Craving Carbs? Here is the Science.

I often hear people say that they have problems with eating carbohydrates. They believe that they have unnatural and unhealthy cravings or leanings toward carbohydrate-rich foods. The low-carb diets that resurface in popularity from time to time, further confirm in many people’s minds that carbohydrates must somehow be “bad” and that wanting to eat them is a sign of weakness. I would like to clarify some information about carbohydrates with a basic lesson in biochemistry.

Simple and complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates come in many different forms that can be divided into 2 categories: simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates include the simple sugars glucose, galactose, and fructose while complex carbohydrates are starches and fibers that include many simple sugars linked together.

While it might seem that simple carbohydrates or sugars are bad for you and complex carbohydrates are better, this would not be accurate. There are very healthy foods whose carbohydrate source is all simple sugars such as fruits and vegetables. Also, foods that can contribute to obesity, chronic diseases and malnutrition are composed of complex carbohydrates like processed white flour products and other foods like potato chips. Whether a food is rich in simple or complex carbohydrates is irrelevant to a healthy diet. What does matter is the array of nutrients found in foods and how those nutrients, in combination with each other, contribute to health or detract from it.

Carbohydrates: The body’s fuel source

Carbohydrates, specifically glucose, are the preferred fuel for most body functions and the almost sole source of energy for our brains. People on low-carb diets often complain of feeling like their brains are in a “fog” in addition to their overall fatigue. Since carbohydrates are the primary source of fuel, it’s no wonder many people claim to “love carbs.” It seems that is what nature intended for us to do.

For athletes, carbohydrate-rich foods are especially important. When enough carbohydrates are stored in trained muscles before an activity, the muscle works more efficiently fueled by its preferred source, carbohydrate. Therefore, increasing the carbohydrate-rich foods in the diet can improve the performance of the athlete.

Carbohydrates and body weight

For people trying to lose weight, the myth persists that carbohydrates cause further weight gain or prevent weight loss. But since carbohydrates have only 4 calories per gram while fat has 9 calories and alcohol 7 calories, it would be more helpful to cut calories by reducing fat and alcohol than by reducing carbohydrate. Also increasing fiber reduces calories further. Foods highest in fiber, namely fruits, vegetables, and legumes, also have a high percentage of their calories from carbohydrates. In fact, people successful at keeping weight off after they have lost it consume more low fat carbohydrates in the form of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.

The problematic carbohydrate-rich foods for body weight and disease prevention are those that have very little other nutrients such as processed flour where the fiber and many of the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants have been removed. The ubiquitous processed carbohydrates are also typically combined with high amounts of fat and or sugar; fried foods like French fries and tortilla chips, layers of high fat cheeses and meats on a white flour crust, hydrogenated oils mixed with sugar in many cakes, doughnuts, cookies, and muffins. In fact, carbohydrate cravings may actually be cravings for sugar, fat, and salt in combination with the carbohydrate-rich food and not the food alone.

Satisfying cravings in a healthy way

So the next time you want to blame carbohydrates for causing your weight gain or preventing you from losing weight, it would be best to point the finger at the real culprits rather than all carbohydrate-rich foods. However, sugar cravings persist when someone is in a chronically malnourished state but can be helped by consuming more fruit, nature’s candy. Even dried fruit with its concentrated calories and sweetness is a much better choice than the many sugary and fatty treats available. So don’t feel guilty satisfying carbohydrate cravings from fruits, vegetables, and legumes. The loads of nutrients in these foods prevent the vicious craving cycles.

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