Sunday, April 5, 2015

What are Carbs?

Carbohydrates; how much is too much?  If you know your daily Calorie intake, can you calculate your daily Carb needs?
So many of us struggle to maintain the Ideal Body Weight.  Why?  Most start when we don’t pay enough attention to the Quality and Quantity of our food and carb intake.
One morning, we turned on the TV --- It was not tuned to the News Channel as usual, but rather to a channel that was discussing Weight Loss being attainable by combining our food;  the right amount of Calories, Proteins and Carbs.
We talked about Proteins in a previous article; let us now talk about Carbohydrates. How important they are to our body maintenance?
Carbohydrates are Fiber providers for our body.  The body breaks down the Carbs to make glucose and  uses these sugars to give us energy.
Are there Good and Bad Carbohydrates?
Good Carbs are found mostly in Complex Carbs; the ones, that are rich in Fibers. They are a combination of 3 or more molecules. These Carbs absorb slowly in our body, preventing blood pressure fluctuations. They are energy sources. Carbs should supply half of the calories in our diet. These are foods such as; whole grain sources of breads, cereals, vegetables and beans. 
Simple Carbs are made up of one or two sugar molecules. These are fuel for the brain and body. We digest these simple sugars easily in the form of fruits and vegetables. They become Bad Carbs as we refine them, such as; white sugar, white bread, white rice, etc.
It might be useful to be aware of your Carbohydrate intake per day. First steps first.
We have to calculate our ‘Calorie Needs’ per day.  Calories are units of energy that your body needs to perform basic functions. It is important to know your optimal caloric intake for a healthy balanced body.
To determine your optimal daily caloric intake, use our Calorie Calculator 
We have a wonderfully simple program to calculate Protein, Calorie, Lean Body Mass Index.
You can go to the following website
2./ Choose “Great Shape Today Community”  on the left.
3./ Scroll down, at the left hand side
4./ Choose “Tools”
5./ Enter your Height, Weight and Age.
( this is for your info only)
After calculating your Protein, Calorie intake, you can calculate your Carb needs per day. If you know how many Calories you need per day, you can calculate your Carbohydrate needs, by calculating 1/8 of your Calorie intake. Example: If your daily Calorie intake is 1600 cal/ day, then your Carbohydrate intake is 200 grams.
You can find charts on the Internet for Calorie and Protein and Carbohydrate count for different foods. However, if you have no time to generate this information, feel free to contact us and we can provide extensive Nutritional information.

No comments:

Post a Comment