I’ve put this “Are Carbs Created Equal?” blog under frequently asked questions, but it could easily be a rant, science, or even success story. From a science perspective a carbohydrate or carb is one of the macros we talk about so frequently. When doing keto, you look at your fat, protein, and carbs. The three things that make up food. Carbs have become villainized in our circle and part of that is people not realizing that carbs aren’t good or bad. It comes down to one fact. Carbs are not created equal.
Why Aren’t All Carbs Created Equal?
To answer this first primary question we need to look at some examples of what carbs are. Carbohydrates fall into three categories: sugar, fiber, and starches.
Starches are things such as potato, beans, and legumes. Our bodies take in starches and convert them to glucose for organ and brain function. Unfortunately, glucose is sugar and that can have the adverse effects of raising your blood sugar. This in turn produces insulin, which begins the process of storing what you don’t use as fat.
Sugar also goes into the body and is very quickly converted in glucose and raises blood sugar at a rapid rate. Your body begins to compensate by quickly producing insulin. You gain a lot of energy in a hurry, but everything is working in overdrive to burn off that sugar. When it’s not consumed, the sugar will store itself on your hips and belly.
The King of The Carbs
Now when we look to fiber something is much different then it’s two carb counterparts. Fiber goes into the body and isn’t/can’t be metabolized into glucose. In fact, it can’t be absorbed in any large quantity at all by the body. Fiber will flow through your body without raising your blood sugar or causing insulin production. It does this while filling you up, adding to gut health, and aiding you in bowel movements.
Since fiber isn’t absorbed, we subtract it from the carbohydrate total on labels which is where the term “net carbs” comes from.
As you can see from this first 350 words and just this one example, carbs aren’t created equal. Two are obviously aiding in weight gain, while one is assisting in the proper functioning of your body. In all fairness this statement is coming from someone living a keto lifestyle that choses not to take in carbs.
Are Carbs Created Equal for Portions?
Let’s get some visualization going for this question. If you take a standard small bag of chips that you may sit down at night to snack on. That bag of chips has 20 carbs in it. I don’t know about you, but I used to go for the larger bags, but let’s keep is small. Another item that has about 20 carbs in it is broccoli. However, to get to 20 carbs you must have three cups of it. That’s the equivalent of a large freezer bag. If you’re hungry which portion, would you rather have?
We can make this difference even more glaring with a chocolate bar. The unnamed most popular chocolate bar in North America has 40 carbs in it. I used to enjoy a nice chocolate bar, but it was a snack. Turns out if I wanted to blow 40 carbs on cauliflower, I would need six cups. I don’t need to do math to say which one would satisfy my hunger more.
If It’s The Same Number Are Carbs Created Equal?
I have another example for this one. Let’s take a strand of licorice. It has only 3 carbs in it. Brussel Sprouts also only have three carbs in them. If it’s the same number of carbs they must be equal? Not even close.
That licorice is three carbs of sugar and made up of chemicals and artificial flavors that were never really meant to be consumed by humans. The Brussel Sprouts on the other hand are packed full of Vitamin K, which is essential for bone health.
There is no way these carbs can be equal as one helps your body and the other does nothing. The number is important, but what makes up that number is what counts.
Conclusion
When reading back over this I was correct. The blog turned out to be part rant and part science. This is one of those questions people ask and they already know the answer to. No matter what lifestyle you chose there is no one that feels or promotes the fact that a sugary snack is equal to a fresh veggie.
Are all carbs created equal? Of course not.
Bill
