Carbohydrate-rich foods include breads and pastas, fruits, milk and beer. Some carbs are best eaten immediately after an exercise session while others are healthier to eat over the course of the day. Carbohydrates are converted quickly to glucose for use as energy by your muscles, brain and cells. If you do not eat carbs, your body converts body fat and, to a lesser extent, protein into glucose for fuel in a process called gluconeogenesis. If you eat more carbs than you use or can store as muscle fuel, the excess is converted to body fat.
Complex Carbs
Complex carbohydrates are foods with plenty of starch, such as corn, rice, pasta, beans, peas and potatoes. Whole-grain complex carbs are high in fiber including brown rice, whole wheat bread and beans. Refined complex carbs are low in fiber such as white rice and white bread. These refined carbohydrates are digested quickly. One cup of white rice has 45 g of carbs, 1 cup of spaghetti noodles has 40 g and a medium baked potato has 34 g of carbohydrates.
Simple Carbs
Simple carbohydrates have a few sugar molecules bonded together and include fruits, milk, natural sweeteners and beer. Many fruits, including apples, oranges and pears, are processed by your body similarly to whole grain complex carbohydrates, due to their high fiber content. A large banana has 32 g of carbs, while a large apple has 29 g of carbohydrates.
Low-Glycemic Carbs
The glycemic index or GI of a carbohydrate-rich food is a measure of how quickly that specific food raises your blood sugar. Low-glycemic foods have a minimal effect on your blood sugar. Some complex carbs and simple carbs may be categorized as low-glycemic foods. These include 1 cup of cooked spaghetti noodles with a GI of 41 and a medium apple with a low GI of 38. Eat low-glycemic carbs throughout the day if you have diabetes, and you are trying to lose weight.
High-Glycemic Carbs
Complex and simple carbs categorized as high-glycemic foods raise your blood sugar levels quickly. One cup of white rice has a high GI of 109 and a baked potato has a GI of 93. A cup of unsweetened cornflakes cereal has 26 g of carbohydrates with a glycemic index of 84. Though rice, potatoes and cornflakes are virtually fat free, they are not the best choices if you are trying to control your blood sugar. If you must have high-glycemic foods with plenty of carbs, eat these foods after an aerobic or weight training session or have it with plenty of lean protein to slow its absorption into your blood.
References
- "Exercise Physiology, Energy, Nutrition & Human Performance"; William McArdle, Frank Katch and Victor Katch; 2007
- University of California Los Angeles: Dining: Complexity of Carbs
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Glycemic Index: An Educational Tool for Health and Fitness Professionals; Stephen Wong, Ph.D., and Susan Chung, R.D.N.; November/December 2003
- "The NutriBase Complete Book of Food Counts"; NutriBase; 2001
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