Better Carbs? A Better Question.
Which foods make it easier, or harder, to over eat your calories?
Consider a giant bowl of candy, and a giant bowl of blueberries. Which one would be easier to overeat? (Let’s be honest.)
Here are the qualities of carbohydrates that impact how full they make you feel, and how easy it is to over eat them:
- Nutrient Dense vs. Calorie Dense – More micronutrients or more calories.
- High Volume vs Low Volume – A large volume of food for a few calories or a small volume of food for a lot of calories
- High Fiber vs Low Fiber – Does the carbohydrate contain fiber and how much? Fiber is essentially undigestible material that is good for gut health and doesn’t add calories.
- Slow Digesting vs Fast Digesting – Does the carbohydrate digest very rapidly and leave you feeling hungry sooner, or does it digest slowly?
- No Added Sugar vs Added Sugar – Is the carb source processed with additional sugar to make it sweeter and more crave-able?
- Simple vs Complex Carbs – Are you eating carbs that are more plain sugar or carbs that are part of whole food?
- Low Glycemic vs High Glycemic – Does the carbohydrate digest and absorb quickly or slowly, thereby making your blood sugar go up fast or slow?
Take Home Point
When it comes to carbs, most people find that the most successful, sustainable way to lose weight or keep it off is an 80/20 or 90/10 approach. Eat mostly single ingredient, high volume and high fiber carbs. Occasionally have some carbs you crave.
-James
Better Carbs? A Better Question.
