When it comes to diet, weight loss, and generally just living a healthy lifestyle, there are plenty of food groups, products, and ingredients that we all know we should be cutting back on and avoiding. We all know about sugar, we all know about the bad kinds of fats, we all know about things like alcohol and caffeine, but what about carbs? This is one of the most debated issues on the internet. The main issue surrounds cutting out carbs completely. This is NOT a good thing to do. Not a single medical reason exists for eliminating a whole food group from your diet unless you have a specific dietary issue/allergy. However, there are very good reasons to look at refined carbs in a different light. Here is why you should avoid refined carbs. This applies to overall health and not just weight loss.
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1. What Are Refined Carbs?
Refined carbohydrates are grain products that have been processed by a food manufacturer so that the whole grain is no longer intact. The refining or milling process removes dietary fibre, vitamins, and minerals. The list includes white bread, pizza dough, pasta, pastries, white flour, white rice, and many breakfast cereals
2. Low Fibre
Carbs in the form of refined grains are actually really low in fibre, which takes away that nutritional value from the food and makes it even more redundant for your diet. White grains tend to have the bran and germ ripped from them, and it is these parts of the grain that contain all of the ‘good stuff’ like fibre, B vitamins, and healthy fats.
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3. Encourage over Eating
Because of their low fibre, it has been proven that refined carb foods are actually more likely to make you overeat. The lack of fibre can cause major swings in your blood sugar levels, which in turn will cause hunger cravings that you will then be tempted to feed with instant impact junk foods. This, of course, poses the threat of increased risk of obesity.
4. Heart Disease and Diabetes
Thanks to the effect that refined carbs can have on your blood sugar levels, that also run the risk of leaving you vulnerable and susceptible to things like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They also increase something in your blood called triglycerides, which are a factor in heart and diabetes issues.
5. Better Carbs
You should avoid refined carbs simply for the reason that there are other, better carb options available to you! You can find healthy, beneficial carbohydrate contents in things like vegetables, fruit, legumes, and others like oats and barley as well as whole grain breads and pasta, and brown rice.
There is no reason for a person on a diet to completely eliminate all types of carbs from their eating habits, it is just these refined, empty examples that you should be looking to cut from your healthy lifestyle.