Have you heard someone say they are “giving up carbs” due to a new diet plan? Thanks to the headlines about fad diets, carbohydrates have been getting a bad reputation in recent years. Carbs are meant to fuel your body, but an excessive amount may make it challenging to lose weight and control blood glucose levels.
Tips for consuming carbohydrates
Here are a couple of fantastic tips on how to enjoy carbs and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
1. Incorporate sources of complex carbohydrate into your diet. Complex carbohydrates aren’t responsible for spikes in blood glucose level and they give you fiber to help decrease your cholesterol level, provide satiety (feeling of fullness), and regularity.
2. Complex carbs such as beans, hummus, old fashioned oatmeal, berries, whole grain bread with 3 grams of fiber or more per slice are considered a healthy and important part of a balanced diet.
There’s a common misconception that “carbohydrates make you fat.” They don’t. At least not by themselves. Sure, if eaten in unnecessarily large quantities they could contribute to weight gain, but, then again, so could too much of a lot of different foods. In fact—carbohydrates are a healthy addition to your diet.
Carbohydrates help your body by providing you with energy and even storing energy for future consumption when you need it. Without carbs, you would might have a difficult time keeping blood sugar levels functional while participating in sports or even normal activities between meals.
Instead of fighting carbs
Instead of focusing on reducing or eliminating carbs a better alternative might be to get to the root of the reason why you are considering such a drastic dietary move. If weight loss is your goal, this can become more difficult as you age regardless of the amount of carbs consumed. This is why it’s important to work with health providers who understand how the body changes the way it processes food. It is common to see these changes result from decreases in certain hormone levels. But these conditions can be identified and even overcome.
Ready to find out if you need to cut carbs or simply give your body back the things it needs to perform at its optimal levels? Learn more about living a healthy and nutritious lifestyle by scheduling a consult with our medical experts. Call 866-420-9260 today!
