How many carbohydrates should I eat in a day, are low carb diets safe and which foods are high in bad carbs?
The Government recommends more than a third of our diet should be made up of carbs
HUNDREDS of diets promise to help women lose weight and keep the pounds at bay, and from low-fat to high-fat, 5:2 to Atkins, it can sometimes be a challenge to work out what works for you.
We've got the lowdown on how many carbs you should be eating a day to encourage weight loss and keep your body healthy.
How many carbohydrates should I eat each day?
Along with fats, carbs are often billed as the enemy when trying to lose weight.
But the still recommends a balanced diet, even when trying to lose weight, and they stress the importance of continuing to eat carbs.
The Government’s healthy eating advice says just over a third of your diet should be made up of carbs, such as pasta, bread, rice or potatoes.
A carbohydrate is one of three macronutrients and forms a large part of our diet, the others being fat and protein.
Carbohydrates are important for our health and you shouldn’t cut them out of your diet completely.
They help boost energy levels, as they are the body’s main source of energy.
And they help prevent against diseases, as vegetables such as pulses and varieties of starchy food, such as potatoes, maintain good gut and bowel health.
The NHS recommends people aim for an average of 30g per day, but most only eat around 18g.
Carbs can also help you lose weight, as they contain fewer calories gram for gram than fat, and by replacing foods high in fat and sugar with fibre-rich food, the overall number of calories you eat will reduce.
Daily reference intakes for the average adult aged 19 to 64 are:
- Energy: 8400kJ/2000kcal
- Total fat: less than 70g
- Saturates: less than 20g
- Carbohydrate: at least 260g
- Total sugars: 90g
- Protein: 50g
- Salt: less than 6g
Are low carb diets safe?
Carbohydrates themselves are not necessarily the cause of weight gain.
The NHS says there’s no evidence that eating bread and other wheat-based foods causes weight gain more than any other type of food.
If you eat more energy than your body uses, you will put on weight, regardless of what you eat.
The NHS says: “Cutting out carbohydrates from your diet could put you at increased risk of a deficiency in certain nutrients, leading to health problems, unless you're able to make up for the nutritional shortfall with healthy substitutes.
“Replacing carbohydrates with fats and higher fat sources of protein could increase your intake of saturated fat, which can raise the amount of cholesterol in your blood – a risk factor for heart disease.”
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What foods are high in bad carbs?
There are three different types of carbohydrate; sugar, starch and fibre.
Often when people say they have lost weight due to cutting out carbs, dietitian Sian Porter told the NHS this is likely due to other reasons.
She said: "When people cut out carbs and lose weight, it's not just carbs they're cutting out, they're cutting out the high-calorie ingredients mixed in or eaten with it, such as butter, cheese, cream, sugar and oil.
NHS guide to carbs
- Sugar is found naturally in some foods, including fruit, honey, fruit juices, milk (lactose) and vegetables. Other forms of sugar (for example table sugar) can be added to food and drink such as sweets, chocolates, biscuits and soft drinks during manufacture, or added when cooking or baking at home.
- Starch, made up of many sugar units bonded together, is found in foods that come from plants. Starchy foods, such as bread, rice, potatoes and pasta, provide a slow and steady release of energy throughout the day.
- Fibre is the name given to the diverse range of compounds found in the cell walls of foods that come from plants. Good sources of fibre include vegetables with skins on, wholegrain bread, wholewheat pasta and pulses (beans and lentils).
“Eating too many calories – whether they are carbs, protein or fat – will contribute to weight gain."
While foods such as pizza and pasta may contain a lot of carbohydrates, if you eat them in moderation you maintain your weight or lose wight, depending on your diet and lifestyle.
For more information visit the website.