Confused About Carbs?

Will cutting carbs help me lose weight? Are carbs healthy? Are carbs fattening? These are questions we hear all the time, so we thought we’d give you the low down on carbs and debunk some of the most common myths.

1. Why do we need carbs?

Carbs provide us with our main source of energy allowing our muscles and major organs to function optimally. They promote satiety thereby helping with weight control and provide us with dietary fibre – essential for digestive health and can help protect against some cancers and heart disease.

2. Are all carbs the same?

In short, no. Carbs can be broken down into 2 main types, both of which constitute a healthy balanced diet, however some will provide you with more health benefits than others.

- Sugars (simple carbs) – these include natural fruit sugars (fructose) and milk sugars (lactose) and refined table sugar (glucose and sucrose). These tend to be digested quickly giving a rapid rise in blood sugar levels.

- Starches (complex carbs) – these are found in food such as breakfast cereals, oats, pasta, rice, pulses, bread and potatoes. These provide a slow and steady release of energy.

Even though fruit, milk and yoghurts are classed as simple carbs these food groups are all highly nutritious and should be included in your diet daily. When it comes to fruit and vegetables aim for a minimum of 5 a day and by eating a rainbow you are ensuring you get a variety of antioxidants. Milk and yoghurts provide the body with protein and are an excellent source of calcium. Aim to eat 2-3 portions per day (a portion is equivalent to 1/3 of a pint milk or 1 small pot of yoghurt.)

The simple carbs you should be limiting are the refined sugars found in processed foods such as cakes, biscuits, soft drinks and confectionary.

Choosing ‘wholegrain’ versions e.g. wholewheat pasta, oats, and granary bread, of complex carbs is preferable as these contain more fibre therefore helping to prevent against heart disease and some cancers.

3. How much carbohydrate should I eat?

As illustrated by the Eatwell Plate (see below), 1/3 of your diet should be made up of starchy foods and another 1/3 should be made up of a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Aim to make complex carbs (the more wholegrain the better!) the base for each of your meals and snacks but be mindful of the quantity you are eating. Packaging will often give you an idea as to recommended portion sizes. Next time you pour yourself a bowl of cereal, check the label - is it actually the 30-40g recommended... or a bit more?

4. Do carbs make you fat?

This is a huge bug bear of ours. Any food can be fattening if you overeat it! We get energy (calories) not only from carbs, but from protein, fat and alcohol too. Any extra energy that our bodies don’t use will be converted to fat, no matter what the source. So carbs shouldn’t be singled out and blamed for weight gain - eating too many calories is where the problem lies.

Interestingly, gram for gram, carbs contain less than half the amount of calories of fat.

5. Will cutting out carbs help me to lose weight?

There are two parts to this in terms of weight loss. If you cut out carbs you probably will lose weight, great right? Read on. Firstly, the weight you lose is probably due to losing your stored carbs (glycogen) in your liver and muscles and from water and perhaps even some muscle rather than fat. Secondly, we don’t eat food groups in isolation - meals usually contain a mixture of carbs, protein and fats. If you cut out the carbs and lose weight it is probably because you are also cutting out some high calorie ingredients and processed foods too. For example, cutting out bread? This means butter has probably been cut out too. Cutting out pasta? This means cheese and creamy sauces have been cut. Cutting out potatoes? This means the oil or butter used to roast or mash them has been cut out too.You get the picture.

Hopefully that will have cleared the haze surrounding carbs. Demonising one single food group is not helpful or healthy and will not lead to a balanced diet. Just make sure you choose your carbs wisely e.g. complex wholegrains and enjoy them with a variety of different fruit and vegetables.