Carbohydrates are a significant portion of a healthy diet. The primary forms of carbohydrate are simple sugars, fiber and starch, which also encompasses complex carbohydrates. The process of determining if a carb is good or bad requires you to understand the difference between carb types and how they interact with your body once digested. In simple terms, good carbohydrates come from fresh foods and they gradually digest, preventing rapid spikes and dips in your blood sugar, whereas bad carbs typically come from processed foods and result in blood sugar instability. Reading food labels can help you distinguish good from bad carb ingredients.
Step 1
Learn the basic differences between good carbs and bad carbs. Simple sugar carbs can be healthy when they occur naturally in foods such as fresh fruit or dairy, but can also include added sugars in unhealthy processed carbohydrate-containing foods. Complex carbs and starches contain several chains of sugar molecules and generally digest slower in your body; therefore, they are deemed as healthier carbs. However, some complex carbs and starches are not necessarily good because of processing and additives. Fiber is the indigestible form of carbohydrate, considered good because it helps to preserve colon health.
Step 2
Read the total carbohydrate content of the item on the nutrition label. The nutrition label generally has total carbs, and then individually lists the sugars and dietary fiber that make up the total carbs. Keep in mind that all carbs contain one or many sugar molecules; therefore, if the sugar content listed is high, you also have to refer to the ingredients list to understand the type of added sugars in the product.
Step 3
Find the fiber content of the product on the nutrition label. A good carb food item is fiber-rich in most cases, but many bad carb food products such as processed white bread can be enriched or fortified with fiber so they may appear to contain good carbs. The determining factor of a refined white grain being a good carb is if it does not have added sugars in the ingredients list or is low in additives. The better choice for a good carb grain with fiber is a product that contains a whole grain instead of a refined white grain.
Step 4
Read the ingredients list. The ingredients list is ordered by weight; therefore, the prominent ingredient is listed first. If the first four ingredients listed include any variation of fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, molasses or syrup, it is made primarily of bad carb sugars. The lower down the list these ingredients appear, the less prominent they are in the product.
Step 5
Check the grain type on the ingredients list. Good carb grains might be listed as quinoa, millet, wheat, buckwheat, whole grain, bulgur or oats. The closer to being listed first, the more of that ingredient is present in the food.
Step 6
Search for the hidden carbohydrates in the form of sugar alcohols. Bad carbs in the form of sugar alcohols include sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol. If these appear on the ingredient list, reconsider the product.
Tips and Warnings
- Fresh fruits and vegetables are good carbs. Be wary of canned or frozen produce because they might contain added sugars, which make them become bad carbs. Dairy naturally contains the simple carb sugar lactose, which is not necessarily bad unless the product has additives such as chocolate or candy sprinkles.
- A low-fat, low-calorie or low-sugar product may have other additives to compensate for flavor. Thoroughly check food labels if you are trying to maintain a lower-calorie, low-fat or low-sodium diet in addition to checking carbs.
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