Helping with the myth of Carbohydrates

You often hear of people going on low carb or no carb diets when they’re trying to lose weight – but despite what many people think, not all carbohydrates cause you to gain weight. Cutting out all carbohydrates is a very short term solution and not really recommended as you are cutting out one of the 3 key macro-nutrients (i.e. Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates) which are essential for your health. The important thing is to get the right quantity of good carbs. Your body uses carbs primarily for energy so it is essential that you eat lots of good carbs.

A recommended daily percentage of the 3 key macronutrients is 30% Protein, 40% good Carbs and 30% good fats.

What many people are not aware of is that vegetables and fruit are also carbohydrates and bursting with antioxidants so that’s a key reason for increasing your intake of vegetables and fruit. Basically, the more colourful, the better the antioxidant – so green, orange, red, yellow, purple – all great colours!

Minimise the blander colours e.g. white! One of the most common issues that I find with my clients when they show me their daily diet is that they are eating too high a percentage of carbohydrates – in particular the simple carbs or white carbs e.g. white bread or scones, potatoes, white pasta and white rice. What a lot of people don’t know is that these items turn into a form of sugar in your blood – if the body doesn’t use this sugar for energy then it gets stored as fat! If you’re going to eat these types of foods – switch to the brown variety ie. brown bread – with grains, brown pasta and brown rice. The brown variety have much less sugar and are higher in fibre but still don’t overdo these either. An easy way to get the balance right is to fill half your plate full of colourful vegetables, a quarter protein e.g. fish, chicken, turkey, and the other quarter of your plate the brown carbs – about the size of your fist if you’re not sure.

If you want me to review your daily diet just complete the wellness evaluation on the home page of my blog www.margaretbrightling.com and email it back to me at margaret@margaretbrightling.com!