Carbs #2

In 1971 the low fat mandate became law so people ended up consuming mostly carbs. Remember, fat was evil and so protein was too since animal protein has fat. Despite this carb immersion, even 20 years ago most people couldn’t define one. Obviously, simple or complex was way beyond comprehension. But now we are so smart nutritionally we know to avoid any white ones which are evil and simple. Right?

Let’s begin with starch — white and simple — which is a long, straight or branched chain of hundreds of glucose units linked together. This is a “complex carbohydrate.” Starches come from plants. Grains are the richest. Therefore, rice is a complex carbohydrate. But starches are BAD you say. Not if you live in Asia and eat rice and are thin.

But there’s more. Where this discussion gets muddied is in the consideration of fiber content of a food. Dietary fiber is also a complex carbohydrate (chains of sugars) however, the sugar units are held together by bonds that human digestive enzymes cannot break. Consequently, most dietary fibers pass through the body providing little or no energy for its use. So if a food contains more fiber, it will block some of the available carbohydrate for use in the body. That is why brown rice is a “better” choice that white because it has more fiber (also b-vitamins). So the less fiber the quicker the carbs are digested and available to the body. So refined carbohydrates (white flour vs wheat) are still complex carbs, but just without the fiber.

Isn’t this explanation interesting? And meaningful if you ONLY eat one nutrient at a time and have no idea how to orchestrate an actual meal. Which is practically everyone since Wellness can’t function in a complex scenario.