{"id":335,"date":"2019-11-20T12:34:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T12:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humancoachsa.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2019-11-20T12:34:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T12:34:23","slug":"carb-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/?p=335","title":{"rendered":"Carb Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If there\u2019s one thing people are most curious about concerning other people\u2019s health habits, it\u2019s food. Nowhere in the health and wellness space are there clearer lines drawn in the sand. I get asked a lot what I eat, and aside from the meat-conception<\/a>, there is another great misconception<\/strong>. This week alone three separate people have assumed my paleo with a keto lean food regiment means that I do not eat carbs. This is very wrong. I eat a ton of carbs<\/strong>. Of the three major food macros \u2013 protein, carbohydrates, fats \u2013 I actually probably eat mostly carbs. The carb confusion centers around what carbohydrates one could possibly consume besides the breads and the pastas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confusion is that carbs equal wheat.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are so many more carbs.
And so many better carb.
Not only better tasting but
far more nutritious and health promoting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The world of carbs extends far beyond the world of wheat. It just doesn\u2019t seem that way because wheat consumes menus. To the bun on a burger, the base of a pizza, the wrap on all wraps, the slices of bread that accompany every breakfast meal, to all the fancy things that now come on toast, to unnecessary croutons in a salad, wheat is everywhere. I just looked at one of South Africa\u2019s most successful higher end restaurant franchises, and easily 85% of the menu included bread or pasta. It additionally dominates the convenience market. On the move, need something quick, ready to go, a sandwich wins that battle nine out of ten times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So today let\u2019s explore the cornucopias carbohydrate landscape<\/strong> away from white yet non-nutritious shores of wheat. Oh yeah, let\u2019s quickly clear that up. Refined white wheat – aka bread aka pasta \u2013 has zero nutritional value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not start at the beginning though? What even is a carb? A carbohydrate is an organic molecule that the body uses to create energy<\/strong>. Carbs are either sugars, glucose and fructose, or fiber.\u00a0\u00a0Most of us run our bodies on a carbohydrate energy system<\/strong>, which is in practice a glucose utilizing system. So unless your keto, the energy extracted from carbs is what is keeping you going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a critical point. One of the most common occurrences observed in people trying to eat \u201chealthier\u201d is that they cut out carbs. This translates into them bypassing low-carb, which has genuine place and merit given specific wellness goals, and going straight to almost no-carb<\/strong>. This is called \u201caccidental low carb syndrome<\/strong>\u201d and is categorized by a fatigue, lacking energy, slow recovery and general malaise. This becomes particularly important in active people. If you are exercising frequently or an athlete, cutting out what you consider carbs but not replacing them with what carbs really are is going to catch up with you. Also, there is abundant anecdotal evidence that females do less well than males on less carbs so for the ladies, especially active ones, out there please be vigilant about your carb intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright alright, let\u2019s get to the potatoes of the piece. Key word potatoes. On one\u2019s quest to be healthier, eat healthier, the trick is to eat the right carbs<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And right carbs means real carbs. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s really that simple. Just replace the processed carbohydrates like bread and pasta with real carbs aka real foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means as many non-starchy vegetables as your heart desires, a reasonable amount of fruits and an intentional amount of starchy plants. Yup, that\u2019s right, fruit are carbs and most vegetables too are mostly carbohydrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go wild on the non-starchy vegetables<\/strong> like artichokes, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant, greens (chicory\/endive, rocket, kale, spinach, lettuce, etc), kohlrabi, leeks, mushrooms, okra, onions, peppers, radishes, turnips and zucchini. That isn\u2019t even an exhaustive list. There is a huge variety of carbs out there to diversify your diet with. These non-starchy veggies however have a low carb content per gram so that\u2019s why one can be voracious with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next category of carbohydrate sources is fruits<\/strong>. Fruits can be maligned in the diet space, but there\u2019s plenty evidence this maligning is unfair. There is an issue with excess fructose, the main sugar in fruit, however this is the case with artificial and processed versions of fruits like juices. Whole fruits contain an elaborate mixture of carbs, proteins and enzymes<\/strong> that for most people equates to good eating. So, when cutting out bad carbs fruits can be a great source fuel. A banana for example is delivering the body the same amount of carbs per 100 grams than potatoes. Dates and raisins are energy bombs, blowing every other carb source out the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The starchy vegetables<\/strong> are the ones however I\u2019d like to focus on. I observe that these are the most overlooked<\/strong> despite the fact they are the most carbohydrate rich<\/strong>. I\u2019m talking about potatoes, both the stock standard white ones and sweet. I\u2019m talking about taro, gem squash, butternut, pumpkin, plantains, parsnips, yucca, lotus root, cassava. When you cut out the shit carbs, these are the one\u2019s that can really replace the calories you\u2019ve lost<\/strong>. And they\u2019re both easy to prepare and delicious to eat. For example, cassava and taro pack the biggest punch of the starchy veggies with 38 and 35 grams per 100 grams. That\u2019s three times a carrot and six times a zucchini.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But please remember, diet is a personalized reality<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What one person tolerates effortlessly sends somebody else to the toilet for the rest of the day. One person eats nightshades without issue and the other can experience inflammatory symptomns. Experimentation is critical <\/strong>to how one eats, so many on the paleo diet cut out all legumes, beans and grains whilst others can manage lentils and chickpeas without issue. Just because a food is real doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s good for yo<\/strong>u, like you the specific one person. It also doesn\u2019t mean that the food is bad for you, particularly with many foods that need to be soaked or fermented properly before consumption. Again, a little effort is required to play around with some of the carbs that some find can be agitators and inflammatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright gang, that\u2019s the confusion on carbs hopefully clarified. I hope this has inspired and motivated you to get adventurous and creative next time your at a grocer or farmers market. If you see something weird and funny looking, buy it. Ask the seller what it is and use the magical powers of the internet to find a recipe that gets you salivating. Learning to prepare and cook things I never even considered before like cassava and taro has brought a newness to my eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty bad carbs out there but carbs are not bad<\/strong>. They are a critical macro food group and unless your keto these carbohydrate sugars are what are allowing you to live your life<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just remember the right<\/span> carbs and real<\/span> carbs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by\u00a0Patrick Donnelly<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disclaimer:
Remember dear reader, I am neither a doctor nor any sort of medical physician in any capacity. None of the information presented above can be construed as any sort of medical advice in any sort of manner. You as the reader is solely responsible for creating and implementing your own physical, mental and emotional well-being, decisions, choices and actions. As such, the reader agrees that the author is not and will not be liable or responsible for any actions or inaction taken by the reader or for any direct or indirect results. This information is simply presented and whatever you decide to do with it is your choice and your responsibility. <\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The confusion is that carbs equal wheat. <\/p>\n

But there are so many more carbs. And so many better carbs. Not only better tasting but far more nutritious and health promoting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[88,87,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-diet","8":"tag-carbohydrate","9":"tag-carbs","10":"tag-paleo","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humancoachsa.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}