Carbohydrates 101: What Are Carbohydrates?
With all the talk about good carb, bad carb, low carb, no carb, hardly anyone even knows what “carb” means anymore. So let’s take a step back and follow along for the next few weeks in Carb Class. Carbohydrate 101 brings you the basics on carbohydrates so you can better understand what they are, what they do, and the roles they play in your diet and in your body. Today we’ll go over what a carbohydrate is and the different types.
Carbohydrates are the storage form of energy in plants. This is how we get them in our diet, mainly by eating plant foods. There are two main categories of carbohydrates: Simple and Complex. The simple carbohydrates are sugars. The complex are starches and fiber.
I. Simple carbohydrates, or sugars, come in two forms: monosaccharides which are single sugars containing one molecule, and disaccharides which are double sugars containing two molecules.
A. The first simple sugar is glucose. This is what the body breaks all digestible carbohydrates into because it is the preferred source of energy for virtually every cell in the body. It is our “blood sugar”, it is how we store short term energy in our muscles and liver, and it is fuel to keep our body functioning.
B. Another simple sugar is fructose. This is the sugar found in fruit (and also as part of table sugar). Eventually the liver converts fructose to glucose so it can be used for energy.
C. The third simple sugar is galactose. It is only found in milk and dairy products as half of lactose, the milk sugar.
D. The disaccharides are lactose (milk sugar) and sucrose, commonly known as table sugar.
Lactose is made with glucose + galactose and sucrose is made with glucose + fructose.
II. The complex carbohydrates are starches and fibers.
A. Starchy foods, like bread and cereal, rice and pasta, peas and potatoes contain carbohydrates. The long chains of glucose molecules are broken down during digestion and we end up using the glucose for energy.
B. In foods that contain fiber, like vegetable skins, corn kernels, bran from grains, and membranes of fruit, the glucose molecules are attached by bonds that we cannot break. It’s like trying to digest grass or wood–our bodies just don’t do it. So these parts of the food are excreted in the same form they were eaten and do not provide us with any calories.
All digestible carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram. Whether you eat a slice of bread, a spoonful of sugar (white or brown) or a cup of rice or pasta, they all end up yielding 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate. Neither is more fattening than another. For example, a spoonful of sugar weighs about 4 grams, and provides 16 calories, that’s all! A slice of bread has about 15 grams of carbohydrate and has a little over 60 calories (there are a few calories provided from protein).
So what’s all the talk about no carb, low carb, good carb and bad? Well, a lot of it’s just diet buzz and hype to promote the latest fad or craze. Stay tuned for Carbohydrates 101 each week right here and find out all you need to know about what carbs really do for you and if you really should be avoiding some of them.
Written by Laurie Beebe
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About The Author: Laurie Beebe has been a registered dietitian for 25 years and is certified in adult weight management. Laurie currently serves as a Related posts:
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