Colour Coding Carbohydrates – A Practical Approach

We break down your carbohydrates, so you don’t have to

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates (or saccharides) are the sugars, starches, and fibres found in a wide variety of foods like grains, vegetables, fruits, and milk products. They are called carbohydrates because, at the biochemical level, they break down into the atoms carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in your body. They’re often alienated and insulted in today's modern world, but they remain important to a healthy life. We’ll tell you why.

Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients. The other two are proteins and fats. These macronutrients are the key to optimal body functioning. All of these macronutrients originate from your diet. Your body can’t produce them on its own.

Colour Coding the Types of Carbohydrates – Then and Now

Simple and complex carbohydrates. Monosaccharides vs polysaccharides. These are TMI - Too Much Information. Yes, it can be confusing trying to classify carbohydrates based on these criteria. Let’s keep it simple, shall we? We’ll use colours, specifically the colours white, brown, and green. Yes, in physics, white is not a colour. But this is biochemistry and for simplicity sake, shhh…here they are:

1. White Carbohydrates – The Sugars

White carbohydrates are also called the fast-acting carbohydrates. They primarily provide a quick boost of energy. They also go by many names such as sucrose, table sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), confectioner’s sugar, brown sugar, and powdered sugar etc.
These sugars are commonly found in processed foods. They are commonly devoid of their natural nutrients. If you eat a lot of these, they can lead to weight gain and also increase your risk for chronic diseases.
They can be naturally occurring or occur as added sugars (sugars added during food processing). Naturally occurring sugars are found in milk and fruit. Added sugars are found in many processed foods including in canned fruit in syrup, cookies, sweets, and ice cream.
Historically, white carbohydrates have been regarded as bad carbohydrates. Except the naturally occurring sugars found in milk and fruit, the majority of them are refined sugars. Presently, consumption of too much white carbohydrates leads to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus type 2, and coronary heart disease.

2. Brown Carbohydrates – The Starches

In the past, brown carbohydrates were seen as partly unhealthy because of their composition. They’re made up of sugars that are linked together. As a result, they can bring about the same negative health effects as white carbohydrates if eaten in excess.
Recently, it was discovered that a type of starch (resistant starch) yields short chain fatty acids in your colon after fermentation. These short chain fatty acids serve as food to beneficial bacteria that live within your digestive tract. That is why it’s best to consume more resistant starch compared to digestible starch.
Foods abundant in starch are the following:
1. Grains like rice, barley, oats and wheat. Grains may be further subdivided into refined grains or whole grains.
2. Vegetables like corn, potatoes and kumara.
3. Beans and legumes like peas, chickpeas, lima beans, soybeans, kidney beans, lentils etc.

3. Green Carbohydrates – The Fibres

You can’t find a reasonable amount of fibre in any animal products (examples eggs, meat, fish, poultry). Fibre is that part of the plant food which your digestive system can’t process. It passes through your digestive system undigested.

Fibre adds stool bulk, promotes smooth bowel movements, and decreases your risk of developing colorectal cancer. The green carbohydrates group is the healthiest for us. You need approximately 25 to 30 grams per day of fibre to appreciate these benefits. Aim for at least 2.5 grams (preferably 5 grams) of fibre per food serving.
Fibre has long been regarded as safe and good for your health for a multitude of reasons.

You can find fibre in good amounts in the following foods:
1. Fruits and vegetables, especially those which have skins that you can eat too.
2. Some brown carbohydrates also contain reasonable levels of fibre like legumes and beans (garbanzos, pintos, black beans, and kidney beans).
3. Go nuts on different kinds of nuts! Almonds, walnuts, and peanuts are good examples.
4. Foods which contain the word whole in their names: whole wheat pasta, whole grains, whole grain cereals, and whole grain bread also supply some fibre.

How Many Carbohydrates is it Healthy to Eat Every Day?

According to health authorities (New Zealand Ministry of Health and Australian Department of Health), carbohydrates should make up anywhere between 50-55% and 45-65% of the energy intake for New Zealanders and Australians respectively.
For example, an Australian adult man who plans to consume 2,000 calories per day, would have anywhere between 900 to 1,300 calories coming from carbohydrates (45-65% of 2,000 calories). One gram of carbohydrate provides four calories. That computation results in 225 to 325 grams of carbohydrates per day. The greatest amount should come from green carbohydrates. Keeping it simple, you should eat plenty of green carbohydrates, with some of the brown carbohydrates, and limit the white carbohydrates.

If you have diabetes mellitus type 2 and other chronic diseases, it will be more challenging to keep your carbohydrate intake in check. You may need the help of a nutritionist or dietician to tailor your food intake. You will need to learn carbohydrate counting. You also need frequent blood glucose monitoring to assess the effects of your carbohydrate intake.

In general, you need to lower your carbohydrate intake to around 250 grams per day. That’s roughly 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and between 15 to 30 grams for your snacks. Keep your blood glucose levels steady and avoid spikes. You can do this by avoiding white carbohydrates and concentrating more on green carbohydrates for sustained blood glucose levels. As well as adequate fat and protein to stablise your blood glucose levels.
If you’re healthy and plan to swim across the Pacific Ocean, err, go swimming or to run a marathon, you could benefit from some extra carbohydrates 24 to 48 hours before the activity. This increases the glycogen stores in your liver. Top it off with adequate hydration. Your complex carbohydrates will come from your brown and green carbohydrate foods.
If you want to lose weight, a low-carbohydrate diet has been scientifically proven to decrease your appetite and increase your metabolism. Aim between 50 to 150 grams of carbohydrates per day. Avoid carbohydrates which belong to both the white and brown groups.

Tips for How to Increase the Green Carbohydrates in Your Diet

Put more green carbohydrates in everything you eat…just kidding.
Cauliflower rice. This is easy and quick to prepare. You use cauliflower (fibre, green) instead of rice (starch, brown). You can even add extra virgin olive oil and salt for extra flavour.
Don’t always settle for potato. Try roasting other root vegetables like butternut squash, beets, and parsnips. Mix them all together.
Use aubergine slices instead of pasta for lasagne. A pasta-less lasagna!

Not all carbohydrates are bad for you. Some are healthier than others. Keep it simple, eat more green carbohydrates, some brown carbohydrates, and try to limit the white carbohydrates.