Avoiding carbohydrates out of fear or confusion will deny your body from core minerals and nutrients (also, they taste great). Given the fad diets that have been prominent over the last few years, it is easy to see why many of us have become overwhelmed with what to include in our diet and what is considered 'bad' for you.

Amelia maintains that rather than focusing on foods to deprive ourselves of, we should explore all the wonderful foods that our body needs, making eating and cooking a joyful experience. It is important to remember that fruit and vegetables are also carbohydrates so there are a lot of highly nutritious carbohydrates that are good for you.

### What is a carbohydrate?

Carbohydrate is one of the three macronutrients - the other two are protein and fat, and are found in a wide range of foods and drinks. Our body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose (sugar) before absorbing it into the bloodstream for energy. Most carbohydrate-rich foods have incredible health benefits, from keeping our digestive system healthy and making us feel full and satisfied between meals, to fuelling to the probiotic bacteria in our gut.

Carbohydrates are found in an array of foods, including:

* Fruits

* Vegetables (especially root vegetables)

* Grains (quinoa, whole oats, buckwheat, brown rice, millet, amaranth)

* Bread (rye, sourdough)

* Pasta (brown rice, or whole-wheat)

* Potatoes (regular or sweet)

* Pastries, Cakes, Biscuits, Sweets

Getting the right portion of carbohydrates varies for each person based on your lifestyle. If you are mostly sedentary then you won't need to eat as many carbohydrates as if you are highly active. As a rough guideline, Amelia aims for two portions the size of the palm of your hand per day.


### Whole grains

When understanding whole grains, a good way to visualise them is by looking at an avocado that has been halved. This is because of the three layers you have in whole grains: the avocado skin represents the bran, the green interior of the avocado represents the starch, and lastly, the seed which represents the germ. The reason that whole grains are so healthy for you is that they haven't been processed therefore all three of their layers are intact, whereas processed carbohydrates only have one or two of the layers remaining. Having the outer layer (the bran) intact makes it harder for our bodies to digest the starch (which contains sugars), which in turn lowers the impact on our blood sugar levels.

Examples of whole grains:

* Brown rice

* Wild rice

* Quinoa

* Oats

* Amaranth

* Teff wheat

* Buckwheat

*Recommended:*[Anna Jones' Caesar Salad with Crispy Chickpeas Recipe](https://blog.createacademy.com/anna-jones-vegetarian-caesar-salad-recipe/)

### Wholemeal

Wholemeal is still really nutritious as it has the starch and germ intact, it's the same as whole grains except they have been processed so that we don't have the bran protecting the other nutrients. This means that the sugars from the layer of starch are going to be much more available to us, which will have a quicker impact on our blood sugar levels.

Examples of wholemeal:

* Wholemeal pasta

* Buckwheat

* Brown bread with seeds

* Bulgur (cracked wheat)

* Millet

* Oatmeal

* Popcorn

### Processed / refined carbohydrates

At this stage the bran and the germ have been removed, and you are just left with the starch. Therefore all of the nutrition is gone and it is just pure starch. This does not mean that these forms of carbohydrates are bad for you, they are part of a balanced and joyful diet but they are just lacking in nutritional value compared to their counterparts. A good guideline is that most of the refined carbohydrates are white. It is also worth noting that both the whole grain and wholemeal contain lots of fibre, whereas processed/refined have had most of theirs stripped away.

Examples of refined / processed carbohydrates:

* White Flour

* White pasta

* White bread

* Croissants

### Blood sugar

One of the reasons for choosing whole grains is that they release their sugars so much slower. It is important to understand how the sugars that we eat can impact our blood sugars. When we eat a carbohydrate they get converted into sugar and that sugar enters our bloodstream. The body likes to keep the amount of sugar in our blood within a very specific range at any one time. Therefore if we are putting lots of sugary foods into our bloodstream that will really impact our blood sugar management which will cause us to have peaks and troughs of highs and lows throughout the day. This has a big effect on our mood, energy, and appetite so ideally we want to be eating foods that release their sugars as slowly as possible in order to keep our blood sugar stable.

### Combining food

As we rarely eat carbohydrates alone, it is important to think about the combinations we pair with them to get the most out of our nutrition and to also keep a balanced blood sugar level. Combining fibre, healthy fats, and protein is the ideal way to slow down the absorption of those sugars.

### Gluten

You may be wondering whether or not you should cut out gluten from your diet. Some people are absolutely fine eating gluten, whereas others may find that they have symptoms, and some people, for example, those with Coeliac disease, need to cut gluten out completely for their health. It is a very personal decision whether you eat gluten based on how your body reacts to it but Amelia always encourages eating the whole meal and nutritious options should you choose to eat it in your diet. Removing gluten does not necessarily mean that you have a healthier diet, particularly if you are opting for the processed gluten-free foods. Amelia recommends eating foods that are naturally gluten-free such as whole grains.

It is important that if you do have symptoms that suggest that gluten doesn't suit your body, you should speak to your doctor prior to removing it from your diet, as they will need to assess you with blood tests from when you have it included in your diet. If you cut out gluten before these tests the results will not be accurate.

If you found Amelia Freer's lesson on carbohydrates insightful and would like to know how to prepare her favourite carbohydrate dish then you can find out more about her course with us below.

*Watch next:*[The Joy of Healthy Eating with Amelia Freer](https://www.createacademy.com/courses/amelia-freer)