A Carbohydrate is a macronutrient and is the main energy source for the body. As you may know, most long distance runners will always say they need to carb load before going for their run. This is definitely evidence that the sugar in the carbohydrates leads to sustained energy for the long run.

In simple terms a whole carbohydrate is made up of fiber, water, minerals and natural occurring sugar. However, these whole carbs become nasty when we remove its good parts and make it into a concentrated substance. This is the ultra processing method that makes it toxic to our body.

The water is removed, the fiber is stripped down, thus the sugars become concentrated  and the minerals are destroyed in the processing conduit. This processing makes a whole carb a useless carb and one that just harms the body. All the beneficial nutrients have been removed.

Examples of processed carbs

• Processing whole potatoes into potato chips/crisps.
• Processing sugar cane into white table sugar.
• Processing whole wheat into packaged biscuits.

So what do we do?

Strive to eat the whole food and nothing but the whole with minimal processing. E.g. If eating a sweet potato, the basic processing would be harvesting it from the farm, washing, cutting and cooking it. The processes undertaken to cook it should be very simple (steaming, boiling, baking, grilling) and safe ( not cooked in processed oil); thus you can be able to distinguish that it is a sweet potato at a first glance. It is not a product that has come in a box with ingredients that you cannot pronounce and additives that you do not know about.

Gain back your health!

So gain back your health by eating whole carbs, don’t be afraid of the whole carbs.  Its sugars digest slowly because they still have the fiber intact, they are satiating and most importantly they give us the nutrients we need to live a healthy energy filled life