IMPORTANCE OF CARBOHYDRATES
- josephplatt1979
- Aug 13, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 26, 2022
MAKESURE TO GET YOUR CARBOHYDRATES DAILY INTAKE
Importance of carbohydrates
A Carbohydrate is one of the 3 macronutrients we need in our diet with the other 2 being protein and fat. Carbohydrates act as fuel for our brain, heart, kidney, and central nervous system. Along with fats and proteins, the importance of carbohydrates are a significant source of our nutrition. Our body breaks these carbohydrates from food to glucose and provides us energy.
Carbohydrates are all about energy and are found in foods like fruits, vegetables, breads, pasta, and dairy products. Your body uses these foods to make glucose, which is your body's main energy source. Glucose is a type of sugar that can be used right away for energy or stored away to be used later. Carbohydrates provide the body with the energy it needs and are a good source of many vitamins and minerals.
For the body to have the energy for exercise and activities you must make an effort to get your carbohydrates daily intake.
While carbohydrates are most known for providing energy, some carbs can also help promote digestive health. The microbiome is an enormous collection of microbial organisms that live on and in your body, most of them within the gastrointestinal tract or the gut. Many of the microbes within the gut are healthy bacteria that help support immune and digestive health. Carbohydrates like fibe act as food for the good bacter a in the gut and promote their growth.
There are 3 category types of dietary carbs and they are :
Sugars - This is a type of simple carbohydrate. Your body breaks down simple carbohydrates quickly. As a result, blood sugar levels rise and then drop quickly. After consuming sugary foods, you may notice a burst of energy, followed by feeling tired. Simple carbs (or simple sugars): including fructose, glucose, and lactose, which also are found in nutritious whole fruits.
Starches - These are complex carbohydrates. Many starches (but not all) fit this category. They provide vitamins and minerals. It takes your body longer to break down complex carbohydrates. As a result, blood sugar levels remain stable and fullness lasts longer. These are long chains of glucose molecules, which eventually get broken down into glucose in the digestive system. complex carbohydrates (or starches): found in foods such as starchy vegetables, whole grains, rice, and breads and cereals
Fibre - This is a complex healthy carbohydrate and your body can’t break down fibre but bacteria in the digestive system can make use of some types. Most of it passes through the intestines, stimulating and aiding digestion. Fibre also regulates blood sugar, lowers cholesterol and keeps you feeling full longer. We need to eat more fibre as its good to your overall health. You will find fibre in plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products. Animal products, including dairy products and meats have no fibre.
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for the body and certain types are more healthful than others. Like for instance, fibre is a carbohydrate that protects heart and gut health, whereas added sugars can lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and overweight.
The importance of carbohydrates is to have a daily intake and your responsibility is to have a well-balanced diet that includes unprocessed carbs. Having a diet full of healthy carbs along with good fats and lean protein are more likely to lead to good health and a healthful body weight.
What Are the Good Carbs?
We want to be eating Whole carbs as these are minimally processed and contain the fibre found naturally in the food. These types of carbs take longer to break down into glucose and give you the most important vitamins and minerals, such as B vitamins, magnesium, and iron, along with your calories. These are the what you want as your carbohydrates daily intake
Examples importance of carbohydrates include, vegetables, quinoa, barley, legumes, whole grains, oats, beans and sweet potatoes. Benefits of eating healthy whole carbs can include: fuel your brain, helps reduce bloating, makes you happier, lowers the risk of cardiac disease, makes you sleep better, prevent weight gain, cuts cancer risk, keeps you energetic, aids in digestion, helps trim your waistline, helps burn more fat, improves muscle mass, and increases your lifespan.
What Are the Bad Carbs?
Refined carbohydrates are sometimes referred to as bad carbs. These are carbohydrates that have been processed to remove parts of the grain and have had sugar added. Sugars and refined grains and starches supply quick energy to the body in the form of glucose. That’s a good thing if your body needs quick energy, for example if you’re running a race or competing in sports. Common examples of refined or processed carbohydrates are white bread, cakes, and cookies. You should avoid added sugar, processed foods, refined grains (like white bread), sodas, other sugary drinks, and sweets as much as possible.
To help you look and feel your best, you should choose nutrient-dense healthy carbohydrates. Refined carbs cause rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels, and only make you feel full for a short time. This is followed by a drop-in blood sugar, hunger and cravings. Eating refined carbs is linked to drastically increased risk of many diseases, including obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Carbs for exercise
you now know the importance of carbohydrates are the main source of energy for our brains and bodies to function properly as they provide fuel for the central nervous system and energy for our bodies. When we decide to work out or do physical activity working muscles require a steady source of fuel, which can come from both the bloodstream and from the glycogen that is stored away. But there’s a limit to how much glycogen your body can store. If activity lasts long enough, the glycogen stores can become depleted. That’s why it’s so important to fuel properly and regularly.
Think of carbs as fuel like for your car, our bodies store carbs in our muscles as glycogen, which is then converted to glucose when you need it. Carbs are also important for training as help delay fatigue, sustaining you through prolonged workouts or competitive sports.
By eating enough carbohydrates throughout the day, protein is free to do its main job to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. If we limit carbohydrates, protein will be needed as an energy source and not be utilized to build lean muscles.
Adequate carbohydrate intake can prevent muscle break down from glycogen depletion, especially if you’re working to maintain or build your muscles. Refuelling after a workout is also critical as most of the stored glycogen will have been used up. Since your muscles are craving carbs, they’ll take them up readily and store them away for the next bout of activity. This is the time to load up on higher fibre carbs, since digestion time is no longer a concern. A dab of protein helps repair muscles, too, so ideal recovery foods include both protein and carbohydrate. It’s also important to refuel within about 30 minutes after exercise to maximize the effects of protein and carbohydrate on muscle recovery.
Carbs for weight loss
There are lots of occasions when people seem to think they need to cut out cabs to lose weight and that simply isn’t true, but also a low carbohydrate diet can be very effective for weight loss but that doesn’t mean we have to eliminate cabs. Reducing carbs tends to reduce your appetite and cause automatic weight loss, or weight loss without the need to count calories. For some people, a low carb diet allows them to eat until fullness, feel satisfied, and still lose weight.
The importance of carbohydrates should not be ignored as Carbohydrates are not the enemy. To some It may not seem like it especially with the rise of popular low carb diets, like keto. But eating carbs is an important macronutrient in one's overall diet and can help you lose weight. The key is to focus on whole carbohydrates that will make you feel full, instead of simple, refined carbs that will leave you feeling hungrier and hungrier. If you go on a low-carb diet, and cut out large groups of vegetables, fruits and grains, you may not be getting enough vital nutrients to manage your weight effectively.
These types of diets can increase your risk of micronutrient deficiencies and constipation because of their low fibre content. low-carbohydrate diets may contribute to rapid weight loss with most of the early weight being water because they restrict kilojoules or energy but the rebound from a low carb diet can have you putting weight back on and quickly.
If you do choose to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, do not avoid carbohydrates completely as you need some in your diet for fuel and to metabolise fat. Choose carbohydrate-rich foods that are unrefined or unprocessed (including wholegrains and fruit), rather than refined and energy-dense forms (such as cakes, sweets and soft drinks). Have a variety of vegetables daily and choose carbohydrate sources that include fibre.
You can learn more about weight loss and fat burners in other blogs i have.
Bottom line
Importance of carbohydrates have many nutritional and mental health benefits and should not be restricted from your diet for several reasons. Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy and they help fuel your brain, kidneys, heart muscles, and central nervous system. Carbs are also used for helping build muscle and help support weight loss. Despite people giving carbs a bad reputation, carbohydrates are vital to your health for many reasons
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