Your Questions about Carbohydrates Answered: Find Out What to Eat

Of course, you have questions about carbohydrates. Who doesn’t have trouble figuring out healthy carbohydrate foods? They’re not all created equal. Learn which ones to eat and how they affect your health.

Aak, all that carb-bashing wears me out. But one thing I do like is the questions about carbohydrates. That’s how I know people are thinking about healthy eating. If you’re looking for confidence in making smart food choices, I’ve got you covered. Today’s blog post is frequently asked questions about carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are vilified as public enemy number one. Again and again and again. Carb-bashers claim carbohydrate foods are the root of obesity, inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, you-name-it. No berries and yogurt for these folks. No sandwiches, tacos, lentil soup or brown rice either. They dine on bun-less bacon-cheeseburgers. They toss the crusts of pizza into the trash, but happily gobble up the pie’s cheese and meat. Oh my goodness!

If you know people like that, send them over here so they can get the answers to these carbohydrate questions too.

shrimp tacos

Grilled shrimp tacos, yum!

I spend a lot of time talking people into eating healthy foods and helping them to stop fearing their food. In my line of business, I’m faced with lots of questions about carbohydrates, fats and other things people find scary. Here’s to putting fear aside and learning to love your food.

Q: What are Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients – major nutrients our bodies need. Protein and fat are the other two. Protein, fat, carbohydrates and alcohol are the only nutrients that provide calories. Sugars, starches and fibers are carbohydrates. Generally speaking, each gram of digestible carbohydrate (so not fiber) gives us 4 calories. However, the quality of foods containing carbohydrates varies dramatically. Some foods with carbs are broccoli, brownies, carrots, candy, white rice, brown rice, kidney beans, jelly beans, milk, milkshakes, oranges and orange soda. You can see that there are big differences between them.

Bottom line: Along with fat and protein, carbohydrates are our macronutrients. The wholesomeness of food is not determined by its macronutrient composition.

Mediterranean Diet dinner with lots of carbohydrate foods

Each of these foods contain carbohydrates, but some more than others.

Q: Are simple carbs the bad ones?

Nope. I frequently hear people identify foods with simple carbs and complex carbs incorrectly. Even though you’re likely to hear that white rice and white bread are simple carbs, most of the carbohydrates in bread and rice are complex in nature. Similarly, if someone tells you that fruit is mostly complex carbs, you can tell them that they’re wrong.

The basic structure of carbohydrates is a sugar molecule, and carbs are classified by how many sugar molecules they contain. So simple carbs are smaller compounds with just one or two sugar molecules (sucrose, fructose, lactose, glucose, galactose). And complex carbs – whether in refined or unprocessed foods – are longer chains of sugar molecules.

  • Simple carbs. Simple carbohydrates are sugars. (They are not refined starches like you get in white bread.) They’re naturally present in fruit, milk, vegetables, vinegar and other unprocessed foods. Sugars can also be refined and processed into table sugar and syrups, which are then added to sodas, desserts, sweetened yogurts, breakfast cereals, granola bars and more.
  • Complex carbs. Complex carbohydrates are any that contain more than two sugar molecules. Some chains may be hundreds and even thousands of glucose molecules long. Starch and fiber are complex carbs. They are both strands of glucose molecules linked together, but the main difference is the way in which glucose units are hooked up. The glucose in starch is linked in ways that our bodies break it down or digest it. The glucose in fiber is linked in such a way that we cannot digest it.

Both white pasta and whole-wheat spaghetti largely provide complex carbs (starch). There are other differences between the two types of pasta, but one is not simple and the other complex.

Bottom line: The terms simple and complex carbohydrates tell us nothing about nutrition or health. They are terms to describe the chemical structure of carbohydrate molecules and say nothing about the quality of carbohydrate foods.

Now that should take care of one of the most common questions about carbohydrates!

Q: Don’t the simple carbs get turned into glucose faster?

Not necessarily. How quickly carbohydrate in food becomes blood sugar depends on a number of factors, including the ripeness of fruit; the presence of other foods; the presence of fiber, protein or fat; whether the starch chain is largely straight or if it has branches (this has to do with the ease our digestive enzymes have at reaching their target); how the food is prepared; and how much you’re eating.

Bottom line: The amount of carbohydrate you eat has a bigger effect on your blood sugar level than whether you eat simple carbs (like in fruit and milk) or complex carbs (like it whole wheat bread or white bread).

If one of the things you struggle with is dialing back prediabetes, get my free prediabetes self-care checklist today.

Q: Which are the good carbs?

This is definitely one of those frequent carbohydrate questions!

But to answer this one, we have to be clear that carbs are not a type of food. Carbohydrates are in food. Just like vitamins, minerals and protein are part of food, carbohydrates are part of food.

I’m not a big fan of the terms good carbs and bad carbs, but I do know what people mean when they use these terms. They refer to healthful, wholesome foods that are heavy in carbs versus not-so-wholesome foods that are heavy in carbs.

Keep these carb-containing foods on your table

  • non-starchy vegetables
  • starchy vegetables
  • whole grains
  • fruit
  • milk
  • yogurt without a lot of added sugars (like honey and sucrose)
  • nuts and seeds
  • pulses (lentils, beans and peas)
  • Soy (soybeans and edamame beans)
2 bowls of edamame beans

Edamame beans have carbohydrate, protein and fat.

Limit or avoid these carb-containing foods

  • table sugar, honey, molasses, brown sugar
  • sugary drinks (soda, punch, sweet tea, coffee drinks)
  • cookies, cakes and other baked goods
  • candy (even my very fave: chocolate 😕)
  • ice cream
  • snack crackers
  • cereals and granola bars with lots of added sugars
  • other highly processed grains such as pretzels and instant noodles

Bottom line: Make your carbs count. Choose nutrient-rich foods like those in the first list above and limit nutrient-poor foods like those in the second list.

Q: Shouldn’t people with diabetes or prediabetes stop eating carbs because they raise blood sugar?

While it’s true that carbohydrates raise blood sugar, it’s not true that carbohydrates are bad or that they should be avoided. Food is more than just carbohydrates, protein and fats. Along with fiber, vitamins and minerals, our plant foods give us a host of phytochemicals or phytonutrients. As a reminder, these are compounds in plants that help us fight disease, including type 2 diabetes and related complications such as heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. So it’s a much too narrow view to look at blood sugar only. As a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), I look at the whole picture, not just the blood sugar number. And the good news is that it is possible to manage blood sugar levels without swearing off health-boosting carb-containing foods.

People with diabetes do have limits on their carbohydrate intake, but certainly wholesome foods with carbs should be included.

Bottom line: Carb-containing foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains nourish our bodies with disease-fighting compounds (aka phytonutrients).

Q: Is it true that carbohydrate foods make us fat?

No. The reasons for weight gain or obesity are many. In fact, the Obesity Society identifies a long list of contributors, including medications, gut bacteria, the environment, and even pain sensitivity and being born by C-section. Check out their infographic of potential contributors to obesity.

And here’s a great scientific rebuttal to the theory that carbs and insulin are the driving forces behind weight gain.

And there’s more. Much of the world relies on carbohydrates as their major source of energy (aka calories). Rice, for example, is a staple in Southeast Asia. And the carbohydrate-rich potato was so critical to the people of Ireland that when the blight devastated the potato crop in the mid-1800s, much of the population was wiped out. Plus, a tribe described as lean, healthy and fit in New Guinea consumes more than 90% of their calories from carbohydrates. You’ll find more examples around the world of healthy diets rich in carbohydrates in the book The Blue Zones.

Bottom line: Our weight is not dictated by the amount of carbohydrate we consume.

Also, I would be really sad without August peaches, September figs, summer berries, farro Waldorf salad, lentil and sweet potato chili, smoky black bean soup, chocolate-covered almonds and so much more! (FYI: food is my love language.)

Q: But don’t low-carb diets help people lose weight?

They certainly do for a lot of people. In fact, studies show that low-carb diets result in greater weight loss over the first weeks and months compared to many other types of diets. But – and this is a big but – they don’t usually show better results by the 1-year mark or later.

When you create rules about food (and follow them), cut out various types of foods, reduce calories, pay more attention to your intake, etc, you’re likely to lose weight. And that’s true whether your eating plan is high-carb, low-carb, or somewhere in the middle. Imagine what would happen if you aimed to eat only red and green foods. You’d have oodles of options in the produce section. You could eat red meat, but not fish or poultry. You could eat the red kidney beans in your 3-bean salad, but you’d have to push away the black beans and garbanzos. You could even eat the red and green M & Ms, but you’d have to give away the brown, blue, orange and yellow. I’m pretty sure if you really followed this absurd diet rule, you’d lose weight. And it has nothing to do with carbs, protein, fat or colors. It has everything to do with eliminating large groups of food.

Bottom line: There are lots of smart ways and super weird ways to lose weight.

Q: How many carbs should I eat in a day?

There’s a large range of healthful intakes. According to some experts, we need at least 130 grams of carbohydrates daily to maintain the energy requirements of the brain and central nervous system. And we require about 45 – 65% of total calories in the form of carbohydrates to allow for meeting our other nutrient needs since so many foods from nuts to oats contain carbs. If you ate 1600 calories daily, this turns out to be between 180 and 260 grams of carbohydrate over the course of your day.

I rarely recommend counting carbohydrates except for people who have diabetes. And I don’t think that most people need to count macros, or calories or anything. Here’s some basic advice: Eat a variety of wholesome foods, and include fiber-rich foods at each meal and a protein-rich food at most meals. Here are 15 ways to eat healthfully without counting a thing.

And for people with diabetes, I really do like the carb counting method of meal planning. Give these a read. And ask for a referral to an RDN who is also a certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES).

Bottom Line: We need carb-containing foods for optimal health. Without them, we wouldn’t meet our needs for fiber or phytonutrients and probably for a host of vitamins and minerals too. Even though most people eat the recommended amount of carbohydrate, most people do not eat enough wholesome foods with carbohydrate (fruits, vegetables, pulses, whole grains, nuts), and they eat too much of the not-so-wholesome foods with carbohydrate (sweets, toaster pastries, soda, cheese doodles).

Instead of avoiding carbohydrates, choose health-shielding, disease-fighting foods of all types.

Did I answer all your questions about carbohydrates?

It’s not just carbs or even diet. Get the prediabetes self-care checklist to help you prevent type 2 diabetes

Jill-Weisenberger_about-image-2
Jill Weisenberger

I'm Jill, and I believe simple changes in your mindset and health habits can bring life-changing rewards. And I don't believe in willpower. It's waaaay overrated. As a food-loving registered dietitian nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist and certified health and wellness coach, I've helped thousands of people solve their food and nutrition problems. If you're looking for a better way to master this whole healthy eating/healthy living thing or if you're trying to prevent or manage diabetes or heart problems, you'll find plenty of resources right here.

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10 Comments

  1. Gail on September 11, 2019 at 12:39 pm

    Thank you for the information. I’m so very tired & depressed because so many friends talk about Keto & intermitant fasting as if that is the magic. I am slightly obese & on lots of medication including 2 kinds of insulin & cannot seem to budge the scales. I used to count exchanges & could lose but doesn’t seem to work now. I feel like it’s hopeless. I am lactose intolerant & don’t have a gallbladder. I don’t want to do Keto.
    Thank you for listening.

    • Jill Weisenberger on September 13, 2019 at 3:15 pm

      How very frustrating for you! It’s not hopeless though. I’d suggest finding a registered dietitian nutritionist who is also a certified diabetes educator. That person can assess your current diet and medications and make reasonable suggestions for changes. Check out eatright.org to find a dietitian near you. Thank you for your kind words and for reading my blog.

  2. DiabeticCare on September 14, 2019 at 6:39 am

    Right, sometimes we thought that ice cream could increase blood sugar levels very fast. But I learned that the variety of food you eat can directly affect your blood sugar levels if you have diabetes. Foods that contain fat also take longer to digest than foods without fat. That’s why an ice cream cone or a chocolate bar may not cause blood sugar levels to rise as quickly as you might expect.

  3. Johny on November 29, 2019 at 12:45 am

    Thanks Jill for this quality post. Thumbs up!!

    • Jill Weisenberger on November 30, 2019 at 11:42 am

      Thanks for reading!

  4. Ashley White on December 20, 2019 at 2:22 am

    Jill, thank you very much for such wonderful post. Natural Carbs are mostly helpful but I don’t know why people think carbs are they enemy number 1. We really need healthy carbs in daily diet. Your health depends on your diet and lifestyle you live. An Unbalanced diet can make you fat and prone to disease but a well balance diet and active lifestyle can make you last longer and fight diseases effectively.

  5. Nutrindo Ideias on December 26, 2019 at 12:36 am

    Nice article, right on point. Really helpful about carbs

  6. James Garrett on April 16, 2023 at 12:34 pm

    I have noticed that when I have a meal (especially breakfast) high in protein with little or no carbs that my energy level drops significantly a couple of hours later. However, when I have the same meal ingredients with a slice of toast or a helping of pasta, my energy level is constant and does not start dropping until it is near time to eat the next meal. This seemed to contradict the “no good carbs” approach. So, I agree with your findings and the other comments that carbs used in balance are important.

  7. Jay Seibel on March 6, 2024 at 9:38 am

    Thank you Jill, this was very informative. When it comes to starch, I have read that cooling potatoes, rice, and pasta will increase their insulin resistance, but I am unsure about how long they should be cooled, and whether reheating negates this effect? And is this the same for bread? An article clarifying this would be very helpful.

    • Jill Weisenberger on March 6, 2024 at 12:32 pm

      Cooking and cooling potatoes, rice, pasta, and presumably other starches will increase the amount of resistant starch (RS) they have. RS is a type of fiber, and since it’s not digested, the carbs don’t contribute to blood sugar. I’ve written about resistant starch here and here.

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Hi there! I'm Jill, a nutrition & diabetes expert and the author of 4 books.

Jill Weisenberger

I believe simple changes in health habits can bring you life-changing rewards.

And I believe willpower is way overrated.

Right here is where you can discover the mindset and habits to stick with healthy lifestyle choices most of the time - and drop the guilt when you don't.

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