Carbs, Continued!

Where did I leave off?  Carbohydrates are foods with naturally occurring sugars.  (2 key words:  naturally occurring.)  They can be sorted into four groups, so we’ll talk about those first, then I’ll give you my take on what’s gone so terribly wrong with carbs!

Fruits:  Generally speaking, this group takes the prize for the most carbohydrate grams per serving.  Duh...fruit is SWEET and tastes GREAT.  Plus, fruits supply lots of vitamins and fiber.  I’m a little shocked that the latest “advice” from huge weight loss “expert” companies are calling fruit “free” though. (When you hear that word, how do you interpret that?  Free as in “doesn’t count,” right?  Ummm.  NO.)  

Remember these things when incorporating 2-3 servings of fruit into your daily menu:

*When you can, eat the peel.  Nutrients and fiber are found here.*  *A serving is roughly the size of a tennis ball.  A whole banana is 2 servings.  If it’s “wet” fruit, (please no sugar added wet fruit) 1/2 cup is one serving.*  *Change up your usual.  Eat citrus.  Then some berries.  Enjoy a banana.  Try different kinds of apples.  Eat 1/2 cup of grapes.*  *I’m not a fan of juice, because psychologically, chewing is important.  Not to mention you lose the benefit of adding fiber if forgo the whole fruit.  But if you must, be sure you get no sugar added juice, and then drink 6 ounces for your serving.*

Vegetables:  With fewer naturally occurring carbs, vegetables taste not as sweet.  They have such a high role in your diet though that I could devote a blog to them a week and still not make you understand what a big deal they are.  First of all, there are a jillion different choices to explore.  Think about your produce section and give yourself a grade for “variety.”  Do you go to the same ole, same ole?  (That grade would be a “C.”)  Here’s a challenge.  Try a new vegetable each week.  

IF there’s such a thing as “FREE” (as in, eat as much as you want, any time you want) this would be the category.  Eating vegies pack so many benefits (fiber, vitamins, minerals, raw, cooked, salads, colorful...) that you would be smart to eat AT LEAST the recommended 5-7 servings per day.  I’m not going to waste space talking about a serving size of this or that.  I AM, however, going to warn you that “free” means JUST vegies.  It doesn’t mean the cheese sauce, the ranch dip, the fried on the mushroom, the bacon in the green beans.  And, (don’t kill the messenger) potatoes, corn and peas have so much carb concentration that they actually slip into the “starch” category.  (Coming up next.)  

Grains/Starches.  This is where it gets squirrelly.  From yesterday’s blog (part one) remember when I talked about “whole foods?”  Whole grains have carbs in them.  So naturally, things made out of these grains contain carbs.   But you can’t eat most grains in their original form without adding stuff to them.  (Rice, oatmeal, cooked barley, quinoa are examples of whole grains that are eaten unchanged.)  And for some strange reason, Americans have become accustomed to grains that have been processed to the point that they are literally just shadows of their original glory.  Pity, because the whole grain is needed if you care about vitamins, minerals and fiber.   If you care to get the maximum benefit from the grain, be savvy about labels.  Food manufacturers are very slimy when it comes to this, for some reason.  Simply put, you must find the words “100%” or “whole” for you to rest easy that the grain hasn’t been ruined by processing.  

If you would like a pretty clear list of whole grains vs refined (or processed,) go here:  http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/grains.html  

One more thing.  There’s a sub-section here, legumes, (like beans and lentils) that have carbs and proteins.  This is especially good news for us vegetarians!

The last category where you’ll find naturally occurring sugars is in dairy.  Actually, this lactose is a buggar of a sugar, because it’s especially tough to digest and gives some people gas, bloating and other allergic reactions.  Even so, it’s a pretty good idea to incorporate 3 servings of dairy into your daily routine.  Because there are so many different varieties of dairy to choose from, I teach a rule of thumb.  A serving of dairy should have between 80-100 calories in it.  Now hold on to that thought, and let me tell you what you want to get out of your dairy serving.  You want calcium and vitamin d, plus the protein bonus, with as little saturated (because it’s animal based) fat as possible.  Got that?  So obviously you want to maximize the amount of calcium and vitamin d you get per 80-100 calories.  For example, a cup of skim milk has 90 calories.  A cup of whole milk has 180, so your serving size would be 1/2 cup.  CLEARLY, you don’t get the same benefit from your allotment of dairy if you choose whole milk.  But if you must, you must.  Drink 1/2 cup.  It’s better than nothing.

That’s enough.  Part 3 will go into Carbs gone Crazy.