Starches and Carbs
- Thread starter cinnttu92
- Start date
Hi Cinnamon, starches are carbohydrates & have sure gotten a bum rap. A starch is a plant food made up of many bonded glucose (sugar) units. Grains, peas, beans & root vegetables are starches. So starches actually include nutrient dense foods.
Most people think of nutrient poor carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, white rice & potatoes when they think of starches. Foods that provide calories but not a lot of nutrients, including fiber. And they're usually refined or processed foods.
If one is trying to lose weight or just eat for long-term health, one chooses nutrient dense foods most of the time. Eating starchy foods is not unhealthy, eating nutrient poor foods, starchy or not, is the problem.
Debra
Most people think of nutrient poor carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, white rice & potatoes when they think of starches. Foods that provide calories but not a lot of nutrients, including fiber. And they're usually refined or processed foods.
If one is trying to lose weight or just eat for long-term health, one chooses nutrient dense foods most of the time. Eating starchy foods is not unhealthy, eating nutrient poor foods, starchy or not, is the problem.
Debra
...CaroleI have been lurking here forever, but I've never posted. But as a type 1 diabetic and dedicated Cathe fan, I felt the need to chime in on this issue just to clear up the "starches/carbs" issue. Carbohydrates do NOT just come from starch. Foods containing carbohydrates are the following - starches, fruits, milk, sugar and vegetables. I had to learn all of this back when I was diagnosed because each gram of carbohydrate requires a certain amount of insulin, so I always have to count before I eat. The starchy vegetables, the ones with a higher carb count, include potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, carrots and beans. The rest of the vegetable group contains very small amounts of carbs - about a third of the starchy variety -- but they are there.
Milk is a simple carb, so is sugar. Same as white bread, pasta, etc. They have no fiber to slow down the absorption of sugar into the blood so they raise the blood sugar faster than high fiber foods.
A turkey sandwich on 2 slices of whole wheat bread has just about the same amount of carbohydrates as a Snickers bar. The food choices you make should really depend on their overall nutritional value, not the number of carb grams.
That's really all I wanted to contribute. I've read several "Pro" and "Anti" carb threads here and elsewhere, and I just wanted people to have the right information.
Milk is a simple carb, so is sugar. Same as white bread, pasta, etc. They have no fiber to slow down the absorption of sugar into the blood so they raise the blood sugar faster than high fiber foods.
A turkey sandwich on 2 slices of whole wheat bread has just about the same amount of carbohydrates as a Snickers bar. The food choices you make should really depend on their overall nutritional value, not the number of carb grams.
That's really all I wanted to contribute. I've read several "Pro" and "Anti" carb threads here and elsewhere, and I just wanted people to have the right information.