Carbohydrates are an essential part of the diet. The Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs recommends that people get about 60 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, reports "Controlling Cholesterol."
In the typical American diet, about 30 percent of calories come from carbohydrates, according to "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease." Thus, most people should be eating more carbohydrates.
Nevertheless, people who have high levels of triglycerides might want to consider having fewer carbohydrates in their diet. There are numerous options for these people, including a wide variety of fish and poultry and even some desserts.
Calories
According to "Essentials for Health and Witness," women need about 1,100 calories per day to be alive and healthy enough to function properly while men need about 1,300.
If maintaining a medically advisable weight is your goal, you should consume 1,500 to 1,700 calories per day if you are a woman and 2,000 to 2,500 calories if you are a man, according to "Controlling Cholesterol."
People eating a lot of carbohydrates often are consuming fewer calories than those who don't because carbs and protein have four calories per gram while fat has nine. "Although people often believe that carbohydrates make you fat, it's really not so," wrote Ornish.
Complex vs. simple
Complex carbohydrates are very hard to convert to fat, according to Ornish. On the other hand, simple carbohydrates like alcohol, honey and sugar are considered "empty" calories with little nutritional value.
In "Controlling Cholesterol," it's clear that complex carbohydrates do not cause cholesterol problems. The book includes a chart with three diets Basic, Moderate and Strict. The first is for people who just want to maintain their cholesterol levels, the second is for those who need to lower their cholesterol, and the third is for those whose efforts to lower their cholesterol has failed.
The chart shows that Basic dieters should get 50 to 60 percent of their calories from complex carbohydrates, Moderate dieters 50 to 70 percent, and Strict dieters 60 to 70 percent.
1,500 calories
Menus with 1,500 calories per day are easily achievable. "Controlling Cholesterol" has 34 pages of such menus. However, menus with 2,200 calories can also be very healthy because there are 36 pages of such menus.
Carbohydrates that should be reduced in ordinary menus include croissants, donuts, fried foods, commercial granola cereals, pancakes, waffles, pastries, potato chips, biscuits and cornbread, according to the book.
Triglycerides
While complex carbohydrates are generally healthy, an excess consumption of them "tends to elevate the triglycerides," according to "Controlling Cholesterol."
People with these high levels should reduce their consumption of bread, potatoes, sugar and fruits, wrote author Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper.
Non-carb meals
There are dozens of foods that have low levels of carbohydrates, fat, and calories, according to charts in Ornish's book.
The foods include chicken with no skin (light and dark meat), haddock, halibut, lean-only lamb, lean-only pork, salmon (including lox), sausage (pork and Vienna, not Polish), scallops, shrimp, snapper, turkey with and without skin, turkey ham, turkey pastrami, turkey salami, and lean and fat veal. If you fry any of these foods, the nutritional benefits are lost.
One ounce of chicken without skin has zero carbohydrates, about 1.6 grams of fat, and about 50 calories. One ounce of light-meat turkey has no carbohydrates, 0.7 grams of fat and 45 calories. Two ounces of fresh shrimp has 0.4 grams of carbohydrates, 0.7 grams of fat, and 67 calories.
Other low-carb foods
Crackers, egg substitutes, seedless grapes, green onions, peanuts, fresh peppers, raisins, celery and lettuce also qualify as low-carbohydrate, low-fat, and low-calorie.
References
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness," Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty, Kelli McCormack Brown, 2000
- "Controlling Cholesterol," Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, 1989
- "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease," Dr. Dean Ornish, 1996
Member Comments