However, because carbs prime your metabolism you need them to burn fat. This is one of the major reasons you must not starve yourself and eat too few carbs. You must eat a good intake of complex carbs, such as those found in fruits & veggies.
Simple carbs such as those found in candies and sweets & also fruit, are turned into glucose quickly these are the kind which can add to your weight problem. Complex carbs, such as those found in Brown rice, Veggies, Legumes (peas, beans and lentils), and whole grains breads and cereals are digested and thus used at a much slower rate, giving your body time to prime its metabolism.
There are four calories in each & every gram of carbohydrate. Nutritionists say that 50% of your diet should consist of complex carbs. Simple carbs are high in calories but low in vitamins & minerals. These are the so-called “empty calories” that you find in sodas deserts & other such sweets & to some extent in fruits, especially fruit juices & fruit juice drinks. You should be getting your major carb intake from whole fruits whole grains & vegetables.
Good high-carb veggies are Peas, Peppers, Pumpkin, Radishes, Spinach, Squash, Succotash, Sweet potatoes, Tomatoes & Turnips. Succotash sweet potatoes & green cooked peas are the highest in carbs. You need several servings per day of complex carb foods such as these to maintain your energy levels & keep you from getting those “sluggish” feelings that make you feel sick and tired. I might recommend rotating some of the following high-fibre carb portions through their weekly meal pattern of course altered to suit those on a gluten restriction, following a low FODMAP diet & other individual requirements.
Brown or white basmati rice (2/3 cup cooked or ¼ of your plate)
Wholemeal/high-fibre pasta (2/3 cup cooked or ¼ of your plate)
Quinoa (2/3 cup cooked or ¼ of your plate) Sunsol Almond, Walnut etc…muesli (1/2 cup) products/10-muesli/nut-lovers-blend.
Starchy veggies (Potato, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Corn-Equivalent size of a medium potato)
Legumes (e.g. chickpeas 200g)
Piece of fruit as a snack.
Wheat oats, rice barns ½ cup.
Popcorn (homemade using EVOO 2 cups popped)
Pearled barley (2/3 cup cooked or ¼ of your plate)
Oats (preferably steel cut ½ cup.
I also determine carb portion sizes and frequency depending on their personal
circumstances is their health dashboard lighting up?
How many lights are flashing? What lights are flashing?
Do they exercise? At what frequency intensity and duration?
Do they eat 3 meals per day?
Do they have a partner/kids?
How often do they eat out?
Are they already restricted with what they can eat e.g. food aversions, allergies, intolerances? To be honest most of the time my patients aren’t eating McDonald's, drinking excessive amounts of Coca Cola & knocking down packet after packet of Uncle Chips. It's more that they don't eat enough fibre/fibre variety, choosing to eat large portions of more refined carbs, not enough veggies & loading up on protein.
To put it simply they’ve just got the plate proportions out of whack and that adds up over time. It’s like when a boat changes course by a couple of degrees, sails for 4 hours & ends up in a completely different location far from where it initially planned to go. The same can be said for our health based on what we normally eat.
By eating five or more servings of fruits & vegetables every day, you will be boosting your health through better carb consumption. The National Cancer Institute recommends that you have fruit juice or better yet fresh fruit every day for breakfast. You should have a fresh fruit or vegetable snack every day. You need to stock up on dried, frozen & canned fruits & veggies you must make these foods visible & easy to access throughout your daily routine. And you have to “sample the delicious spectrum” when it comes to the many different colours & varieties of fruits & vegetables.
You will get your “five a day” if you eat one cup of dark, leafy greens, one-half cup of red tomatoes, one-half cup of yellow peppers, six ounces of orange juice & one-half cup of blueberries. This is only one example of how you can consume “five a day” of fruits & vegetables to keep your complex carb ratio up. Please notice this includes only one serving of fruit juice. Various nutrition experts state that you should eat whole fresh fruits more often than drinking fruit juice which keeps those simple sugars from adding to your weight problem.
This is because simple sugars are more concentrated in fruit juices than in whole fruits. You should eat at least two cups of fruit a day in a variety of fresh choices, such as one small banana, one large orange & one-quarter cup of fresh or canned apricots or peaches. Also eating fresh fruit adds more fiber to your diet and helps flush toxins from your system better than only drinking fruit juice does.
You should also eat plenty of dark, leafy green veggies, which are among the best foods for you. Eat broccoli and kale, as well as mustard greens and spinach. Also, you should eat “orange” veggies such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin & winter squash. For peas and beans, among the best are pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas & lentils foods such as these are extremely healthy, low in fat & terrific for raising your energy levels.
Eating fruits and veggies will also greater lower your risk for cancer researchers at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University have made “top ten” lists of the best antioxidant (anti-cancer) fruits & vegetables. Here are some of the most antioxidant members of the fruit & vegetable families of foods:
Fruits:
Prunes, Raisins, Blueberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Plums, Oranges, Red Grapes & Cherries.
Veggies:
Kale, Spinach, Brussels sprouts, Alfalfa sprouts, Broccoli, Beets, Red bell peppers, Onions, Corn & Eggplant.
Please Do not enter or write any type of Spam link in comments section.