Mind Your Carbohydrates

Ishi khosla is a former senior nutritionist at Escorts. She heads the Centre of Dietary Counselling and also runs a health food store. She feels that for complete well-being, one should integrate physical, mental and spiritual health. According to her: 8220;to be healthy should be the ultimate goal for all.8221;

With modernisation, our lifestyles have become significantly less active and our diets increasingly refined and processed- the two major contributors for a consistent rise in overweight, obesity, and many lifestyle related diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease etc8230; Comparing lifestyles of our forefathers to present day routines, our energy consumption has dropped to a fraction of what it used to be. Ironically, our diets have shifted in favour of higher calories mostly from refined flour, sugar and fat. The combination has led to growing waistlines and obesity serious enough to be declared a global epidemic. In an attempt to fight the battle of the bulge, numerous diet theories and fads for weight loss have come up. Some of the popular diets are based on the belief that carbohydrates are the chief culprits. However, simplistic this is, it is important to understand carbohydrates and distinguish one from the other to make sound food choices.

Carbohydrates are the chief fuel for our body or the energy giving foods for the brain and the nervous system, which on absorption are converted to blood glucose in the body. Carbohydrates represent one of the least expensive forms of calories and hence one of the major energy source, world over. Diets, traditionally high on energy requirements owing to manual work were designed to provide enough fuel in the form of carbohydrates to allow people to work and meet their requirements. The affluent could afford more expensive fuels, in addition, like fats ghee, butter, nuts and oils to meet their needs, while the poor man8217;s fuel remained heaps of rice, mounds of chapattis or tapioca. It8217;s not therefore, surprising to find most societies consuming predominantly carbohydrate grain based diets.

Conventionally, carbohydrates were categorised on the basis of their size-Simple carbohydrates include sugar, honey, jaggery, corn syrup, fructose fruit sugar, polished rice, corn flour, refined flour maida etc.. White bread, cakes, cookies, pizzas, burgers, wraps etc. prepared from refined wheat flour also come under the umbrella of simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates include starch and fiber. These include whole grains, pulses, legumes, potato, fruits, vegetables etc.

Carbohydrates have also been classified on the basis of their degree of processing refined carbohydrates like sugar, white flour, polished rice are highly purified containing virtually no nutrients besides carbohydrates. Unrefined carbohydrates, on the other hand are whole foods with minimal/no processing. These include whole grain cereals, brown rice, pulses, fruits and vegetables. Unrefined cereals like brown rice, oats, whole wheat etc. are nutritionally better, because of their high fibre, vitamin and nutrient content.

It has been suggested that reducing refined carbohydrates and increasing complex carbohydrates was desirable to control weight. While, reducing refined carbohydrates like sugar, white flour, polished rice was certainly desirable, choosing complex carbohydrates like starches was not helping. It was then that carbohydrates were categorized on the basis of their glycemic index GI.

8220;Glycemic Index8221; GI estimates the potential of different foods to raise blood glucose. Foods with low glycemic index are digested slowly and cause a slower rise in blood sugar; however, foods with high glycemic index trigger a sharp increase in blood glucose, followed by a dramatic fall. The glycemic index of a food depends largely on the type of carbohydrate, protein and fat content.

Depending on the rate at which different foods raise blood glucose levels, they have been classified as slow carbohydrates, also known as 8220;good8221; carbohydrates as they have low GI. They raise blood sugar levels gradually, providing a steady stream of energy to our body cells and especially our brains. These typically include foods closest to their natural state 8212; 8220;whole foods8221; 8212; whole grains like oats, broken wheat, brown rice; lentils and beans, nuts and seeds, fruits and raw vegetables. They are high in fibre and other essential nutrients 8212; vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Fast carbohydrates include high glycemic index foods. They are a source of quick energy as they are digested rapidly causing a rapid increase in blood sugar levels, possibly hyperglycemia followed by a steep drop in blood glucose levels causing reactive hypoglycemia. A feeling of hunger or need to eat shortly after a meal is usually an indication of reactive hypoglycemia. Foods with sugar, refined flour maida like naans, samosas, white bread, cakes, cookies, burgers/ pizzas/ ready to eat snacks, fruit juices etc. are loaded with 8220;fast carbohydrates8221;. A diet high in fast carbohydrates can also lead to insulin resistance leading to obesity and the beginning of type-2 diabetes.

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Epidemiological studies suggest that low glycemic index foods reduce the risk of developing:Type 2 diabetes and improve blood sugar control in people who are already afflicted.