From ClevelandClinicWellness
Fill Your Diet with Intact Carbs to Look and Feel Fantastic!
by Roxanne B. Sukol, M.D., M.S.
In my post about stripped carbohydrates I explained that not all carbs are the same. There is an important difference between carbohydrates with an intact fiber matrix, the way nature intended, and stripped carbohydrates, in which the fiber matrix has been removed. Whereas my prior post focused on stripped carbohydrates, this one is about intact carbohydrates.
What Exactly Are Intact Carbs?
Just as there are four major sources of stripped carbohydrate, there happen to be four major sources of intact carbohydrate: vegetables, beans, fruits, and grains (whole, of course). While most people easily identify grains as carbohydrates, and some include fruits as well, many people still do not think of vegetables and beans as carbohydrates. However, these four types of plants — vegetables, beans, fruits and grains — comprise the carbohydrate category.
Here’s a quick tip for eating healthy: Look for colorful foods. The widest variety of color and texture comes from the carbohydrate group, especially the fruits and vegetables. Proteins are mostly brown. Oils are mostly yellow, but fruits and vegetables? Rainbow City! It looks like Mom was right all along: If you want to increase the nutritional value of your diet, eat your vegetables. In fact, eat more produce of all types. Eat as large a variety of colors as you can.
From Intact Carbs to Stripped Carbs
In contrast to intact carbohydrates, sugar, white flour, white rice, corn starch and corn syrup are stripped carbohydrates derived, respectively, from these raw materials: sugar cane, wheat, rice, and corn. While the raw versions contain large amounts of fiber and other nutrients, the stripped versions do not. In addition to sugar cane, dates and beets constitute two other raw material sources of sugar. Dates and beets are both nutritional powerhouses in their raw forms, but when they’re stripped of their fiber, color, and phytonutrients, all that remains is the sugar and calories.
Why Are Intact Carbs Stripped?
One important reason that intact carbs are stripped has to do with shelf life. The first part of a grain to become rancid, or go bad, is normally the germ. The germ of a wheat kernel is filled with oil, and oils are, by their very nature, fragile. They are easily oxidized, susceptible to the oxygen in the air around them. Oxidation causes oils to become rancid, and rancid oil is the enemy of shelf life. The unpleasant odor of a rancid product is hard to forget, and not easily hidden. The longer a product can be kept on the shelf, the more likely it is to be sold before it goes bad. And not surprisingly, food manufacturers want to avoid throwing away food that has turned rancid because it’s really just throwing away profit. Vacuum packing is one way to prevent oxidation of baked goods. Another way is to make those baked goods from flour that has been stripped of its germ.
Read more from ClevelandClinicWellness >>
Fill Your Diet with Intact Carbs to Look and Feel Fantastic!
by Roxanne B. Sukol, M.D., M.S.
In my post about stripped carbohydrates I explained that not all carbs are the same. There is an important difference between carbohydrates with an intact fiber matrix, the way nature intended, and stripped carbohydrates, in which the fiber matrix has been removed. Whereas my prior post focused on stripped carbohydrates, this one is about intact carbohydrates.
What Exactly Are Intact Carbs?
Just as there are four major sources of stripped carbohydrate, there happen to be four major sources of intact carbohydrate: vegetables, beans, fruits, and grains (whole, of course). While most people easily identify grains as carbohydrates, and some include fruits as well, many people still do not think of vegetables and beans as carbohydrates. However, these four types of plants — vegetables, beans, fruits and grains — comprise the carbohydrate category.
Here’s a quick tip for eating healthy: Look for colorful foods. The widest variety of color and texture comes from the carbohydrate group, especially the fruits and vegetables. Proteins are mostly brown. Oils are mostly yellow, but fruits and vegetables? Rainbow City! It looks like Mom was right all along: If you want to increase the nutritional value of your diet, eat your vegetables. In fact, eat more produce of all types. Eat as large a variety of colors as you can.
From Intact Carbs to Stripped Carbs
In contrast to intact carbohydrates, sugar, white flour, white rice, corn starch and corn syrup are stripped carbohydrates derived, respectively, from these raw materials: sugar cane, wheat, rice, and corn. While the raw versions contain large amounts of fiber and other nutrients, the stripped versions do not. In addition to sugar cane, dates and beets constitute two other raw material sources of sugar. Dates and beets are both nutritional powerhouses in their raw forms, but when they’re stripped of their fiber, color, and phytonutrients, all that remains is the sugar and calories.
Why Are Intact Carbs Stripped?
One important reason that intact carbs are stripped has to do with shelf life. The first part of a grain to become rancid, or go bad, is normally the germ. The germ of a wheat kernel is filled with oil, and oils are, by their very nature, fragile. They are easily oxidized, susceptible to the oxygen in the air around them. Oxidation causes oils to become rancid, and rancid oil is the enemy of shelf life. The unpleasant odor of a rancid product is hard to forget, and not easily hidden. The longer a product can be kept on the shelf, the more likely it is to be sold before it goes bad. And not surprisingly, food manufacturers want to avoid throwing away food that has turned rancid because it’s really just throwing away profit. Vacuum packing is one way to prevent oxidation of baked goods. Another way is to make those baked goods from flour that has been stripped of its germ.
Read more from ClevelandClinicWellness >>
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