What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for our bodies and are found in a wide variety of foods such as bread, cereal, pasta, beans, and potatoes. All carbohydrates are made up of sugar molecules. When digested, these break down to glucose, which is then absorbed into the blood.

Generally, there are two classes of carbohydrates; simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are absorbed quickly by the body and include table sugar, honey and candy. Complex carbohydrates generally take longer to digest as the sugars are bonded together to make a chain. These include legumes, grains, and starchy vegetables. The glycaemic index (GI) is a more current method of classifying carbohydrates by looking at how fast foods affect our blood glucose levels. Generally, it is recommended that our diet consists mostly of low GI foods rather than high ones. Low GI foods release sugar into the blood slowly. For optimal health, you should include low GI foods such as brown/basmati/doongara rice, wholegrain pastas, whole wheat bread, oats/muesli/bran and other grains like quinoa, couscous, barley as well as fruits, vegetables and legumes.

Low carbohydrate diets

Health professionals generally don't promote low carbohydrate diets as they are high in saturated (bad) fats and avoid many nutritious foods such as fruit, vegetables, and grains. The basis of these diets is to consume calories mainly from protein and fat sources. These diets do not meet your daily nutritional needs and may put your future health at risk.

People do tend to see results on low carbohydrate diets and usually do tend to lose weight faster than those following a balanced healthy diet. This may be due to a number of reasons such as:

Loss of water: When you lower your carbohydrate intake your body breaks down glycogen which is the storage form of glucose in the body. When glycogen is released it also releases water with it so the rapid weight loss at the start of the diet can be largely water loss.

Reduced calories: There is nothing special about low carbohydrate diets; they simply are restricting calories in the diet. This would happen no matter which macronutrient you cut out whether it be protein, fat or carbohydrates. The problem with cutting out a whole macronutrient is that you are starving the body of the nutrients it needs.

There can also be side effects from following low carbohydrate diets, such as nausea, dizziness, constipation, lethargy, dehydration, and bad breath. There is potential for long term effects of these diets due to inadequate intake of many nutrients such as fibre, thiamin, folate, vitamins A, E, calcium, iron, potassium, and antioxidants. There is also the risk of ketosis which is a of waste products called ketones causing the blood to become acidic. This is the result of muscle breakdown to produce glucose when the body doesn't get enough carbohydrate.

In order to keep weight off you generally need to continue with the weight loss diet long term. Most people find they are not able to stick to this diet for a long period and when they return to their old eating habits they pile the weight back on. This is why changing your diet to reflect healthy eating habits will assist you at being at a healthy weight and is a lifelong diet that will aid in your health and well being.

You can still lose weight by including moderate amounts of low GI carbohydrates in your diet and limiting simple carbohydrates such as lollies, biscuits, cakes, soft drink, concentrated fruit juices, which all provide little to no nutrition. Eating high amounts of these foods will lead to weight gain as they are energy dense foods.

The bottom line

Carbohydrates are found in very nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, rice, beans and wholegrains and should be consumed as part of the diet. These carbohydrate foods are healthy and are needed by the body in particular the brain to function adequately.

I do believe our eating habits have changed, where we are overeating and consuming excess calories that the body does not require, which then leads to weight gain. Simply eating a variety of foods and keeping to fresh natural foods helps to avoid all the excess fats, sugars and additives found in processed foods. We should be including all the macronutrients (protein, fats, carbohydrates) in the right amounts to make sure we are not excluding nutrients in our diet. Yes, even small amounts of healthy fats are needed in the diet so we can absorb certain vitamins.