Healthy Girl Tips

Complex Carbs and Your Healthy Way of Life

Posted on 01. Jun, 2017 by Healthy Girl in General Info

We receive lots of questions about complex carbs, so we will try to simplify things for you here.

There are 2 types of carbohydrates.  The first is simple carbohydrates and should be avoided at all costs.  That would include sugar, corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, white and refined flour.  They are broken down and digested quickly.  These ingredients can be obvious as in soda, candy, bread, and baked goods, or not so obvious as in juice, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and barbecue sauce.  Most pastas and cereals are simple carbs.

Complex carbs will have more fiber and vitamins with minimal or no processing.  Good selections during your 24 Day Challenge would be 1/2 cup steamed plain brown rice, quinoa or Freekeh, half a sweet potato, 1/2 cup dry oatmeal, or 3/4 cup of plain beans. For best results if you are looking to lose weight, limit to once per day.  If you are losing weight too quickly, you can add a 2nd serving, but be sure you are eating it with a protein.

You will be eating lots of carbs if you are following a clean eating plan.  For best weight loss results, limit to no more than 100 carbs per day.  That includes the carbs found in veggies, whole fruits, etc.   To do your best, pick high fiber fresh fruits and veggies. For any prepared foods, read the label carefully to see the ingredients and sugar/carb content.  This post can help you and has a link to a good fiber chart.

If you did eat way more carbs than advised (because real life can happen), help can be found here :-).