars. When many of these are linked together they form more complicated molecules known as complex carbohydrates.
Complex carbohydrates are a very good source of many vitamins and minerals because their complicated arrangement causes vitamins and minerals
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA HEALTH CENTRE
to become trapped in the carbohydrate structure. When you eat complex carbs, your body slowly breaks down the sugar-to-sugar links and those trapped vitamins and minerals are released into your body. Not only do complex carbs provide an ample source of micronutrients, but they are also relatively difficult for your body to break down. The portion of complex carbohydrates that is not broken down by the body is called “fibre.” Eating lots of complex carbohydrates, which are high in fibre, will help you to feel fuller for longer periods of time, provide you with energy, and help to keep your digestive system in tip-top shape.
Simple carbohydrates, also known as simple
sugars, have such a basic structure that they cannot hold many (if any) vitamins or minerals. Eating foods of this type will provide your body with little more than pure sugar. These foods contain few additional nutrients like vitamin C or folic acid, for example. Simple carbohydrates do not contain fibre
page 1
HEALTHINFO
www.ualberta.ca/HealthInfo
which, as you will remember, is basically a carbohydrate structure that is too complicated and dense to be broken down by the body, yet plays an important role in keeping us healthy and our bowel movements regular. Foods containing simple carbohydrates are quickly absorbed and quickly used by the body for energy. Although eating simple carbohydrates may give you a short-lived boost in energy, you’ll likely find yourself hungry and looking for more soon after you’ve finished eating.
How does this translate to food? Syrup, table sugar, and honey are all, as you would imagine, examples of simple sugars. Even pop is mostly made up of pure sugar and does not contain much of anything else. Whole grain bread, pasta, and rice are all examples of more complex carbohydrates that offer a source of vitamins, minerals, energy and fibre. Fruits and vegetables like apples and potatoes (with skins), are also excellent though often overlooked sources of complex carbohydrates and are rich sources of vitamins and minerals. Over the last few years, the media has promoted high-protein, low-carbohydrate, Atkin’s-type diets. What proportion of carbohydrates should be making up your diet? Keep in mind that carbohydrates are your body’s favourite source of fuel, a.k.a energy. Without sufficient carbohydrate intake, your body becomes slow and sluggish, and you are not likely to be getting all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy. Don’t be afraid to chow on some bread, pasta, or potatoes! According to Health Canada, carbohydrate-containing foods should make up about 55% of our daily nutrient intake. To translate this into food: at each meal, fill your plate half full of vegetables and fruits, one quarter full of grains, and then fill the remaining quarter with your protein choice. For example, instead of having bacon and eggs for breakfast (both very high in protein), try an egg, a bagel, and a banana.
5 Top Tips to Improve Your Carb Intake • Choose whole-grain breads, bran muffins and brown rice, rather than their white, highly-processed counterparts. • Snack on whole-grain crackers, lightly buttered popcorn, raw veggies or fruit. • Top up your breakfast cereal with fresh or dried fruit (Try raisins, apricots, apples, or berries.) • Prick the skin of a potato with a fork and pop it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Top with cheese, sour cream or bacon bits for extra flavor. • Add granola or bran buds to your yogurt for some extra fibre and crunch.
Great Carb-Rich Foods: • • • • • • • • • • •
unsweetened, whole-grain cereal pita bread tortillas rice legumes pasta (whole wheat) oatmeal whole-grain bread whole-grain bagels baked potato (with skin) whole fruits and veggies (fresh, frozen or canned)
For More Information & Recipes: Protein
Veggies & Fruit
Grains
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA HEALTH CENTRE
Student Health Resource Centre 2-300 SUB www.ualberta.ca/healthinfo
page 2