What is a carbohydrate? What’s the difference between one that is simple and one that is complex? Shouldn’t I be on a low carbohydrate diet? Carbs are just breads and pasta, right? Oh, there is so much to share and so little time. Think of the word carbo-hydrate. Carbo means containing the element carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe, the chemical basis for life. Hydrate means water, which is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, good old H2O. So, carbohydrates are those foods with a chemical makeup that includes carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (CHO).
Carbohydrates include sugars, starches and fibers and are found in most of the food groups – fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and beans and legumes. The fact that carbohydrates are in most of the food groups and are our main source of energy is why we need half of our daily calories to come from carbohydrates. Keep in mind that most foods are mixtures of macronutrients.
For example, vegetables are mainly carbohydrates with small amounts of protein and sometimes even a bit of fat (think avocados). Milk and dairy foods are great mixtures of carbohydrates (lactose), proteins (casein and whey) and fats (saturated milk fats). Fruits are pure carbohydrate (fructose and fiber). This brings us to the term simple carbohydrate which means sugar. I was watching The Dr. Oz show one day and he mentioned the term simple carbohydrate. When he said it, I wondered how many people understood what he meant by it…
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