The list goes on and on – just walk down the junk food aisle in your local supermarket to get an idea of the obvious suspects.
When it comes to “good” carbs, most of us stop dead in our tracks and have a hard time thinking of what they are. I'll give a sample list in a moment – I want you to stop and think!
Then there are the “good” carbs that have been modified and turned into “bad” carbs with over processing, added fat, and high salt content:
Potato chips
Boxed rice mixes
Fruit juices
So what falls under the “good” carb category? The fibrous ones like fruits and vegetables.
Some people are wondering why I listed fruit juice under a “bad” carb category, and that's simple: most have added salt and sugar. Juices also contain more calories than their original fruit counterpart. If you pour yourself a glass of orange juice, do you know how many oranges you are drinking? If you're like most people, you don't consume the small 4- 6 ounce suggested amount; you are drinking from the 8- 12 ounce sized glasses found in most kitchens. If you've ever owned a juicing machine, you will have found out a single large orange might fill the 6 ounce glass, but chances are you're drinking at least 2 oranges in average sized glass. Take this one step further, and realize most people who like orange juice will drink two glasses, you just “ate” the equivalent of four oranges, but at a much higher caloric intake!
When it comes to fruit juices, skip them altogether and just eat the actual fruit itself for a much more nutritious boost without adding extra calories or salt to your waistline.
“Good” carbs are the fruits and veggies we're supposed to be getting at least five servings a day. On the BFFM program, I actually have 11 servings a day and have grown to love them because I'm always zooming with lots of energy and my moods are completely stable. There's still one more thing you've got to watch out for when you're consuming carbs: timing is everything when you eat them!
I personally don't eat any good “sticky” carb (like rice or potatoes) after 3 p.m. because your body will prefer to use a sticky carb over a fibrous carb as an energy source. You do want to use the good sticky carbs when you need energy – like an hour before a workout. Your body must have a fuel source to meet the demand on the muscles, and good sticky carbs are your friend at this point. So eat your fruits and sticky carbs early in the day when you're most apt to burn them off with the long day ahead of you. If you eat fruit late in the day, the body is winding down and doesn't require a high caloric load; the sugar in the fruit is apt to be stored as fat!
“Good” fibrous carbs also have one more advantage: they are loaded with fiber, which helps clean out your digestive tract. I can remember the comedian, Robin Williams, made a joke about after turning 50, his physician sent him in for a colonoscopy. As he saw the camera, he remarked he would become his own National Geographic special – “Up ahead, we see a burger he ate in 1985.” Since I didn't treat myself well for so long, I'm afraid when it's my turn, the doctor will say, “What the hell is that?!” “Ughhh…are we playing, ‘animal, vegetable, or mineral' here, Doc?”
I think everyone who has not made friends with veggies has at one point or another had to make friends with Ex-Lax brownies, or prunes to solve this problem. You don't need to add fiber supplements if you eat enough vegetables to begin with. Fiber supplements will help “push” food through your digestive tract, but if the process is too speedy, the body will have a hard time extracting and absorbing the nutrients it requires to function efficiently. At that point you're eating your veggies for little nutritional value because Fibercon or Benefiber has “roto-rootered” you (forgive me for the strong image).
Also keep in mind some fruits are much lower in sugar content than others, which means not every fruit has to be eaten early in the day. You might want to look at the glycemic index and look for low numbers next to fruits, which signifies low sugar content. When you're talking about sugar and food, also keep in mind one high sugar food on a plate of otherwise low or no sugar foods will balance the load. It's not just one high sugar food; it's an average of sugar across all the foods you're consuming in a meal.
Don't be married to the idea everything has to be low sugar all the time, either – sometimes your body needs a sugar kick. Instead of reaching for the candy bar, you might as well grab for the sugary fruit and save yourself the calories and spare yourself the “I fell off the wagon!” self-inflicted emotional beat down.
If you don't like trying to find all the segments of this series, you can locate the links to them here and they will return you the exact spot on the appropriate site.
quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here
