maven&meddler

It seems like no matter where you go or who you talk to, just about everybody is avoiding ‘carbs’. The thought that runs through my mind: “Uh, which carbs? The good ones or the bad ones?”

Avoiding all carbs is neither rational or in the interest of good health and nutrition, and it’s not going to help the waistline in the long run.

Simply deciding to avoid carbs misses the point.

Today, I happened to check the labels on some very popular - and if the labels are to be believed - ‘healthy’ breakfast cereals in the office breakroom. They were loaded with carbs - good and bad, but mostly bad.

When sugar appears second or third on the ingredients list you need to avoid it, since there is probably an unhealthy percentage of sugars - refined carbs, in this case - in the product. The same holds true of refined grains. If the label says ‘wheat’ and ‘corn’, you might want to reconsider.

Back in the day - I’m talking about earlier in the previous century - people ate lots of carbs. Meat was an expensive luxury item that folks had a few times a week. Many cultures also eat a hefty percentage of their calories as carbs - let’s be sure everybody knows we’re talking about carbohydrates here. However, those carbs were quite different to what fills the grocery store shelves today.  And, people then didn’t seem to have the obesity rates and incidences of Type II Diabetes that we have in our post-industrial, consumer society. The problem can be traced to the type of carbs and their pervasiveness in our society.

The current trend of cutting out all carbs is tantamount to a sort of culinary McCarthy-ism. The only good carb is a dead carb? Yikes.

“Because of the popularity of the Atkins diet and other factors, people have really begun thinking that carbohydrates are bad,” said Dr. Robert Keith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science.  “But carbohydrates are a natural food source.  They’re something that the body —- the brain especially —- needs as an energy source.”

In fact, carbs are necessary to healthy brain function.

The secret is to not compare apples to well, junk food. Apples, oranges, whole grain breads and pastas, along with fresh vegetables are perfectly wonderful components of a healthy, weight-concious diet. The sad thing is that so much of what clogs the aisle of your local supermarket is junk cleverly packaged and marketed to appear healthy.

The bottom line is that you must learn to read labels.

Here are a few simple rules to follow that will eliminate most of the confusion over the good carb/bad carb battle:

1. Try to cut out as much ‘junk food’ from your diet as possible. This includes pretty much all chips, candy, soft drinks, etc. Decide that you really are able to go three to four hours before a meal, and just put a rule against between meal snacking. Not only will you save calories, but you’ll save a LOT of money on expensive, nutritional imposters posing as food.
2. Avoid - or at least limit - your intake of refined-flour baked goods, including non-whole-grain breads, bagels, doughnuts, cupcakes, brownies, cakes, etc. Also, throw out the processed, high-sugar breakfast cereals - stick to whole-grain cereals and oatmeal.
3. Buy a variety of fresh fruits and veggies and begin to include at least 1 or 2 servings with each meal. Also, avoid getting hungry (and overeating) by snacking on fruit or cut-up veggies throughout the day - a single large apple can easily curb hunger.
4. Try to eat a serving of leafy green vegetables at least twice a day. Also, eat a variety of other colorful vegetables as often as possible.
5. Use nuts and seeds as healthy, portable snacks you can carry anywhere. Also, they can be used to add flavor and ‘texture’ to many different foods (especially salads).
6. Eat a serving of beans or legumes at least 1-2 times per day. The dozens of different types of beans and peas can be used in hundreds of healthy recipes.
7. If you buy grain products - including breads, cereals, crackers, pastas, etc. - always choose whole-grain options. Just make sure that ‘whole-grain’ is the first word in the ingredients list and that sugar appears as far down on the list as possible.
8. Take a look at the Sugars as listed in grams, and choose a product that has the lowest percentage by weight.