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What are carbs?

The easiest way to identify a carb ( works for most but not all ) is " is it stodgy ?"

Stodgy foods are foods which generally make you feel very full very quickly and include :

Bread (white is worse, but brown & wholegrain isn't greatly better ... being toasted doesn't make any difference)
Pasta
Rice
Potatoes
(chips, baked, sauted, mashed - all as bad !)
Spaghetti
Baked beans
(also high in sugar, even the 'diet' versions)
Noodles
Anything with flour in it - so dumplings, cakes, waffles, pancakes, scones, yorkshire puddings, biscuits, etc...
Carrots (baby or young carrots are also high in sugars)
Most breakfast cereals (also generally loaded with sugar as well as carbs)

I'm sure others will be along shortly to add more to the list
 
Fruit has carbs in too. Some has more than others.

Meat and fish and water generally are the only products off the top off my head that won't have carbs in them. However, thats for plain meat and fish.....not meat in a chicken curry or fish battered etc). The best app or book to show you foods with carbs in is called "carbs n cals".
All veg, even a lettuce will have carbs in them. The ones with higher carbs are grown in the ground ie carrots, parsnips n swede. Less in beans or sprouts but a fair few in peas.
 
Carbohydrates are starchy and sugary components in many foods and they get broken down in the blood to make glucose, which is used as a source of energy. Glucose also causes our blood sugars to increase, so as diabetics (especially type 2s) we need to avoid eating too many carbs to help prevent high increases, which our bodies aren't able to handle well ( or even at all if you're a type 1). @moonchip's given you a list, and I'd add to this list all sweet foods, e.g. cakes, pastries, sweets, many (high sugar) fruits, fruit juice and other sugar laden dririks. If you also look at the nutritional labelling on food packaging you'll see (amongst other values) the amount of grams of carbohydrates that are contained (usually) in 100 grams weight of that food, and this information can help you avoid the "worst offenders" when choosing what to eat.

In low carb diets, much of the energy we previously obtained from carbohydrates is replaced by that from fats and protein.

Robbity
 
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