What are the sources of low-carbohydrate foods?

Carbohydrates are one of the five required food groups. It is a common myth that by cutting out carbohydrates from your diet, you will incur weight loss. By having low carb meals or incorporating complex carbohydrates daily, it can be quite simple to lose weight by being healthy, thus not damaging your body in any way.

What do carbohydrates do?

Carbohydrates are a necessity within our diet. To keep a balanced and healthy lifestyle, we must ingest it in some form. Carbohydrates are a food compound and can be distinguished in two categories: Simple and complex - bad and good respectively. How do carbohydrates work in the body? Carbs are a source of energy that, when consumed, convert into glucose which is then transported around our bodies in our blood steam - this process takes place when glucose is transformed into energy. Excess glucose is converted to glycogen which is commonly stored as fat. The balance between glucose and glycogen is very delicate and therefore, too many 'bad' carbs will ultimately be stored as glycogen within the body. This is the reason that high carb diets are often an unhealthy option and a low carb diet plan should be in place. This is one of the main reasons for the Atkinson Diet.

Good carbs vs bad carbs

'Good carbs' commonly known as starches or complex carbohydrates can be split into two sections - natural and refined. Natural carbs Natural carbs can be found naturally in foods such as bananas, chickpeas, wholegrain cereal, wholegrain bread, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal rice and wholemeal flour. Natural products such as these can help with weight loss as the body understands how to break these products down, convert them to glucose and use them in the body. As the body is in a delicate balance the overindulgence of these foods will have an opposite effect as the body will have too much glucose to use. Refined carbs Refined carbs are the complex carbohydrates to avoid if you are dieting: Biscuits, white flour, white pasta and white rice. These will convert more readily into glycogen. Bad carbs' 'Bad Carbs' also known as sugars or simple carbohydrates are the ones you should stay away from when dieting. They can be found in foods such as chocolate, white sugar, sweets, snack bars, cakes, jam, biscuits, jelly and honey. As simple carbohydrates are a refined carb, the faster the glucose will be released into your blood stream, the less stable your blood sugar level becomes. This can decrease energy levels in your body.