Why you should never give up complex carbohydrates

What are complex carbohydrates and how can I lose weight with carbs? Here's info and an ultimate food list with complex carbs.

Low carb is the trend par excellence. We have also already presented some recipes without carbohydrates. However, we do not do this because we are low carb followers. But because we are curious and like to try new recipes. :)

With low carb, you try to avoid carbohydrates as much as possible. They are said to make you fat.

But that's not true. Simply blaming it on carbs is not only unfair, it would also be too easy.

It depends very much on whether you eat complex carbohydrates or simple carbs.

You'll learn in this post,

• why carbohydrates are important,
• What simple carbs are and why they give you cravings,
• what complex carbohydrates are,
• the best foods with complex carbs,
• How complex carbohydrates can help you lose weight and build muscle,
• what the glycemic index means,
• how carbohydrates are digested.

Low carb is viewed rather critically by many nutritionists. This is because carbohydrates have always been important energy suppliers for our body.

But it is also a fact that it makes sense to rethink your carbohydrate consumption. But not all carbohydrates are the same.

Here's why you shouldn't cut complex carbohydrates from your diet.

By the way, the countertrend to low carb is the high carb diet. It relies on complex carbohydrates and foods that provide few calories but at the same time keep you full for a long time.

Tip: In the Book "High-Carb Diet," which you can order from Amazon, you can learn more about it.

This is how complex carbohydrates help you lose weight. Even though they very often have a bad reputation.

Why carbohydrates are important

Besides protein and fat, carbohydrates are the main components of our diet.

They are fast energy suppliers for our brain. Glucose is produced during digestion. In this form, the carbohydrates reach the brain via the blood, where they are immediately burned.

You will certainly know this effect. If you are very hungry and eat, for example, noodles, you will feel great afterwards. The body has energy quickly and you could pull out trees.

However, our brain cannot store glucose. So as soon as the pasta is digested and the glucose in the blood is broken down, the blood sugar level drops and you are hungry again. And that happens very quickly with simple carbohydrates.

How many carbohydrates per day can I eat?

Anyone who has ever tried a low carb diet will be in a bad mood at the beginning. This is because our brain is used to the supply of carbohydrates. If the carbs stay out longer you get headaches, concentration problems, have no performance and feel dog sick.

Complex carbohydrates provide your brain with glucose for a long time and slower. They maintain the performance of the brain, make you full for a long time and very many provide few calories.

If you want to lose weight, it is very important that you eat complex carbohydrates. And don't let the word carbohydrates scare you off.

Especially if you are athletic, your body will soon go on strike if it doesn't get carbs. Before competitions, athletes are even recommended to eat carbohydrates. The body can quickly convert them into energy.

What does carbohydrates of which sugar actually mean?

Simple and complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are all types of sugar. However, you need to distinguish between three major groups.

• Simple sugar - Monosaccharides: They consist of a single sugar molecule. Single sugars include dextrose (glucose), fructose (fuctose) and mucilage sugar (glactose).
• Dual sugar- Disaccharides: These are two sugar molecules that have joined together to form a short molecular chain. These are milk sugar (lactose), cane and beet sugar = household sugar (sucrose), maltose (malt sugar).
• And Multiple sugars - Polysaccharides: They consist of at least 10 single sugar molecules.

In this context, we often speak of good and bad (or bad) carbohydrates. Bad carbohydrates, i.e. single and double sugars, are quickly absorbed carbohydrates.

Sounds a little very scientific, doesn't it? But it is not as complicated as it seems :)

Of course, you can go much deeper, especially with the single and double twitch. But we won't do that for now. We want to take a closer look at complex carbohydrates.

To help you understand how carbs are metabolized in the body and why complex carbs are better, here's a very brief overview.

What are simple carbohydrates?

Quickly absorbable carbohydrates are provided by monosaccharides and disaccharides. These carbs are very quickly absorbed by our body - i.e. released into the blood in the form of glucose.

The body absorbs them very quickly because it does not have to break them down long molecular chains into their components.

The blood sugar level skyrockets. In this short time, there is a lot of sugar in your blood.

Our body begins to temporarily store the excess sugar in the liver and muscles.

If you don't burn the sugar right now, the liver and muscle stores will be full very quickly.

Any remaining sugar is converted into fat. The body therefore creates a fat store in order to have long-term energy reserves. Hello angled arms, belly ring and thick thighs.

Because where our body puts on the fat, we can not influence.

Quickly absorbable carbohydrates make you hungry

As if it were not enough that the excess sugar is stored as body fat, it also makes you additionally hungry.

The big problem with carbohydrates that are metabolized quickly is that our bodies always want more of them.

The sugar level rises rapidly. You feel full of power and happy. And then ... Then comes the deep fall: fatigue & ravenous hunger.

The body demands even more carbs to be happy again. You know this feeling as ravenous hunger. Mostly, this hunger is directed towards sweets, i.e. everything that also contains simple carbohydrates.

The vicious circle begins.

Here's what you really should know about carbohydrates!

Typical foods with single and double sugars

• Household sugar: In all foods that contain sugar!
• White flour products: Pasta, rolls, baguettes and co.

What are complex carbohydrates?

Anyone who deals with the subject of nutrition will sooner or later stumble across the term "complex carbohydrates".

Complex carbohydrates can only be metabolized slowly. Our body needs much more time to break down the long molecular chains.

That is why sugar enters the blood very slowly and only in small amounts.

The risk of excess energy being turned into fat is low.

All multiple sugars fall into the list of complex carbohydrates.

Do you already know our delicious whole grain recipes?

• Wholemeal roll with carrots
• Halloumi wholemeal burger
• Wholemeal bread with yeast
• Healthy pancakes with wholemeal flour and yogurt
• Lupine flour pancakes with whole spelt flour

Dietary fiber contains complex carbohydrates

Right away: Even though they carry the word "ballast", they are nothing negative, but something good. Our body can break down dietary fiber only with difficulty or hardly at all. They bind water and swell up in the stomach.

As a result, food stays in the stomach longer. In a nutshell: Dietary fiber makes you feel full.

So if you're looking for complex carbohydrates to lose weight, go for a high-fiber diet.

Food with complex carbohydrates

• All whole grain products such as bread or pasta
• Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus.
• Soy products and teff
• Fruits like apples, pears, pineapple, melon
• All kinds of nuts
• Skim milk products
• Legumes such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas
• Wheat bran, oat flakes, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, millet, lupins
• Natural rice
• Sweet potatoes and potatoes

When it comes to vegetables, potatoes and sweet potatoes are also among the good carbohydrates. Complex carbs are found in starchy foods, which also contain a lot of fiber.

How do complex carbohydrates help with weight loss and training?

In order for us to digest complex carbohydrates, the body has to expend a lot of energy. Therefore, if you eat predominantly complex carbs, you promote fat loss.

They keep us full longer because their energy is not broken down as quickly. So we can use energy from complex carbohydrates for longer.

This keeps cravings and binge eating away.

And that's the whole secret of the high carb diet: healthy carbohydrates!

By the way: Sport increases the consumption of carbohydrates and reduces calories. This helps you lose weight.

Are complex carbohydrates necessary for muscle building?

Yes. As a rule, athletes have a higher energy requirement. Intensive training is of little use if the diet is not adapted. The body then lacks the building material for the muscles.

Complex carbohydrates provide you with slow and constant energy during training. Of course, you can also quickly eat something sweet. This also gives you power. However, this leads to blood sugar fluctuations, which in turn leads to a drop in performance.

This can increase the risk of injury and promote fat storage despite training.

More energy during training with fruit

Complex carbs, along with protein and fat, are important for healthy muscle building. If you're hungry right before a workout, grab a piece of fruit. Especially bananas provide energy very quickly.

Many athletes replenish their body's carbohydrate stores before competitions. To do so, they deliberately eat a large amount of complex carbohydrates.

This gives them power and energy for training or competition.

You can specifically improve your energy supply via complex carbohydrates.

Do you already know these 26 vegetables without carbohydrates

Which carbohydrates are healthy and what is the glycemic index?

However, one cannot say that all simple carbohydrates are bad. Here, too, you have to differentiate a little.

Carbohydrates from fruit are for the most part also among the bad carbs. However, they are of course much better than carbohydrates from highly processed products such as white flour or sweets.

This is where the glycemic index comes into play. The GI tells you how much your blood sugar level rises after you eat carbohydrates. With simple sugars, it goes up and down like a roller coaster.

Dextrose is taken as the comparative value. It has a glycemic index of 100.

• If the value is below 55, you have eaten foods that have a low glycemic index.
• Up to a value of 69, foods are counted that have an average GI.
• And the glycemic index of over 70 includes very quickly absorbed carbohydrates.

If you are planning a diet, you have to pay attention to this value. You don't have to give up carbohydrates completely, but eat natural carbs with a low GI.

This is called the slow carb diet - that is, slow carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates and digestion

As you now know, it takes longer to digest good carbohydrates. But digestion begins in the mouth.

More precisely, during chewing and through the enzyme alpha amylase. That's why it's very important that you take your time eating and chewing!

What we all understand by digestion then starts in the small intestine. Here, enzymes break down the carbohydrate chains. Depending on whether the carbohydrates are simple or complex, this process takes different amounts of time.

Small example: In the small intestine, household sugar is converted into the components fructose and glucose. They are absorbed into the blood and transported to the cells.

How many complex carbohydrates should one eat daily?

Oh if only it were that easy to provide a number.

How many carbs you should eat per day depends on a number of factors:

• Age
• Size
• Gender
• Body stature
• Sport activity
• and more

A healthy adult person can consume about 120 grams of carbohydrates per day. If he wants to maintain his current weight. When losing weight, the value should fall below 100 grams.

However, providing a completely accurate number is very difficult. What is true for everyone is that complex carbs should be the main component of carbohydrates.

Our conclusion

Carbohydrates are not a harmful nutrient that makes us fat. Even if this is very often conveyed. Complex carbohydrates are important for our health and protect against performance lows. These lows occur very often with low carb.

You don't have to give up carbohydrates to lose weight. However, it is important that you eat the right carbs. In other words, carbs that are digested slowly and enter the bloodstream slowly. This keeps the blood sugar level constant and prevents cravings.

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