Certainly carbohydrates in food are no less important component than proteins and fats. All of them are vital nutrients in the food, and the human body needs them. Carbohydrates are the main material, easily accessible and high-energy, which supports the vital activity of a living creature.
What carbohydrates can be and what are they for?
It is known that carbohydrates in foods can be simple and complex. The first include: glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, galactose. They are used as fast energy resources. For example, for the brain, muscles and kidneys, as well as red blood cells (red blood cells), only glucose is suitable. Complex carbohydrates, such as starch, pectins and cellulose, are necessary for similar purposes. So, starch is a long-digestible source of energy. Pectins and cellulose in the human body do not break down, but this does not mean that they are not needed. These carbohydrates must be present in the products in order to ensure the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. It is carbohydrates that serve as a reserve of energy, for which they are stored in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen.
What foods contain carbohydrates
- Sweet, flour products (including pasta), bread, honey, chocolate.
- Fruits, vegetables, milk, sour cream, mushrooms.
In this case, foods rich in carbohydrates and listed in the first group, with any type of food should not be consumed excessively.
Carbohydrates are guilty of the problem of excess weight
The metabolism of carbohydrates and fats in the body is interconnected. With an excessive intake of carbohydrates from food, as already mentioned, they are stored in reserve. But if there are too many of them, and a person is inactive, carbohydrates begin to turn into substances of “long-term storage” - fats. This is the mechanism of gaining excess body weight. With a lack of carbohydrate intake, reserve fats are first consumed for the needs of the body, then the use of the body's own proteins begins - exhaustion occurs.
On the principle of reducing the amount of carbohydrates that come with food, the so-called carbohydrate-free diets are based: Atkins, the Kremlin diet. In them, the intake of proteins and fats is not completely limited, only carbohydrates are almost completely excluded. The products contain a certain amount of them, taken into account in grams per 100 grams of product. Based on these figures, a person calculates the daily diet so as not to exceed the allowable amount.
Often people on a carbohydrate- free diet ask the question: “Is carbohydrate-free food good or bad?” Firstly, no proper diet allows you to remove any nutritional component at all, since it is very harmful. It needs only to be limited. Secondly, with such diets there is an increased load on the liver and kidneys due to an increase in the intensity of protein metabolism. But these kinds of diets are effective, only you need to use them wisely and after consulting a doctor.