Confessions of a Carb-A-Holic: * Playing Hide and Seek With Carbs

This morning, I sent someone to get donuts for my employees. She came back with all different kinds and proceeded to tell me that she even got 2 for me. The were the old fashioned cake donuts. She said they don't have any filling or icing on top so you can have breakfast with the rest of us.

It dawned on me after I thanked her for thinking of me, that what carbohydrates are is still somewhat a mystery to a lot of people. They were to me. I always thought just like she does, that they are sugar. It has been the hardest thing to try and educate myself and others what they are and where they are. They are hiding everywhere!

All food that you eat turns to sugar in your body. Carbohydrate-containing foods alter your sugar levels more than any other type of food. Carbohydrates are found in starchy or sugary foods, such as bread, rice, pasta, cereal, potatoes, peas, corn, fruit, fruit juice, milk, yogurt, cookies, candy, soda, and other sweets.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000007000000000000000.html

http://www.medhelp.org/medical-information/show/1920/Starchy-foods

They exist in virtually everything! The trick is to know what the source of the carb is. Is it a natural carb or a manufactured carb? I had to learn this quick, thinking I could supplement all sugar free or no sugar added for a lot of the foods I liked. I was sadly mistaken. Most of these products are full of sugar alcohols that simply are not all that good for you if you are on a low carb diet. I can personally say that I don't feel so good after eating food with them in. The body just does not digest them easily. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/sugaralcohols.htm

When shopping at the grocery store, stay away from the carbs that include the following words in their ingredients: bleached, enriched, processed or refined. These processed and altered foods are void of critical nutrient value and will do very little to fuel and energize your body.

Sugar substitutes are also suspect as they do contain a low amount of carbs. I do use Splenda, but I use it sparingly.http://www.caloriecontrol.org/sweeteners-and-lite/sugar-substitutes

Carbs are hidden everywhere, so you have to read the labels. The carbs that come from fiber are certainly better than the carbs coming from sugar but they must be counted in your daily intake.

http://wilstar.com/lowcarb/hiddencarbs.htm

Read the labels. If the label lists sugar, sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, white or “wheat” flour, they contain simple carbohydrates. If these ingredients are at the top of the list, they may contain mostly simple carbohydrates, and little else. They should be avoided.

Look for foods that have not been highly processed or refined. Choose a piece of fruit instead of fruit juice, which is very high in naturally occurring simple sugars. Choose whole grain breads instead of white bread. Choose whole grain oatmeal instead of packaged cold cereals.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/85180-calculate-net-carbohydrates/

When you read the labels on foods in your supermarket, it's no surprise that you find plenty of sugar in products like cake mix, ice cream, jelly, cookies, and soda. But it can be downright shocking to see 12 grams of sugar in bottled pasta sauce or barbecue sauce -- and even more so to find 50 grams of sugar in a healthy-sounding bottled tea!