I was at my Sis in laws house and we began talking about Nigerian meals. We were on about how they were centered on carbs and how proteins were just the little bonus on the side. My Bro in-law joked “Yes! Why not?! It is great for strong hard working men!” His wife’s response, “Well, I am not a strong hard working man” Lol. Truth is I really did eat a lot of carbs and in the past I could eat white rice all day, every day and be extremely happy.
You see contrary to popular belief carbs are actually good and in fact they are necessary as they are the main source of energy in the body. The body gets most of its energy from blood sugar (glucose) and carbs are literally made up of these sugar molecules. Some carbs could consist of just a few while others could stack up thousands. The body can only use single molecules at a time so carbs are broken down to be used immediately or saved for later.
I learned that there are 3 forms of carbs
Simple Sugars: Have a few sugar molecules and easy to break down
Fibers: Have many chains of sugar molecules and can’t be broken down
Starch: Have many chains of sugar molecules and are slower to break down
With simple sugars, the goal is to eat foods that naturally contain them as opposed to processed/added simple sugars. The reason being natural sugars contain nutrients that help the body while processed sugars don’t.
Fibers on the other hand were interesting to me since they don’t actually add any nutrients. Instead they promote health by moving waste through the digestive system including unwanted fats. This helps lower cholesterol and the risks of heart diseases.
Finally, because starchy foods are more complex, it takes longer for the body to break them down. This helps keep you full longer and also manages blood sugar levels. Unlike simple sugars that release a bursts of sugar, starchy foods release sugar gradually as they are broken down. They are high in nutrients and obviously more sugars equal more energy.
So what did I learn from all this? It is important for me to pay attention to my carbohydrate intake. The best way to do this will be to choose better carbs whenever I can and manage my portions so I am not over-eating. It will definitely be easier to make better decisions now that I understand how they work in my system. I can’t promise to cut out white rice but I can choose to eat good carbs more often. So again don’t make any drastic changes just start slow and in time, grow!
Ok. So that’s why I was so tired. What I did was cut out all carbs. No eba, no iyan, no bread, etc, almost no rice. As long as I taste pepper, I’m good and don’t feel deprived. I could have a huge salad, with stewed chicken, and I would be full and ok, and that’s it. But at about 5pm, I’m just out of it. So now I know I need my carbs for energy. So do I just have some basmati rice? I do need help. Lol
This is really good. I considered myself knowledgable about health stuff but you make me re-evaluate and rethink some of the stuff I think I knew. What I love about all this is when I now check myself by asking “will you be doing this in 5 years?” If the answer is NO- I don’t do it because I don’t want to crash. I want a gradual lifestyle change. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Really keeps my wheels turning.
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