How To Tell Good Carbs From Bad

All carbs are not equal! This is something that almost everyone has become quite aware of over the past few years. However, the carb issue does leave room for a lot of questions. Some of those being, “does everyone have to eat fewer carbohydrates or count carbs?” or “exactly which carbs are bad and which ones are good?” In many cases, people started eliminating carbs all together thinking they had to eat just protein, that’s how the Atkins® trend had a resurgence of popularity.

Just as the question is not a simple one, neither is the answer. There are a lot of if's, and’s and but's when answering the question of “How many carbs should I eat?”

First and foremost, this answer will become a lot easier to answer if you have Diet Typing done.

Diet Typing will help us determine which of the 5 Hauser Diets is best for you. Should you be eating the Lion Diet, Otter Diet, Bear Diet, Monkey Diet, Giraffe Diet?

The carbohydrate content of each of those eating plans varies depending on your test results. Once we know how much carbohydrate you should have in your daily diet, we can expand on which carbohydrates we’re talking about. In any of these Diet Types, the majority of the carbs are going to complex. This means whole grain foods, not simple carbs such as sugary candies, pop, or white bread! Yet depending on which Hauser Diet you are on, there can be some room for a small amount of simple carbohydrate.

"Good Carbs" aka Complex Carbohydrates
Anything in this category is a high fiber carbohydrate, such as whole grain food, vegetables. Whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice would all fall into this category, unlike their low-fiber counterparts…white bread, white pasta, and white rice which are all considered simple, or bad, carbs. But even with the carbohydrates that have fiber, such as fruit, there needs to be guidance as to how much to have. For example, so many people think that fruit can be consumed in endless amounts as a “health” food. They are pretty shocked when I reveal that fruit is a lot more limited than they anticipated. Why? Because most of the calories in fruit come from sugar, and yes it’s naturally occurring sugar, but it’s still sugar. And sugar is a simple carb! This is why knowing which Hauser Diet you are is so important. That way you can be sure to get in the right amount of grains, vegetables, and fruit for your Diet Type.

Complex carbs are fresh foods that aren’t processed, but are usually in a form very close to how they were grown. The fresher these foods are the more nutrients they will contain, including vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals. By including these foods in your diet you can help lower your risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. All of these health problems are beginning to effect people at a much younger age than in the past so it’s time to do something about it now. You are what you eat!

"Bad Carbs" aka Simple Carbohydrates
Highly processed and refined carbohydrates, like the “white” versions of the food I mentioned previously, like white rice or white pasta, has most of the nutritional value stripped out of it. These foods do not have the same health benefits as complex carbs and actually add to your risk of developing certain diseases, such obesity! Americans take in far too many of these processed foods such as corn syrup, sucrose, glucose, white flour, and white sugar. These substances provide empty calories with no other nutritional value. When you fill up on these types of foods, usually only one thing results-FAT!

How do I know what to do?
You don’t! In order to know how many carbohydrates you should have, good or bad, you would need to get Diet Typing. Then you have scientific evidence of how your body metabolizes carbohydrates. Someone with a Lion or Otter physiology does not do well on a lot of carbohydrates, yet you still need some complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains, in order to maintain enough fiber for good digestion. The Bears need a little food from all the food groups, but should not be living on high carb, low protein diets, such as cereal for breakfast, pasta for lunch, and a submarine sandwich for dinner. The Monkey and Giraffe Diets are allowed the most amounts of all types of carbohydrates, but should concentrate mostly on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

If you want to know your true Diet Type and put carb-confusion days behind you, come on in for Diet Typing!