Low carb, no carb, sugar substitutes, non-nutritive sweeteners… that list could go on and on.
Food labels contain all kinds of terms and information that can be both helpful and confusing. Today, let’s walk through the role of carbohydrates in our bodies and how that intersects with the foods we choose to eat.
Carbohydrates are one of the three major, or macro, nutrients our bodies need. We need carbohydrates for energy. This energy is essential for our cells to do the work they need to make our organs and systems function. There are different types of carbohydrate molecules in the foods we eat. In general, these are sugars, starches and fiber. It is helpful to think about the source of our carbohydrates. They are found primarily in plants, though they also naturally occur in milk.
If you remember back to science class, plants take energy from sunlight and transform it into a stored energy. Depending on the plant, this includes simple, ready to use molecules like sugar, or complex, longer molecules like starch. Fiber gives structure to the plant on the cellular level and forms things like skins and stalks and stems.
When we eat parts of plants we consume the carbohydrates in them. Often, the fruit part of the plant will contain higher amounts of sugar compared to roots or tubers that contain more starch. With modern food science we process many types of fruits, vegetables and grains to remove specific portions to be used as food ingredients. This is how we end up with flours, refined sugar, corn starch, potato starch and much more.
How many carbohydrates should we eat in a day or at a given meal?
This is very dependent on our age and gender. The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend adults ages 19 to 59 aim for 1,600 to 3,000 calories per day. For females ages 31 to 59 it is around 1,600 to 2,200 calories and for males ages 31 to 59 about 2,200 to 3,000 calories per day.
The MyPlate concept is to focus on getting different types of foods at each meal. Half our plate should be fruits and vegetables (especially non-starchy vegetables), one-quarter of our plate should be grains and one-quarter of our plate a protein food. The thought is that this approach is a more natural way of eating than counting calories and specific macronutrients like carbs, fat and protein.
I think our biggest challenge in American society is we have a high amount of carbohydrates available to us in a variety of convenient products. We just don’t think about how many carbs we eat when we consume the things not part of the MyPlate recommendation. The granola bars, candy bars, energy drinks, pop, ice cream, cookies, chips, etc.
As a math person, sometimes calculating the numbers helps me to understand better. The Guidelines recommend 45% to 65% of calories come from carbohydrates. If we put it at 50%, then half of the calories would come from carbs. Since 1 gram of carbohydrate equals 4 calories, that would be 250 grams of carbohydrates for a 2,000 calorie diet or 375 grams of carbohydrate for a 3,000 calorie diet.
That might sound like a lot of carbs. Especially if we eat a medium apple or medium potato, which contain 25 grams of carbs.
But what about drinking a 20 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew with 77 grams of carbs? Or a large Triple Mocha Frozen Coffee from Dunkin with 178 grams of carbs? Maybe eating a one-cup serving of Whit’s Buckeye Frozen Custard with approximately 136 grams or carbs?
If you do an honest assessment of what you eat, how much is included in the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, protein and dairy? How much is processed snacks or even homemade desserts? If you add one more fruit, one more vegetable and one more whole-grain to your day and take away just one sugary snack, how might your health be different?
Today, I’ll leave you with this quote from Barbara Johnson: “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.”
Emily Marrison is the OSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Educator in Coshocton County and Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. She may be reached at 740-622-2265 or marrison.12@osu.edu.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: What are carbohydrates? Why do our bodies need them? What you need to know
Reporting by Emily Marrison, Special to the Tribune / Coshocton Tribune
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