Everything About Carbohydrates !

For many athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike, carbohydrates are a source of confusion; some believe they should avoid pasta, bagels, juice, bananas, sugar ... the list goes on. In reality, people who are physically inactive and whose bodies do not readily metabolize carbohydrates may need to take a different approach compared to regular exercisers and athletes to consume carbohydrates. Here's some information to help solve confusion about carbohydrates.

A low-carb diet can help you lose weight and get diabetes and other conditions under control. Certain high-carb foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, cake, and candy, obviously need to be avoided. Yet it is more challenging to figure out which staple foods to limit are. Some of these foods are even relatively healthy — just unfit for a low-carb diet because of their high carb count.

In fact, what does "carbs" mean?

Carbohydrates include both sugars and starches; they are similar in biochemical terms. Indeed any fruit is starchy, for instance, an unripe banana. It becomes sweeter as it ripens; the starch turns into sugar. By comparison, when young, peas, or any other vegetables are sweet and their sugar turns into starch as they ripen. 

All forms of sugar and starch digest into the mere glucose of sugar. Glucose travels in the blood and is taken up by the muscles to fuel your workouts with the help of insulin. Fit bodies are better at handling carbohydrates than the unfit bodies.

Carbs, or carbohydrates, are atomic molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. "Carbs" in nutrition means one of the three macronutrients. The other two constitute protein and fat.

Dietary carbohydrates can be divided into three main categories: 

• Sugar: carbohydrates found in foods that are sweet, short-chain. Examples of this include glucose, fructose, galactose, and sucrose.
• Starches: Long chains of glucose molecules that in the digestive system are eventually broken down into glucose.
• Fiber: humans are unable to digest fiber although some of them may be used by the bacteria in the digestive system.

Are carbs bad for your body?

Some carbs are better for you than others in terms of health, because some offer more nutrients than others. Even though refined sugar adds "empty calories" to a sports diet, a healthy diet does not require you to eat a sugar-free diet. 

A physically fit, healthy person's menu can accommodate 10 percent of refined sugar calories (the guidelines of the World Health Organization). However, you can easily consume more than 250 to 350 calories (10 percent of calories) of refined sugar if you frequently consume sweets plus sports drinks, gels, and sports candies.

Simple carbs consist of sugars that are easy to digest. The refined and processed carbs are simple carbs, such as white sugar and white flour.

People beginning a low-carb diet need to consider reducing their intake of refined and processed carbs. The avoidance of these carbs will be beneficial for achieving the ideal weight and for overall health.

All simple carbs are not created equal though. Fruits include fructose, which is a simple carb but it is recommended to eat the fruit in a low-carb diet because it is loaded with nutrients and is a source of carbs for all food.

Complex carbs take longer than simple carbs to digest since they need to be broken down into a simpler form. Complex carbs are found in more nutrient-rich foods, such as beans, whole-grains, and fruits rich in fiber, such as bananas.

Complex carbs also have the added advantage of making a person feel full faster, which could prevent them from eating too much. Furthermore, complex carbs make people feel full for longer, which could help them avoid snacking between meals.

How to make the right decisions

Carbohydrates in their natural, fiber-rich form are generally healthy, while those that have been stripped of their fiber are not. Things in nutrition rarely get Simple.

If it is a whole, single-ingredient food, then it is probably a healthy food for most people, regardless of what the carbohydrate content is. With this in mind, most carbs can be categorized as either "good" or "bad"-but keep in mind that these are just general guidelines.

Good Carbs: 

• All vegetables. Eating a variety of vegetables per day is best.
• Whole fruits: apples, bananas, strawberries, and so on. 
• Legumes: lentils, kidney beans, peas, and so forth. 
• Nuts: almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, etc.
• Whole grains: select genuinely whole grains, such as pure oats, quinoa, brown rice, etc. 
• Tubers: potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. 

People who try to restrict carbohydrates need to be careful with whole grains, legumes, tubers, and high-sugar fruits.

Bad carbs: 

• Drinks: Coca-cola drinks, Pepsi, Vitamin water, etc. Sugary beverages are some of the most unhealthy things you could put into your body.
• Fruit juices: Fruit juices can, unfortunately, have similar metabolic effects to sugar-sweetened beverages.
• White bread: These carbohydrates are refined, low in essential nutrients, and bad for metabolic health. That applies to the majority of bread available commercially.
• Pastries, cookies, and cakes: sugar and refined wheat tend to be very high on these.
• Ice cream: Most ice cream types are very high in sugar but there are exceptions.
• Candies and chocolates: Choose quality dark chocolate if you are going to eat chocolate.
• French fries and chips of potato: Whole potatoes are healthy but not French fries and chips of potatoes.

For some people, these foods may be fine in moderation but many will do their best to avoid them as much as possible. A low-carb diet can bring certain benefits, including weight loss. Most people can follow a low-carb diet with a few planning and appropriate substitutions. A low-carb diet may not be the best way to attain long-term or sustainable health goals, though.

People must eat healthily when following a low-carb diet and do not over-eat certain foods, like very fatty meats. People who are looking for weight loss or a low-carb diet should talk to their doctor or nutritionist before making any significant changes. For physically active, fit people with a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, sugar and carbs are not toxic and may be a useful way to improve athletic performance. The one-size-fits-all diet.