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Cutting Back on "Bad" Carbs from Reader's Digest Stealth Health
Thanks to the popularity of low-carb diets, nearly half of Americans say they are watching the amount of carbohydrates they eat. Bear in mind that there is a huge difference between Cheese Doodles and oatmeal. Both might be categorized as carbs, but their benefits are on opposite ends of the health spectrum. What is a “bad carb”? White flour, refined sugar, and white rice. All of these have been refined to increase shelf life and to hasten cooking. Why are refined carbs a problem? They digest so quickly that they cause blood sugar surges that lead to weight gain and other health troubles.
Here are some ways to avoid troublesome carbs while still getting the fuel you need for good health:
1. Tell the waiter to hold the bread. If it's not put on the table, you won't eat any.
2. At Chinese restaurants, ask for brown rice, and limit how much you eat to one cup. At home, always cook brown rice instead of white. Brown rice hasn't been processed and still has its high-fiber nutrients.
3. Instead of bread, use eggplant slices to make a delicious sandwich. Broil two thick slices of eggplant until brown, add mozzarella and tomato, olive oil and basil to one slice. Top with the other slice of eggplant and broil again until the cheese melts.
4. Wrap your food in lettuce leaves. Yes, skip the bun, tortillas, and bread slices and instead make a sandwich inside lettuce leaves. Mexican: sprinkle of cheese, salsa, and chicken; Asian: sesame seeds, peanuts, bean sprouts, cut up green beans, and shrimp with a touch of soy sauce; Deli: turkey, cheese, and mustard.
5. Break yourself of your old spaghetti habits. Almost everyone loves a big bowl of pasta, topped with a rich tomato sauce. The tomato sauce couldn't be better for you; the spaghetti, however, is pure carbohydrate. For those sensitive to carbs or wishing to cut back on their noodle intake, here are some alternatives to the usual spaghetti dinner:
- Switch to whole-wheat pasta. It is denser than traditional pasta, with a firm, al dente texture similar to what you'd get in Italy.
- Grill vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and onion and slice them into long, thin pieces. Mix up and pour your spaghetti sauce over the vegetables for a delicious and immensely healthy meal.
- Try healthy whole grains as a replacement for pasta. Spaghetti sauce goes better than you'd expect on brown rice, barley, chickpeas, and such.
6. Cut up 1-ounce portions of cheese and divvy up 1-ounce portions
of nuts into tiny snack bags. Now you have a handy snack at the ready. Eat a handful grapes with the cheese and you have a complete snack. Add an apple or cut up veggies with the bag of nuts and you have another complete meal.
7. Eat potatoes boiled with the skin on. New potatoes (or red potatoes) tend to have fewer simple carbs than other types of potatoes.
8. Beware of the new ‘low-carb’ products. Consumer Reports found that many packaged low-carb foods are actually higher in calories than their regular counterparts. For instance, a serving of Keto's low-carb Rocky Road ice cream has 270 calories, almost double the calories found in many regular ice creams and twice as much fat.
9. Beware of the new net-carb measurements. Many of the low-carb weight-loss programs are trying to get their followers to use “net carbs” as the measurement of choice for the appropriateness of a carb food in their diet. This is a measurement of the “bad carbs” left in a food after you adjust for those carb ingredients that don't immediately affect blood sugar. “Net carbs” is not a regulated or standardized measurement--manufacturers can define it how they want, and say what they want on product packaging.
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