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| working order. In other words, they're crucial. That's why most nutrition experts recommend getting about 60 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrates. |
| F.Y.I. |
| There's no health benefit to eating brown sugar instead of white. But honey's another story. Through it can also cause tooth decay and is almost as caloric as sugar, honey does have health advantages: it helps fight bacteria and may offer other therapeutic benefits. |
| When carbohydrates enter your body, they break down into a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose enters your bloodstream and supplies you with physical and mental energy; it is also stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle tissue, to provide energy reserves. Because your body constantly needs its glycogen stores replenishedparticularly if you are activecarbohydrate calories are more likely to be used as glycogen than converted to body fat. That meansdespite all the fad diet books that will tell you otherwisea diet rich in carbohydrates can help you maintain a healthy weight. And that's crucial to your overall health. |
| The key is to eat complex, not simple, carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates are found in sugar and other sweeteners, as well as colas, fruit juices, desserts, and other sweet foods. They are easily converted to glucose and are quickly absorbed into your blood, giving you a jolt of energy. |
| Complex carbohydrates are found in grains, potatoes, root and starchy vegetables, and dried peas and beans Because they are made up of hundreds or thousands of glucose molecules, they break down more slowly in the body, especially if the especially if the foods that contain them also contain fiber. This makes complex carbohydrates an excellent source of slow-burning energy. |
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