Worried about the number of carbohydrates in your diet? Shift your focus to consuming raw, whole foods that provide optimal wellness, rather than counting carbs. Fruits and vegetables offer essential nutrients that significantly impact your overall health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates consist of long chains of sugar molecules found in plant foods. Starch, cellulose, and lignin are all types of complex carbohydrates. The effects of complex carbohydrate foods on heart disease, cancer, and diabetes have been the subject of much research.
A 2010 Archives of Internal Medicine article reported a study revealing significant effects of low glycemic complex carbohydrate foods on heart health in women. Over eight years, involving 47,749 people, researchers discovered that women consuming the highest number of carbohydrates doubled their heart disease risk compared to those who consumed the least. The same study showed no difference among men.
Importantly, this study looked at the consumption of carbohydrate foods and their effect on heart disease risk. However, it did not specify other consumed foods or consider the overall nutrient quality of participants’ diets. The researchers recommended consuming lower glycemic carbohydrate foods, such as oats, bran, barley, wholegrain breads, fruits and vegetables, basmati rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa, and salad vegetables with vinaigrette.
Not all carbohydrate-rich foods affect your health the same way. Cooked potatoes, pasta, and noodles do not provide the same health benefits as micronutrient-rich foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, oats, and whole grains.
Micronutrients
Micronutrients play a crucial role in promoting health effects. However, even whole grains lack active vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, phytochemicals, and omega-3 oils after being milled into flour, and more nutrients may be lost during cooking. You are better off consuming soaked or sprouted whole grains, which have higher micronutrient concentrations.
Processed foods low in micronutrients are the most inflammatory and offer the least health benefits.
Inflammatory Foods
The most notorious health-damaging, inflammatory foods to consume are snacks made primarily of refined sugars, white flour, or other refined and processed complex carbohydrates. Foods like potato chips, cookies, donuts, cakes, and crackers cause chronic inflammation when consumed in excess. Eventually, this inflammation leads to metabolic syndrome, a pre-diabetic condition affecting approximately 25% of American adults. The chronic inflammation caused by these foods results in a rapid rise in blood sugar levels and a corresponding insulin spike.
In the US, diabetes mellitus cases increased by over 100% from 1980 to 2003, especially during the period when the entire US population only increased by 18%.
Obesity and Weight Gain
An American diet filled with low-nutrient complex carbohydrates and sugar has led to skyrocketing obesity rates and weight gain. A 2003 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition report revealed that childhood obesity and overweight rates had reached 30% for children between 6 and 11. Notably, consumption of fast foods and soft drinks correlated with a nearly 300% body weight increase for these children between 1977 and 1996.
It’s time to view carbohydrates and sugars from the perspective of their natural composition. Consider how your health can be transformed by consuming fresh vegetable and fruit juices and fruit-and-nut smoothies daily. Fresh juice and smoothies are among the most nutrient-rich sweet foods, packed with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, and dietary fiber. It is ideal to limit intake of high glycemic fruits such as pineapple, banana, dates, or raisins. However, you can increase the nutrient concentration of your smoothies by substituting vegetables for sweet fruits.
By focusing on the nutrient content of the foods you consume, you’ll be well on your way to a healthier lifestyle.
