It's 3 o 'clock in the morning here where I am
and this is Thoughts If It Were You, food for
thought by Neogentrics. Now, we're still on the
health track that we started a couple days ago
last week and so on and so on. And I did believe
the last thing I covered when I was talking about
being healthy was what are proteins and why they're
even important in the first place. So today,
we're going to continue on with the same trend
and we're going to move on to the next topic.
The next topic is carbohydrates. Now, everyone's
familiar with carbohydrates. They know that there
are good ones, there are bad ones. Everyone's
familiar with them. But I want you to think about
it for a minute. Yes, there are good ones. Yes,
there are bad ones. But here's the question I
want you to think about. What are carbohydrates?
What are they really? Okay? Think about that
for a second. What are they really? What do they
actually do to or for you in your body? There's
only one real way to find out. So let's go ahead
and dive into this a little bit so that I can
cover this, okay? And so you can get just a basic
understanding of what it is that you're actually
eating when you say you're eating a lot of carbohydrates.
So let's start with this. Carbohydrates, what
are they? They are sugars that break down inside
the body to create glucose, okay? Glucose is
moved around the body in the blood and is the
primary source of energy for your brain, muscles,
and all, you know, all the other essential cells
in your body. A healthy body attempts to regulate
glucose levels by using a series of hormones,
including insulin and glucagon. They're produced
in your pancreas, Glenn. Hopefully you have a
healthy pancreas. Some people are unable to actually
do this, and this leads to different types of
diabetes. But some things can be done about it.
Some people instigate this by eating too much
sugar. But we'll cover sugars in another time.
Insulin lowers blood sugar levels by moving the
glucose to various parts of the body and aiding
its absorption. Excess glucose can be stored
in the liver or in fat throughout your body,
thus the increase in size. Glucagon increases
your blood sugar levels by releasing glucose
stored in the liver back into the bloodstream.
Blood sugar levels are usually kept in check
if the pancreas and liver are healthy and functioning
normally. However, in times of stress to hormones
adrenaline and or cortisol, are released into
the body these hormones raise blood sugar levels
giving the body a sudden boost of energy okay
so it's not always normal okay unlike protein
and fats okay carbohydrates are not essential
to human life you don't need them the body can
produce glucose from proteins and fats however
carbohydrates are the most convenient and quickest
way for the bite to produce this okay Some weight
loss diets exclude or reduce carbohydrate intake,
triggering the biodeconverted supply of fat to
glucose. So, we're going to take a short break,
and I'm going to cover the two types of carbohydrates
there. And we're back. Like I said before, there
are two different types of carbohydrates. I'm
going to go ahead and cover both of them so you
get a basic idea of what the two of them are.
The first one is simple, and the second one is
complex carbohydrates. We're going to talk about
both of them. Simple carbohydrates are referred
to as basically sugar. I'm sorry. Yeah, they're
referred to as sugars with a simple -like molecular
structure, if you will, usually made of one or
two parts. Okay? Because of their simple molecular
structure, your body can process these sugars
quickly. This leads to a quick energy spike,
or a sudden rush of energy, and the sugars are
converted to glucose, followed by a low once
all the processing is done and the simple carbohydrates
have been used up. An example of this would probably
be coffee. Processed and refined sugars tend
to have a high high index of sugars in them,
you know, affecting the blood sugar levels quickly.
And, you know, compared to natural occurring
complex carbohydrates, which, you know, in turn,
you know, increase your blood sugar levels. Refined
sugar is a common source of simple carbohydrates
in the modern diet. This is true in the sense
that depending on the kind of sugars you actually
use and eat daily, refined sugar can be Good
in small amounts, not in large quantities. Many
processed and packaged fast foods contain simple
carbohydrates as sugars. It's used for a flavor
enhancer and can satisfy the palate for sweet
foods. Simple carbohydrates also, from added
sugars, have little or no nutritional value and
are often described as empty calories, basically.
Most people can benefit from reducing their intake
of added sugars and simple carbohydrates. If
you buy processed and packaged foods, choose
those with less sugar. Reduce your consumption
of sugary foods such as cakes, biscuits, cookies,
candies, regular but not diet soft drinks. Simple
carbohydrates are not always bad, and they also
exist naturally in foods that do nutritional
benefits, notably such things as fruit, your
milk. Most dairy products, most fruit contain
good levels of fiber, vitamins, and micro minerals
as well as antioxidants. So with that being said,
you know, milk and dairy products are a good
source of protein and calcium. And most people
agree that both fruit and dairy products are
important to a well -balanced diet. You know,
but at the same time, there's the other side
of it, the complex carbohydrates. I'm going to
take a short break right here. And then I'm going
to come back and go into the complex carbohydrates.
and what the difference between them and the
simple are and we're back picking up where we
left off um talking about complex carbohydrates
they're referred to as sugars with a complex
molecular structure of three or more parts you
know due to the complex structure of the molecules
that make them up. It takes longer for your body
to break them down and produce glucose needs
for energy. Foods rich in these also contain
valuable vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other
vital items to your overall health and well -being.
Also, foods containing complex carbohydrates
are processed more slowly by the body. They can
produce the same sustained energy levels over
longer periods of time than simple carbohydrates.
thus keeping your glycemic index of food rich
in your complex carbohydrates lower than the
high that simple carbohydrates give you. Food
rich in healthy complex carbohydrates include
whole grains, whole meal bread, whole grain breakfast
cereals, oats, pasta, rice, especially brown
rice. White rice is great, but the husk on the
brown rice is actually healthier for you. potatoes,
beans, lentils, and even chickpeas. And I'm saying
that because I actually don't like chickpeas.
They taste kind of bland to me, but they make
hummus, and that's also good for you, okay? Not
the oily ones, all right? We'll cover fat a later
time. Consuming too many carbohydrates or the
wrong type of carbohydrates can upset the balance
of your body's blood sugar levels. This can result
in energy highs and lows and weird mood swings.
Okay, which in turn can leave you feeling tired,
irritated. Keep that in mind. Like if someone's
saying you're always irritated, something's wrong,
it's probably due to your diet. Just to put it
mildly. And if you often feel tired after lunch,
try eating more proteins and vegetables with
less carbohydrates and definitely, definitely,
definitely avoid alcohol. Okay, that'll help
you with that. Your glycemic index of food is
a measure of how quickly glucose levels rise
in the blood after eating select things. Foods
with high GI levels tend to contain more simple
carbohydrates, whereas foods containing lower
complex carbohydrates will tend to produce a
lower GI score as it takes the body longer to
break these down into glucose. Keep that in mind.
Okay, generally foods with a low GI, which release
glucose more slowly, are considered healthier.
Because the body has to work harder to break
the food down, and you'll feel fuller for longer
and burn more calories, digesting and recovering
glucose. However, some foods with lower GIs are
also high in fat and salt, which can make them
less healthy. So it depends on what they are.
Alright? And we're back. I'm going to give you
a quick, before I go any further, I'm going to
give you some quick GI score examples that you
can use in your indexing, and you can go ahead
and look up the rest of these online, okay? I'm
just giving you a short, and I mean a short list
of examples. Like I said before, those with lower
scores can be high in fat and salt content, but
the ones with the lower scores are usually healthier
for you. An example of a high score would be
white bread. It has a score of 71, okay? Whole
meal bread is a 49, whereas steamed white rice
is a 98, okay? Basmati rice, which is a type
of brown rice, is 58. Chocolate milk is 49, whereas
whole milk is 27. Skim milk is 32, and dry roasted
peanuts at a 14, okay? The seven prime examples.
So this brings up the question, now that I've
covered all of this, all right? I want to ask
this. How much carbohydrates do you think we
actually need in our daily diet? I want you to
see if you can come up with an answer for that.
Because I have one here. I'm going to go ahead
and tell you what it is. To be fair, there's
no actual simple answer for this. There's no
real way to determine how much we actually need.
Each person is different. They have different
ideas, different consumption levels, different
body types. But there is a general rule. This
is what I'm getting at here. There is a general
rule. We should aim to get approximately half
of our energy from carbohydrates, ideally 90
% of this coming from complex carbohydrates,
and only 10 % from refined and processed sugars,
such as simple carbohydrates. A simple way to
achieve a healthy, well -balanced diet is to
eat a variety of foods during the day. Some people
recommend that at each meal, a plate should be
split so that the quarter is... is higher protein
foods such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products,
etc. A quarter of the plate is high carbohydrate
foods such as potatoes. pasta rice beans and
bread and the rest of the plate or at least half
of that should make up the rest of fresh vegetables
and such you know which will provide carbohydrates
and proteins and lower levels but also many vitamins
and nutrients that are needed that way you can
finish your meal with a plate a piece of fruit
which will also provide you with a simple carbohydrate
you need and have a complete meal and be full
But then on the opposite side, let's say you
ate too many carbohydrates. Eating too many carbohydrates
will lead you to gain weight, which is kind of
the whole point of this whole segment here, is
to help you find weight so you can lose weight.
This is because the body will store unused glucose
for use later, and then it'll have nowhere to
go. With that being said, usually, however, it
is how the carbohydrates are prepared which will
have the greatest effect on weight gain, although
chocolate applies both. to simple and complex
chocolate also contains fat and an apple and
on the other hand contains fiber vitamins and
minerals okay french fries chips crisps roast
potatoes i'm sitting here naming foods making
me hungry um are all prepared using fats therefore
they contain fat including but not limited to
baked and broil potatoes are basically better
for you as they are not prepared in fat so keep
that in mind similarly steamed rice is much better
than fried rice and bread um is better for you
without adding butter or margarine so i mean
yes you can have bread you can toast your bread
but consider when you add butter to it all right
as well as fried rice you can have fried rice
without using butter uh actually i would recommend
um using olive oil grapeseed oil or coconut oil
as they're lower in fat content and they're healthier
for you and you can still have the fried foods
you like okay let me see so with that being said
in summary of everything that i basically just
covered all right you know that carbohydrates
contain glucose and your body needs that for
energy okay and then you know that there's two
types they're simple and complex and now you
know the difference between the two uh the more
refined complex uh carbohydrates are the more
the the more quickly they are converted to glucose
and the high the more energy you'll have right
now But this can also peak and trough blood sugar
levels later and you'll basically be running
on empty, whereas refined and simple carbohydrates,
with that being said, they should make up about
10 % of your daily intake, keeping that in mind.
And carbohydrates, such as starchy foods like
potatoes, bread and rice and grains, so on and
so forth, like pasta and oats. release more slowly
in your bloodstream and provide a more stable
and sustainable energy level for your body. These
are a lot healthier for you and they keep you
from gaining unnecessary weight. So I want you
to keep that in mind as you're going through
your days when you're saying you're going to
cut out carbohydrates because cutting them out
completely isn't completely ideal. They're not
exactly necessary for your health, but you can
use them, all right? And with that being said,
As a heads up for next time, I will be covering
sugars. What they are, the kinds of sugars. That
way you can know what you're actually eating,
more or less. And then I'm going to cover how
sugars are related to diets. Okay? Sugars and
your diet. But until then, this is Neogentrix
signing out. Enjoy the rest of your day and thank
you for listening.