Eating For Health

Which carbs are good for your health? Introduction:   In the nutrition class I teach, students were asked to respond to and prepare a convincing argument to counter the myth, Carbohydrates are bad for you .  One of those students, Jackie Kunstmann, has been asked to be a guest author on this blog site.  Her paper on The Case for Carbs is below. Carbohydrates, or “carbs,” have been given a lot of bad press lately.  Many people I know are very quick to jump onto the Atkins or South Beach Diets with their low carbohydrate ways when wanting to lose weight. I even had leanings this way until this Nutrition class.  The DRI Committee has determined that all persons need to have a diet composed of 46 to 65% of carbohydrates (with only 10 to 35% for protein and 20 to 35% for fat) to adequately meet their energy needs and reduce the risk of chronic disease.(1)  The USDA’s current dietary recommendation, My Plate , features the plate being filled with over ...

Most of know that eating foods high in added sugar can cause our blood sugar to spike.   We then feel great and energized.   But this spike in blood sugar is followed by a drop that leads us to feel tired and not at all energized.   But then they are others who have proclaimed a calorie is a calorie and sugars, whether naturally present in foods like fruit or added like in candy are metabolize the same way.   Are they?   Is there a difference in how our bodies handle different carbs? A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition   (June 13, 2013) looked at how we handle sugary drinks, sugary foods, white bread and processed carbs.    This study looked at 12 overweight and obese men fed meals high in processed carbs (high glycemic index) or low in processed carbs (low glycemic index).    After eating the high processed carb meal, the men showed lower blood glucose levels, more hunger, and higher food cravings.  ...