HOW MANY CARBS IS IDEAL FOR YOU TO EAT DAILY?
It is becoming common knowledge that it’s wise to limit the amount of carbohydrates we eat. However, it is difficult to determine what are bad vs. good carbs and how many carbs per day should we consume.
With diets such as The Keto Diet, Grain Brain, The Paleolithic Diet, The Mediterranean Diet and The South Beach Diet it is becoming more clear that a diet high in carbohydrates can be detrimental to our health.
The old “food pyramid” which is used as a dietary suggestion consisting of very little fat, a bit more protein, and lots of carbohydrates has been shown to have a paucity of scientific evidence and poor anecdotal evidence to convince anyone that it had much validity.
Lifestyle disorders such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and others can be directly linked to high dietary carbohydrates.
Newer guidelines have established standards that warn not to consume high amounts of “starchy” carbohydrates like cereal, bread, pasta and grains. These are the foods that can ruin your health. Of all those grains, wheat is the most harmful. It contains high amounts of a protein called gluten.
For many of us, gluten is an allergen that is categorised as causing food sensitivities. It is not surprising that we find a myriad of gluten-free food-types on the shelves of most of our grocery stores.
If one wants to be on the better side, oats and rice would be the best recommendation. Rice and oats have little to no gluten. However, they are still avoidable because they are starchy carbohydrates.
It should be said that vegetables and fruit are also considered carbohydrates. But they can be eliminated from this discussion of limiting carbohydrates. Fruit and veggies are a completely different type of carbohydrate than grain carbohydrates. Even so it would be best to consume a limited amount of fruit as some contain high amounts of carbohydrate called fructose. It is suggested that a person eat 3 portions of vegetables for every 1 one portion of fruit consumed.
How many starchy carbs should one consume a day?
Many experts suggest approximately 100–200 grams/day is certainly reasonable, achievable and provides enough satisfaction to work for most people.
However, what is difficult is to measure the grams of carbohydrates in various foods. But, food labels on the packaging of our foodstuffs provides the knowledge required to determine how much we should consume. There are two features on a food label to look for. The first is the serving size. The second is the total carbohydrates.
As an example, let’s say you wanted to eat a food bar. Assume that the label said a food bar was one serving and the total carbohydrate listing was 25 grams. You would know that by eating one food bar of this type 25 grams of starchy carbohydrates would have been consumed.
Another example might entail eating oats. Let’s say the food label notes that one serving is 1/2 cup and that one serving yields 150 grams of total carbohydrates. We would now know exactly the amount of carbohydrates we have taken. If one were to reduce the serving size to 1/4 cup 75 grams of total carbohydrates would have been eaten.
By using food labels, it is very easy and helpful to estimate the amount of carbohydrates/day a person takes.
If a food label is not available it is very easy to go on to the Internet and to simply provide the browser the information of the type of carbohydrate, the serving size and asking for the amount of total carbs numerated. By using this method, it is quite simple and easy to estimate the amount of carbs we consume per day.
Again, 100–200 grams per day of starchy carb is a good goal to shoot for. Many of us who initially utilised this approach found that within a year or two, we have achieved a desirable amount of weight, eliminated chronic pains, had increased energy and better sleep.
This diet does not have to be excessively stringent. Most people who do not have serious metabolic diseases could certainly afford to have a “cheat day” or two each week when they could exceed the 100–200 grams of starchy carbs and have some sweets.
Limiting the amount of starchy carbohydrates, taking good amounts of protein and healthy fats and adding plenty of organic vegetables to our diet will allow most people to obtain healthful diets. Many healthcare practitioners, dietitians and nutritionists believe that this type of diet would allow the majority of the people to reduce lifestyle health disorders to a point of essential national insignificance.
