Healthy Eating Guide – Carbohydrate Corner

There are only two other nutrients besides carbohydrates that provide energy for your body: protein and fat . Protein has so many other important functions that your body doesn’t like to waste it by using it for energy . Diets high in fat are the last thing you want . That’s why carbohydrates are the preferred fuel source to keep your body running . Your brain and nervous system depend almost exclusively on carbohydrates for energy .

The fate of carbohydrate:

Your body needs a steady stream of carbohydrate to use at all times . Say you’re sitting on the couch, eating pretzels and drinking pop . Your body will use some of this carbohydrate immediately for energy . Any that is left over gets stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver to be used later for energy . Your muscles and liver can only store a limited amount of glycogen, so if there’s still more carbohydrate leftover, your body will store it elsewhere . If you continue to eat more pretzels and pop than your body requires, the excess will be converted and stored as body fat . Unfortunately, once it’s stored as fat, your body cannot convert it back into carbohydrate

True or False: Carbohydrates are fattening .
False

Carbohydrates have the potential to be stored as body fat, however they are not considered to be fattening when compared with the fat you eat . Say you ate 100 more calories yesterday than your body needed for energy . Any excess calories that your body doesn’t need will get stored as body fat, whether they come from fat or carbohydrate . If the 100 excess calories were carbohydrate, your body would use about 23% of those calories to actually convert the carbohydrate into body fat . If the 100 excess calories were fat, your body would only use about 3% of those calories to convert the fat into body fat . Research indicates that the body is more efficient at storing excess fat than excess carbohydrate . Sad but true .

Carbohydrates are also a less concentrated source of calories than fat . Take for example an orange and a teaspoon of butter . They both contain about the same number of calories . But the orange consists of all carbohydrates while the butter consists of all fat . And what’s more likely to make you feel full, eating a big juicy orange or that little smear of butter? The orange will because it is bulkier . Carbohydrates fill you up more without providing a lot of calories . It’s easier to consume more calories on a high-fat diet then it is on a highcarbohydrate diet .

Where carbohydrate is found

Besides being used for fuel, and helping with weight management, there are a number of other reasons you want to have a diet rich in carbohydrates . Most carbohydrate foods provide you with vitamins, minerals and fibre, all essential for good health . Grains, fruits and vegetables also contain natural substances that can help to decrease our risk of heart disease and cance