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Types of Carbohydrate

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From:
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html

Nowadays, we hear about carbohydrate all the time. Did you know
there are three main types of carbohydrate? There are starches,
sugars, and fiber. You'll also hear terms like naturally occurring
sugar, added sugar, low-calorie sweeteners, sugar alcohols,
reduced-calorie sweeteners, processed grains, enriched grains,
complex carbohydrate, sweets, refined grains, and whole grains.
No wonder knowing what kind and how much carbohydrate to eat can
be confusing!

The three main types of carbohydrate are:
* starch (also known as complex carbohydrates)
* sugar
* fiber

On the nutrition label, the term "total carbohydrate" includes all
three types of carbohydrates. This is the number you should pay
attention to if you are carbohydrate counting.

Starch

Foods high in starch include:
* starchy vegetables like peas, corn, lima beans, and potatoes

* dried beans, lentils, and peas such as pinto beans, kidney beans,
black eyed peas, and split peas

* grains like oats, barley, and rice. (The majority of grain products
in the US are made from wheat flour. These include pasta, bread, and
crackers but the variety is expanding to include other grains as well.)

The grain group can be broken down even further into whole grain or
refined grain.

A grain, let's take wheat for example, contains three parts. The
parts are the bran, germ, and the endosperm. The bran is the outer
hard shell of the grain. It is the part of the grain that provides
the most fiber and most of the B vitamins and minerals. The germ is
the next layer and is packed with nutrients including essential
fatty acids and vitamin E. The endosperm is the soft part in the
center of the grain. It contains the starch. Whole grain means
that the entire grain kernel is in the food.

If you eat a whole grain food, it contains the bran, germ, and
endosperm so you get all of the nutrients that whole grains have
to offer. If you eat a refined grain food, it contains only the
endosperm or the starchy part so you miss out on a lot of vitamins
and minerals. Because whole grains contain the entire grain, they
are much more nutritious than refined grains.

How can I tell the difference?

Picking out foods in the store that are whole grain can be confusing.
You cannot tell by the color of the food. Some manufacturers add
coloring to make pasta look brown for example. Reading the ingredient
list is the easiest way to tell if a food is made from whole grains.
Look for the first ingredient to be whole wheat flour, brown rice,
rye flour, barley, or oats.

When you start reading ingredient lists, you will notice another
term on most bread products made in the United States. It is
enriched wheat flour. This is not the same thing as whole grain.
In the United States, we enrich -- or add some vitamins and one
mineral back into refined grains. For example, if a whole grain
of wheat is ground into flour, you retain the vitamins, minerals,
and fiber from all three parts of the grain. But when the germ
and bran are removed before making it into flour (refined flour),
your food will contain only the starchy part of the grain. So,
wheat flour in the United States adds back a few of the nutrients
that are removed. You lose about 11 vitamins and minerals, and
five are added back. The nutrients added back are iron, and four
of the B vitamins -- Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamin, and folic acid.

Enriched wheat flour is a refined grain. You also see enriched
wheat flour listed as all-purpose flour, cake flour, bleached
flour, and bread flour. You find it in breads as well as baked
products like cake, cookies, muffins, and snack bars. Other
refined grains are white rice and white pasta.

Often, products that used enriched wheat flour and have added
sugar and fat are called processed foods. A good rule of thumb,
especially for grains is that the further away a food is from
its natural state, the less nutritious. For example brown rice
contains more nutrients than a cookie.
Sugar

Sugar is another type of carbohydrate. You may also hear sugar
referred to as simple or fast-acting carbohydrate. There are
two main types of sugar:
* naturally occurring sugars such as those in milk or fruit

* added sugars such as those added during processing such as
fruit canned in heavy syrup or sugar added to make a cookie

On the nutrition facts label, the number of sugar grams includes
both added and natural sugars.

There are many different names for sugar. Examples of common names
are table sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, beet sugar, cane sugar, confectioner's sugar, powdered sugar, raw sugar, turbinado, maple
syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and sugar cane syrup.

You may also see table sugar listed by its chemical name, sucrose.
Fruit sugar is also known as fructose and the sugar in milk is
called lactose. You can recognize other sugars on labels because
their chemical names also end in "-ose." For example glucose
(also called dextrose), fructose (also called levulose), lactose,
and maltose.

Can people with diabetes eat sugar?

In the past, people with diabetes were warned to completely
avoid sugar. Experts thought that eating sugar would rapidly
increase blood glucose, resulting in levels that were too high.
Some people even thought that eating sugar caused diabetes, an
idea that we now know isn't true.

Research has shown that the total amount of carbohydrate affects
blood glucose levels the most. But, the type of carbohydrate
(e.g. sugar vs. starch) can also affect blood glucose levels.
Learn more about the types of carbohydrate and the glycemic index.

Now experts agree that you can eat foods with sugar as long as
you work them into your meal plan as you would for other
carbohydrate-containing food.

The new recommendations are good news. But there are still reasons
to limit the amount of sugar you eat. Sugary foods are often foods
without much nutrition. They have calories, but lack the vitamins,
minerals and fiber that are important to your health. Foods made
with a lot of sugar are often also high in calories and fat.

Fiber

Fiber comes from plant foods so there is no fiber in animal products
such as milk and other dairy products, eggs, meat, poultry, and fish.
Fiber is the indigestible part of plant foods, including fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes. When you consume
dietary fiber, most of it passes through the intestines and is
not digested.

Adults need to try to eat 25 to 30 grams of fiber each day. Most
Americans do not consume nearly enough fiber in their diet, so while
it is wise to aim for this goal, any increase in fiber in your diet
can be beneficial. Most of us only get about 1/2 what is recommended.
Fiber contributes to digestive health, helps to keep you regular
and helps to make you feel full and satisfied after eating. Additional
health benefits, of a diet high in fiber -- such as a reduction in
cholesterol levels -- have been suggested by some so may be an additional benefit.

Good sources of dietary fiber include:
* Fruits and vegetables, especially those with edible skin (for
example, apples, corn and beans) and those with edible seeds (for
example, berries).

* Whole grains such as:
-- whole wheat pasta
-- whole grain cereals (Look for those with three grams of dietary
fiber or more per serving, including those made from whole wheat,
wheat bran, and oats.)
-- whole grain breads (To be a good source of fiber, one slice of
bread should have at least three grams of fiber. Another good
indication: look for breads where the first ingredient is a whole
grain. For example, whole wheat or oats.)

* Beans and legumes. Think black beans, kidney beans, pintos, chick
peas (garbanzos), white beans, and lentils.

* Nuts -- try different kinds. Peanuts, walnuts and almonds are a
good source of fiber and healthy fat, but watch portion sizes,
because they also contain a lot of calories in a small amount.

In general, an excellent source of fiber contains five grams or
more per serving, while a good source of fiber contains
2.5 - 4.9 grams per serving.

It is best to get your fiber from food rather than taking a
supplement. In addition to the fiber, these foods have a wealth
of nutrition, containing many important vitamins and minerals.
In fact, they may contain nutrients that haven't even been
discovered yet!

It is also important that you increase your fiber intake gradually,
to prevent stomach irritation, and that you increase your intake
of water and other liquids, to prevent constipation.

Because fiber is not digested like other carbohydrates, for
carbohydrate counting purposes, if a serving of a food contains
more than or equal to 5 grams of dietary fiber, you can subtract
half the grams of dietary fiber from the total carbohydrate
serving of that food.