Carbohydrates in a slimming diet

Probably not only once have you heard that to lose weight effectively you need to forgo bread, pasta and potatoes. Because carbohydrates cause weight gain... Nothing could be more wrong! Good carbohydrates can and even should be a base of your slimming diet.

Carbohydrates have many important functions in human organism. Primarily carbs provide energy. Burning 1 gram of carbs provides 4 kcal, while burning 1 gram of fat provides 9 kcal. So carbohydrates are half caloric less than fat. Only a small portion of carbs is converted in organism into fat tissue. It’s because that process is ineffectual from biochemistry’s point of view.

Without a proper supply of carbohydrates it’s hard to function. Glucose is the only source of energy for brain, nervous system and red blood cells. Besides, sugars are necessary to oxidize fatty acids into carbon dioxide and water. When you eat too little carbs (less than 100g/day) fatty acids are not totally burned and in effect ketone bodies acidifying organism are arising.

Carbohydrates are varied!

But not all carbohydrates are good for those on diet. Because of simple sugars contents in a particle, carbohydrates are divided into simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are for example: pure glucose, sugar in sweets and sweet drinks or fructose from fruits.

Simple sugars don’t have to be digested and that’s why they are easily absorbed by blood in the digestive tract.

As a result feeling of satiety after eating them lasts for a very short time. Exactly that carbohydrates are not good for our figure and health. That’s why sugar, sweets, cakes and sweet drinks should be crossed out from your shopping list. Cut down honey, sweet fruits and fruit juices also.

It’s completely different when it comes to complex carbohydrates. They are built with minimum three particles of simple sugars. During digestion our organism splits these particles for single ones because it’s the only way for them to pass into circulatory system. Thanks to that digestion of complex sugars takes more time and as a result feeling of satiety after eating them lasts much longer. We can find them in natural grain products, leguminous plants and in vegetables

Choose!

• brown bread, wholegrain bread, rye bread
• wholemeal pasta and brown pasta
• natural rice, buckwheat, barley groats, millet groats
• natural flakes - oatmeal, rye flakes, barley flakes, wheat flakes
• all kinds of vegetables and leguminous plants
  
  

Remember that during slimming diet we should aim to get half of our energy from complex carbohydrates. This proportion will let you keep long lasting feeling of satiety. It’s very important while losing weight because hunger which appears during dieting is the most common reason of finishing the struggle for a slim figure. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?

*This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment.