Hey Everyone,
Maybe this will help clear up your confusion:
1) Carbohydrates when consumed are broken down into glucose, a simple blood sugar that's transported throughout the body.
(So, although there is no sugar listed as an ingredient in the bread, complex carbs, which bread is made of, are broken down into a sugar so that the body can use it for fuel)
2) THE 3 FACES of CARBOHYDRATES:
Dietary carbohydrates come in three sizes: simple, compound, and
complex. Simple carbohydrates include table sugar. Compound carbohydrates are the fruit sugars. Complex carbohydrates are starches of vegetables and grains.
It is important to recognize that for your body to burn a potato for energy, the complex carbohydrates must be totally broken down to the simple sugars of which it is basically made. In a sense, therefore, a potato or piece of bread ultimately becomes sugar before it is used. But before this bread or potato is burned, it takes a while for the body to break down the complex structure of its molecules; conversely, simple sugars can enter your cells in a rush and flood the cells' machinery with a sugar push. (Sugar pushes are not so great for the body as you then ultimately crash!)
3) COMPLEX CARBS: Formed when multiple simple sugars combine, these carbs should constitute the greatest percentage of your daily carb intake. The complex bonds make them ideal for prolonged energy demands, such as during a workout, due to their slow digestive process and the muscle's requirement for carbohydrates as its primary fuel source. They include starches (how plants store their energy, such as in breads, pasta, rice, legumes and tubers), fiber (complex carbs that aren't digested but are important for health) and glycogen (when you eat red meat, for example, you're getting stored sugar in the form of glycogen).
4) SIMPLE CARBS: Simple sugars, which don't need to be broken down, are best consumed post-exercise to quickly replace spent energy sources. They include glucose (simple sugar, the end product of all carb breakdown), sucrose (common table sugar), fructose (fruit), galactose
(milk) and maltose (malt sugar).
--------------------
"You have to be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
Re: Louise: Carbohydrates & Sugar
