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5 Important Reasons Why You Should Avoid This One Type Of Food At All Costs!
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If you read a great deal of diet and health articles you have probably noticed that many people are all a twitter about high protein, low carb diets.
One thing that they don’t always mention is that not all carbohydrates are created equal. There are plenty of natural foods that are high in carbs but are very nutritious and good for you.
What we are going to discuss in this article is the difference between refined carbs and natural carbs.
Almost every single nutrition expert will tell you that people should limit or avoid refined carbs for improved health. Unfortunately, this type of carbohydrate is inexpensive and is found in huge quantities in almost every corner of the world.
Let’s take a look at what refined carbs are and why you should be avoiding them at all costs.
1. What Exactly Is a Refined Carb?
Refined carbs, sometimes called simple carbs or processed carbs, can be broken down into two different types.
- Refined grains – This type of carb comes from grains, such as wheat, that has been refined to the point that all the fiber and nutrition have been removed. White flour is the largest type of refined grain sold worldwide.
- Sugar – This type of carb comes from processed and refined sugar such as table sugar, agave syrup, and high fructose corn syrup, for example.
The problem with these types of carbohydrates is that they are digested very quickly by your body. This gives them a high glycemic index, which means that these types of carbs are treated exactly like sugar and lead to rapid spikes in your blood sugar, therefore rapid spikes in insulin, after you consume them.
Study after study has shown that eating foods that are high on the glycemic index leads to overeating, obesity, and diabetes, as well as many other types of disease.
Unfortunately, these types of carbs are very inexpensive and make up the main source of calories in most parts of the world. The main sources of these types of carbs come from white bread, pasta, rice, sodas, sweets, doughnuts, breakfast cereal, and other sugary snacks such as cookies.
These unhealthy carbs are also a major part of almost every type of processed food that you can imagine.
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American Beverage Association
Feb 2, 2016 at 8:41 am
When it comes to achieving or maintaining a healthy weight, all calories count and physical activity is a key component of a healthy lifestyle. Interestingly, as sugar-sweetened beverage intake has declined over that past several decades, other
sources of calories have increased dramatically. In fact, fats, oils and starches comprise a whopping 84 percent of the added calories Americans are taking in, whereas all sugar-sweetened beverages combined comprise just 6% of the calories in the average American diet. The important message here, we believe, is that education can continue to help propel positive health behavior change – a shift that applies to overall diet, not one category of products.