The Difference Between Good and Bad Carbs
The world is getting more confused than ever about the right way to lose weight and what are good carbs. One of the problems is information overload on the internet and so called “gurus” all contradicting one another.
One of the biggest areas that I see people more confused than ever is the topic of carbohydrates and trying to figure out good carbs vs bad carbs. Or if they should try to follow some sort of low carb or no carb diet.
I really don’t believe in “low carb” or “no carb” diets. However, one of the main reasons so many people struggle with excess weight is that they overeat refined processed carbs. These include cereal, pasta, rice, bagels, muffins, bread (even whole grain types), soda, juice, candy, crackers, etc.
It is very hard to lose any weight if you are overeating any of these types of carbs. That’s trueeven if you work out extremely hard. In addition to creating major blood sugar fluctuations and stimulating insulin surges (which promotes body fat deposition), eating too many carbohydrates also increases your appetite and cravings for more processed sugars and starches.
Even carb food sources that most people think are healthy are really just excess calories. These food sources do not really give you much in the way of nutrient density. Many types of bread and cereals pretend to be “whole grain” through their deceptive labeling. In reality, the 1st ingredient in them is processed refined flour. These refined flour is just going to spike your blood sugar and create a hormonal mess in your body.
Some Recommendatoins to lose weight with Good Carbs
The majority of people frustrated and struggling to lose weight would do much better following these types of recommendations:
- Reduce grain-based carbohydrate foods in your diet (cereals, pastas, breads, rice, crackers, and so on) & focus more of the diet on healthy grass-fed and free-range meat and eggs, grass-fed raw dairy, and lots and lots of veggies.
- Instead of the grains based foods for most of your carbohydrates, try getting most of your carbs from veggies, sweet potatoes (and yams), and a variety of whole fruits and berries (but NOT fruit juices, which remove the blood sugar blunting fiber as well as other essential parts of the fruit)
- If you are going to eat any grain foods at all, focus on the most nutrient dense and fiber-rich portions of the grain… the bran and the germ… For example, you could eat oat bran instead of oatmeal, and use rice bran and wheat germ more frequently by adding to your soups, salads, yogurt, cottage cheese, and so on. This way you get all of the most beneficial nutrient dense portions of the grains without all of the excess starches and calories.
- To replace the void if you are used to consuming lots of bread, pasta, cereals, and other carb source try replacing those foods with more healthy fat sources such as seeds, nuts, nut butters, avocados, guacamole, etc, as well as healthy protein sources such as raw grass-fed dairy and meat, whole free-range organic eggs, etc.
Give it a Shot!
Healthy fat and protein are ever so important for controlling your appetite, maintaining proper hormone and blood sugar levels, and helping you to make real progress on permanent weight loss. With all of that said, a couple of my favorite healthy carb sources that are high in fiber as well as tons of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are sweet potatoes, yams, any other root vegetables, any and all vegetables in general and any and all berries and whole fruits.
What I’ve found with most people is that once they start reducing the amount of grain-based foods in their diet and replace that with more of the carb sources I listed above as well as ample amounts of healthy fats and proteins, their weight starts falling off much faster and they finally gain control of their appetite and cravings for life. Give it a shot!