What Is Carbohydrate?

What is carbohydrate? -- and what should we do about our cravings for it -- are questions many people ask. There is so much confusion on this subject. Predictably, many diets are created by those whose main reason is to make money rather than to correctly inform the public. The processed food industry also adds to the confusion by using some of the money it earns to spread favorable stories about the "importance" and the luxury aspect of the many food items they market.

Carbohydrate

Many so-called "high-protein" diets place the emphasis on avoiding carbohydrates as a way to lose weight. They demonize carbohydrate, giving the public the feeling that there is something wrong or unnatural about eating carbohydrates. There is a small grain of truth hidden here, which we will explain in a moment.

Let's start with simple definition of "what is carbohydrate?" Carbohydrate is a molecule containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is formed by plants to convert the energy of sunlight into an energy-packed molecule that is our body's preferred source of energy. Our bodies most efficiently process carbohydrate to produce the energy our cells need for every function, from breathing, to physical work, to repair of bodily tissues. We cannot live for long without carbohydrates.

While it is true that we also need protein and fats in our diet, there are commonly sufficient amounts of proteins and fats included in the many carbohydrate-bearing foods we eat -- or should eat. Learn more about levels of protein contained in foods considered "carbohydrates."

Custom Search

There are many misconceptions that keep us overweight and undernourished. One of these is that meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk products are primarily protein foods. It is true they contain much protein -- they are compact forms of protein -- but they are also packed with animal fats and cholesterol -- and very little or no carbohydrate.

Fat, of any kind, yields 9 calories per gram, making it more than twice as many calories than either carbohydrate or protein (which contain 4 calories per gram each).

By eating meat/cheese/poultry we are filling up on more than twice as many calories as we need, plus we are getting a lot of fat. These are very rich foods and they don't digest as quickly nor as cleanly as carbohydrates do. In addition, these heavy foods, as the centerpiece of most Westernized diets, crowd out the one food group we really need for energy. So, if we avoid carbohydrates, we are still left with a basic hunger for energy, even after a huge meal of mainly protein and fat.

Here is where human ingenuity comes in. Cooks long ago invented the "dessert" -- a very sweet, concentrated mix of carbohydrates -- to give us a large dose of the carbs we crave, while not taking up much space in an already-distended stomach. Diabolically brilliant, delicious, and fattening.

The problem with desserts is the type of carbohydrate they contain. Here is one more example of mankind trying to improve on a good thing and turning it into a problem. Desserts are mainly made of refined carbohydrates, which are created by removing most of the vitamins, fiber, and starches of a vegetable source like sugarcane, beets, or corn. The starch of the carbohydrate is then further refined by cooking to break it down into the individual packets of sugar, which make up the carbohydrate molecule. This leaves us with only the fastest-burning, most intensely satisfying sugar, but it gives us only a fleeting, short-lived "sugar rush" and then lets us down hard -- and wanting more.

Substituting complex carbohydrates for refined carbohydrates, leaves us with empty calories, with no redeeming nutritional value from vitamins, fiber, and phytonutrients that would be found in a naturally sweet food, such as fruit.

This critical difference between complex (natural) carbohydrates and refined carbohydrates is the key to understanding "what is carbohydrate."

Desserts also contain lots of fat, which tends to be deposited on our body. It is usually only burned as energy in last-resort situation -- i.e., when we are doing prolonged aerobic exercise. Protein can also be converted into carbohydrate in emergency situations, such as on a no-carb diet.

Now are you getting a clearer idea of what is carbohydrate?

Diets that restrict carbohydrates are fighting human nature. It is patently insane to remove the one absolutely essential element of natural nutrition from the diet -- carbohydrates -- and force the body to make do with steaks, bacon, cheese, and eggs, which contain a large percentage of fat, pesticide and other toxic residues, and excessive protein, which must be excreted by the kidneys(damaging them over time).

The proof of the idiocy of diets that reduce complex carbohydrates and thus, increase the percentage of animal fats and proteins, is to be found by comparing the health of the many human societies that get most of their calories from carbohydrates and those who base their diets around animal foods.

The former live longer, perform better athletically, and do not suffer from the many diet-related diseases common in Westernized countries where meat and dairy foods are the centerpiece of their diet. Dr. John McDougall has a fine chapter explaining what is carbohydrate, and why it is the preferred food of the human body in his book, "The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss." In it, he details our anatomy and how it favors our choice of unrefined carbohydrates, or what he calls "starches" for fuel.

If you need more evidence from a medical doctor to convince you of the naturalness of building your diet around starchy foods -- corn, wheat, potatoes, whole-grain rice, beans, vegetables, and fruits -- that book is the one to read.

If this were an episode of the TV program "Jeopardy", and you were given the subject of "the Perfect Fuel for the Human Body," the correct response would be: What is carbohydrate? More information relative to "What is Carbohydrate"