There are two types of Carbohydrate. Lets discuss about them in this page.
Slow Carbohydrate: Slow Carbohydrate is the one which breaks slowly and create energy at a regular speed.
Fast Carbohydrate : Fast carbohydrate is the one which takes less time to break down the foods. They also produce energy very quickly.
If you are planning to lose fat, then slow carb is the one you have to look for. Let's discuss why.
Fast carbs break very fast and increase the sugar level in blood. When there is a rise in sugar level and body understands that it cannot take all the energy that is producing at a faster rate. So it secretes insulin, which will turn down speed the metabolism. Insulin also direct body to store those extra energy to store as fat cells, which is the last thing you want. Now which are the slow carb and which are the fast carb, you need to know.
Table sugar, sweet fruits, white pasta, white bread, white rice, fries and dessert are fast carb, while brown rice, wheat bread, salads and fruits ( not much sweet) are the slow carb.
Now how you can determine which carb you are eating?
Check whether you have much sugar in that carb. Sugar breaks very fast. If your carb contain good amount of sugar then it is one side of fast carb. Another thing is that if the food contains good amount of fiber, then it would not be a fast carb. Whole grain foods are rather very slow carbs. Wheat is originally is a slow carb. But when it is crushed in the mill, and cover is removed to contain only the white portion, it may look good, but it lose its fibrous structure. So it turns to a fast carb.
How to identify which carb you are eating ?
Many carbs are not as distinct as to be termed as fast or slow carb. They are sometime in between those two. There exists a index, glycemic index, which is really very helpful to identify a carb as fast or slow.
Glycemic index
Glycemic index is a ranking system which tell how fast or slow is a food containing carbohydrate comparing to pure glucose. Pure glucose is the fastest carbohydrate. So if glycemic index of a food is 90, it means this is 90% as fast as glucose. So the fast carbs are those which has a glycemic index of higher values. Low carbs are the one with loser values. So the scale of the index is from 1 to 100.
Glycemic Load - more important index
Though it is good to know Glycemic Index of a food before you eat it, but actually many cases glycemic load gives you better information of the food you are eating, where glycemic index may provide you misleading information. HOW ? Let me explain. Glycemic index actually means how fast the carbohydrate is. But if the food contain very less amount of carbohydrate then certainly effect will be very less. So when you see Glycemic index of a food is high, it is actually not Glycemic index of the food, it is GI of the carbohydrate of that food only. But Glycemic Load (GL) is calculated on per serving of that food. So if GL per serving is high, it will certainly effect your glucose level, if you take at least one serving. Start eating LOW GI foods
From now on you can start eating more fruits and vegetable. Also most of the legumes are low GI. Then always look for whole grain foods.
Most of the cases we take white bread or cereals in breakfast. These two are are high GI foods, so try to avoid them. Some cereals are low GI, if you have to eat cereals, check whether it is high GI or low GI.
Crackers, cookies, rolls or pastries - do we really need to eat them. They are all high GI foods. If you are seriously thinking about your health and looking for losing some weight off your body, avoid those foods.
Article from How to flatten your stomach: http://how-to-flatten-stomach.com/carbohydrate.php
good information
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