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HolsumAZ.com > Healthy Living > Health News
Monday, June 28, 2004
By KIM PIERCE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
All carbohydrates are not created equal. So when you consider a low-carb diet, it pays to look where the carbs are coming from.
Just about everyone knows that spinach is a better source of carbohydrates than granulated sugar. But the line blurs with a lot of foods: Is peach cobbler crawling with bad carbs? Is it going too far to demonize bread and pasta?
"There are good and bad carbohydrates," says best-selling author Dr. Andrew Weil in an e-mail interview, "just as there are good and bad fats and better and worse proteins, and it is important to include a healthy balance of all three to achieve optimum health."
Dietitians largely shy away from the good-bad label.
"We should not think of foods as good or bad, but rather as some being better choices than others," says registered dietitian Lona Sandon, assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and American Dietetic Association spokeswoman.
"A good example is a comparison of a regular soda to a glass of milk," Ms. Sandon says. "An 8-fluid-ounce serving of regular soda has about 25 grams of carbohydrate coming from added sugar and provides virtually no other nutrients.
"An 8-fluid-ounce serving of low-fat milk has about 12 grams of carbohydrate from a naturally occurring source," she says, "along with 8 grams of protein, 300 milligrams of calcium, vitamin D, B{-1}{-2} and potassium, just to name a few."
The calories in an 8-ounce can of soda and 8 ounces of 1 percent or 2 percent milk are also about the same, from 100 to 120.
But Katherine B. Chauncey, a registered dietitian who wrote Low-Carb Dieting for Dummies (Wiley Publishing, $21.99), is perfectly willing to call some foods bad.
"Processed foods have so overwhelmed the food supply that it's time for a change of philosophy," says the associate professor and director of nutrition at the Texas Tech Medical Center, who makes the case in her book for getting more "good" carbs into a low-carb diet. Those are the ones, she says, that pack nutrients and fiber.
Carbohydrates "are an essential part of any diet and the body's main source of fuel," writes Dr. Weil, a Harvard-trained physician, in the May issue of his Self Healing newsletter. "The problem is that comparing high-carb and low-carb diets does not address the real issue - which is the quality of the carbohydrates."
Dr. Weil, founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona's Health Sciences Center in Tucson, continues: "Less-refined carbs are digested slowly, keeping insulin levels on a more even keel. Minimally processed foods such as whole grains, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products - all of which contain some carbs - also provide vitamins, minerals, fiber and other healthy compounds like phytochemicals."
If you're serious about carbs, Dr. Weil suggests, familiarize yourself with the glycemic index and the concept of glycemic load.
"High-glycemic foods like rice cakes, bread and potatoes stress the body's insulin system and are some of the chief culprits in obesity," he says. "Highly refined and processed carbohydrate foods ... should be avoided.
"Low- and moderate-glycemic index foods such as beans, whole grains, winter squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, cherries and berries provide the good carbohydrates your body requires."
It's also important to remember that most people are eating more carbs than they realize, even on so-called low-carb diets.
"Keep in mind, low-carb diets are defined as less than 60 grams of carbohydrates per day," says Ms. Sandon of UT Southwestern. "Very low-carb diets are defined as less than 20 grams per day. The reality is that most people are not eating this low of carbohydrate.
"The NDP Group, a consumer research group, recently reported that most people who follow a low-carbohydrate diet are eating about 128 grams of carbohydrate per day," she says. "The Institute of Medicine recommends a minimum of 130 grams of carbs per day."
In the NDP study, "the average carbohydrate intake was found to be 211 grams per day," she says. "Low-carb dieters are 30 percent more likely to be obese and have a deficient intake of vitamins A, C, B{-6} and thiamin, calcium and folate, according to the NDP research."
"Limit your intake of carbohydrates coming from sweetened drinks, snack crackers, refined or instant grains, cakes, cookies, candies and ice cream," Ms. Sandon says.
She reiterates the message espoused by all health experts: "Weight loss is not just about losing weight. It is about healthy eating and exercise habits that promote health."
As for "demon" pasta and bread, "the trouble people get into with these foods often comes down to portion sizes. When choosing pasta and bread, remember to go for the whole wheat or whole grain and keep in mind that ½ cup is a serving of pasta and one slice of bread is a serving."
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