Carbohydrates are energy givers. Know more about its nutrition facts

Carbohydrate is usually blamed of increasing body weight. To reduce body weight, food experts suggest to reduce carbohydrate intake. It may be based on each person’s body weight, health and other factors. Now low-carbohydrate diet is followed by many. But truth is that one of the main factors of our diet – carbohydrates are the real energy givers for all our daily activities without which we can’t survive. Mild quantity of this nutrition factor can also affect our health.

Let us know more about carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are energy giving food items. Apart from cereals, starch, sugar, tubers, milk, glucose etc also provide them. Sugar and glucose known as simple sugars are also carbohydrates. Starch with glucose units is a form of complex carbohydrate. The energy we get through food is mainly obtained from cereals and tubers. From 1 gram carbohydrate, we get 4 calories of energy.

Dietary fiber or non-digestible carbohydrates such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and lignin act as fiber in food. Though they don’t have nutritious content, they help in digestion and digestive process. If you are able to find out, which carbohydrate is good, and which one is bad, we can bring suitable modifications in our diet to make it healthier with less side effects. It also helps us to completely avoid unhealthy ones.

Carbohydrates are mainly of two types – simple carbohydrates found in sugar, honey, fruits etc and complex carbohydrates or complex starch found in rice, wheat, pasta, bread, tubers etc. All carbohydrates get converted to glucose, while some of them increase blood sugar level. Sweet fruits, sugar, honey etc come under this category. Some of them can control the level of glucose, thus controlling diabetics. Complex carbohydrates such as non-processed grains come under this category. Grains contain B-Vitamins, Folate, Magnesium, Vitamin E, Zinc, Phytochemicals etc in plenty. Some of them function as antioxidants in Human body.

Pastas contain complex starch

This diet can damage heart

To reduce body weight, many people opt for reducing or completely avoiding carbohydrates. Ketogenic or simply Keto diet with 0% carbohydrates, but 75% fats and 20% proteins is used by many. In this procedure, starch is substituted with fat which reduces body weight quickly and makes it an attractive pack. As it never affects blood sugar level, the person won’t feel tired. Blood pressure reduces. Triglycerides in blood also decrease. These are the important points why keto diet has been accepted by many. But when carbohydrates are drastically reduced, it gives rise to other health issues.

When the body is deficit of carbohydrates, body fat is converted to energy. In the first stage fat is converted to acids, and then converted to energy giving ketones. When the process reaches this stage, body weight starts decreasing. In those people who make Keto diet a habit, conditions like flu has been noticed. Head ache, tiredness, dizziness etc are common symptoms. When body losses water body weight is reduced, then muscle weight which may result in tiredness. If you follow Keto diet for long time, it affects health. Heart is affected most. If you have health issues in kidney and liver, never follow this diet. It’s always advisable to seek a doctor or expert’s opinion before taking Keto diets.

Use carbohydrates in mild quantities for a healthy body

To reduce and control body weight, reduce carbohydrate intake – it’s a fact. Carbohydrate intake and manual efforts are directly linked to one another. That means, for a hard working labourer he needs more carbohydrate rich food. A computer specialist needs only lesser amount of carbohydrates. So control is needed, not avoidance. While you are strictly following some diet, if you feel tired or dizziness, it implies that you are taking lesser quantity of carbohydrates than what needed. It happens because blood sugar level dips suddenly. Head ache is also a symptom.

Use carbohydrates with fiber content. It helps in digestion process. When you take less quantity of carbohydrates,uric acid increases causing bad breath. Ketones are produced when body is deficient of carbohydrates, and that’s the reason why.

When body doesn’t get sufficient carbohydrates, it uses proteins and facts for producing energy. When fat is used as an energy source, it’s not burned completely. Instead ketones are produced. After effect is body becomes more acidic. If the process is continued for a long time, it leads to many health problems. Cell construction is the main function of protein, and not to produce energy. When proteins are used to produce energy, it reduces defensive power of human body and affects the functioning of cells and muscles.

Which carbohydrate is healthy?

Use different types of vegetables and less-sweet fruits in your daily diet. Instead of fruit juices, eat fruits which are rich in fiber content. Reduce soft drinks and sugar as much as possible, and also sweets and snacks with sugar content. You can bring certain restrictions to grain intake. Also avoid processed grains like maida (all-purpose flour) in your daily diet.

Researches conducted by The Lancet Public health journal suggest that longevity is lesser in those people who take lesser quantity of carbohydrate. Those who substitute carbohydrates with proteins and fats using non-vegetarian dishes may face an early death. Those who use carbohydrates in mild quantities live longer. When you substitute carbohydrates with vegetarian proteins and fats, it’s healthy. 50-55% energy needed for our daily activities should be obtained from carbohydrates – studies say.

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