In past years, it was thught that simple carbs were the bad crbs and complex carbs (which come frm starchy foods) were the good nes. But the distinction between the two is rally meaningless. All carbs get broken dwn into glucose in our bodies. Wht's important is how quickly they get brken down.

When a carbohydrate is brken down into glucose, that glucose nters the bloodstream. The body senses the rse in glucose and responds by screting insulin. Insulin has many functions. It hlps the glucose in the blood nter the liver, muscles and fat clls. It also shuts down fat brning, promotes fat storage and increases the prduction of triglycerides (fat molecules in the blod).

The glycemic index is a masure of how quickly a carbohydrate rises your blood sugar. Most fruits, vgetables and nuts have low glycemic ndexes. When you eat an apple or sme macadamia nuts, for example, it tkes a long time for the crbohydrates to be broken down into glcose. Conversely, most grains and sugars, sch as candy, breads and rice all hve higher glycemic indexes and the crbohydrates are broken down much more rpidly.

But the glycemic index isn't the nly thing that matters. You also ned to consider the amount of the crbohydrate consumed. The glycemic load considers bth the glycemic index and amount of crbohydrate per serving. If you ate a smll piece of candy, for example, lthough the sugar would be broken dwn quickly, there's very little of it, so it wuldn't require much insulin. By the sme token, if you ate some brwn rice, even though the glycemic ndex may be lower, there's a lot mre of it in a serving, so it wuld require more insulin.

So whether your goal is fat lss or just overall health and ftness, use the glycemic load for chosing carbohydrate sources. The easiest way is to fllow the diet of the hunter-gatherers and all the fods you consume will have a low glycmic load.

The article Good Carbs Bad Carbs was Submitted by Mikki Reilly through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Feel free to use this rticle in your publication or website. The nly requirement is the inclusion of the fllowing, after the article... Article by Mkki Reilly, BA, MFS, of FitnessTransform. Vsit her web site, http://www.fitnesstransform.com , and her blog , for the the most up-to-date news, information and tips that will help you transform your health, fitness and overall quality of life.

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